Did COPs of 2022 catch up with Earth's climate change runner?

The silent cry for Earth's stewardship echoed throughout 2022 during a number of international summits that had Climate Change as their central theme. That the Earth is heating, up to the point of becoming inhabitable is a geopolitical theme that the world has addressed over the years by throwing enough spotlight for urgent attention on the questions of climate change. The 22nd year of the 21st century continued the trend of addressing climate change as a geo-economic determinant of global existence. Yet the debate continues if addressing climate change also translated into redressing its underlying causes this year.

Unlike Alok Sharma, president of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference last year, nobody held back their tears during showcase climate change summits this year. There were passionate speeches from the likes of Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and there was ample space for the visibility of global north-global south divide on the issue of climate change funding. The year had its share of climate change summits of significance, consisting of a few with more than a few 'breakthroughs'. But in the series of climate change summits all through 2022, there was no episode of any conference whose parts and parcels were regarded with'landmark' or 'historic' prefixes.

COP27 Sharm El-Sheikh: Breakthrough on new 'Loss and Damage' fund

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The UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) was hosted in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2022. Widely held as the most significant Climate Change summit of the year, COP27 joint-statement agreed to provide "loss and damage" funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters. Countries reaffirmed their commitment to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels along with steps to promote climate technology solutions in developing countries.

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Money has long been available to cut carbon or help countries adapt to rising temperatures but there was nothing for those who had lost everything. While many like host Egypt hailed the 'Loss and Damages' funding, others depicted it as a 'missed opportunity' for failing to flag the peaking of Carbon emissions after 2025 and a follow-through on phase down of coal.

COP19 Panama City summit

The 19th edition of the Conference of the Parties (CoP19) to the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) took place in November this year in Panama City. India proposed enhanced protection of Leith's Softshell Turtle to ensure prevention of its illegal trade. It listed Sea Cucumber as 'threatened' but Southern White Rhino's conservation status was downgraded.

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A total of 54 species of requiem sharks, 37 additional species of guitarfishes, six species of sea cucumber, and South American freshwater stingrays had their conservation status upgraded.

CITES parties agreed to continue and expand efforts to reduce the persistent market demand that drives illegal trade, sharing responsibility for solving these challenges between both source and destination (market) countries.

Bonn Climate Change Conference

The Bonn Climate Change Conference was conducted in June 2022 with an aim to progress on important technical issues and prepare decisions for adoption at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh in November.

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The conference laid the foundation for 'Loss and Damages' fund that was eventually established as one of the most significant highlights of the Sherm El-Sheikh's COP27 conference.

COP15 Montreal summit

With an aim to save Earth’s forests, oceans and species before it's too late, delegates from all over the world have gathered in Montreal, Canada, for the December 7-19 UN Biodiversity Conference.

ALSO READ |COP15 summit: Rich countries oppose creation of $10 billion biodiversity fund

The deadlock remains, with a clear global north-south divide, on the question of annual $10 billion in special financial mechanisms to address biodiversity conservation. The draft pledge, however, aims to protect 30 per cent of the world's land and seas by 2030 by eliminating harmful fishing and agriculture subsidies and "tackling invasive species and reducing the use of pesticides".

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