U.N. talks fail to reach agreement regarding increased risk of global drought exacerbated by a warming climate
despite two weeks United NationsEarlier on Saturday, 197 countries attending talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, failed to agree on a plan to deal with global drought. The climate is warming.
The 16th session of the biennial Conference of the Parties, organized by a U.N. agency tasked with combating desertification and drought, is seeking to develop a strong global mandate that would legally bind and require countries to fund early warning systems and implement them in poorer countries. Building resilient infrastructure (particularly in Africa), which is most affected by change.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is released a report It warned earlier this week that if global warming trends continue, nearly 5 billion people – including much of Europe, parts of the western United States, Brazil, east Asia and central Africa – will be affected by drying out the planet by the end of 2020. influence. Over the course of a century, this number has risen from a quarter of the world’s population today. The report also says agriculture is particularly at risk, which could lead to food insecurity in communities around the world.
The fourth U.N. talks this year aimed at getting countries to agree to make greater progress on tackling biodiversity loss, climate change and plastic pollution have either failed to reach consensus or delivered disappointing results. Many countries, especially the most vulnerable, are worried.
Countries participating in the discussions in Riyadh decided to push them to 2026 talks hosted by Mongolia.
“More time is needed to agree on the best way to address the critical issue of drought,” UNCCD chief Ibrahim Thiaw said at the end of the talks in Riyadh.
Thio said the meeting was “unique” in the 30-year history of the talks. “We elevate the land and drought agenda beyond sector-specific discussions as a cornerstone of global efforts to address the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, migration and global security.”
More permanent solutions to drought – such as curbing climate change – are not a talking point.
Host Saudi Arabia has been criticized in the past for stalling progress on limiting fossil fuel emissions in other negotiations. The Gulf state is one of the world’s largest oil producers and exporters and has the world’s second-largest oil reserves.
Earlier in the meeting, host Saudi Arabia, a number of other countries and international banks pledged $2.15 billion for drought relief. The Arab Coordination Group, composed of 10 development banks in the Middle East, has pledged $10 billion by 2030 to address land degradation, desertification and drought. The funds are expected to support the 80 most vulnerable countries in preparing for worsening drought conditions.
But the United Nations estimates that drought will cost the world $125 billion between 2007 and 2017.
Panama’s chief negotiator Erica Gomez said that while no decision had been reached on dealing with the drought, significant progress had been made on other key issues.
“We have achieved several key milestones, especially with regard to civil society participation and the growing traction of gendered decision-making,” Gomez said. “Until the end, the parties could not agree on whether the new instrument to deal with drought would be legal. binding agreement,” said Jes Weigelt of TMG Research, a European climate think tank that has been tracking the negotiations.
“I fear that UNCCD COP 16 suffered the same fate as this year’s COP on Biodiversity and Climate. It failed to deliver results,” he said.
