As a result of continuous and rapid changes in climate, natural disasters - such as sea level rise, floods, droughts, river erosion, cyclones, and salinity - are becoming more extreme and destructive with time. It is affecting all the continents of the world. The impacts of climate change are causing loss of crops, and agricultural productions challenging the food security of the world today. In simple words, climate change is threatening the safety of life and property of people and animals around the world. 

To fight these issues, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) comes in. This 27th edition of the climate conference known as COP27 will take place in November, 2022. Let’s focus on what COP27 can achieve for the climate change affected countries.

What is COP27?

‘Cop’ means ‘Conference of the Parties. It is a United Nations initiative. In 1995, the first conference of COP was held in Berlin, Germany, which took place in a different country every year. 

These conventions serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC (Conference of the Parties, COP) parties to discuss progress in attempting to alleviate the effects of climate change, and they began attending discussions beginning roughly in the mid-1990s. The conference also negotiated the Kyoto Protocol with an aim to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions.

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This year COP27 will take place at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to November 18. However, COP 27 was initially expected to occur from November 8-20, 2021. But, due to covid 19 pandemic, COP 26 was rescheduled from November 2020 to November 2021. That led to COP 27 from November 2021 to November 2022.

As of 2019, 197 countries have become UNFCCC members. So, this year it is expected that all the member countries will meet with their valuable proposal for the sake of the environment.

UNFCCC COP27 is going to be an important event regarding environmental pollution and climate change. The conference discusses the risks and solutions to climate change. This event is promising because it will help to create a consensus on how to prevent global climate change.

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What Should COP27 Achieve for the Vulnerable Countries?

The COP conference should aim to provide a space for vulnerable countries to share their experiences, learn from each other, and create new ideas on how to prevent climate issues. This would help reduce the risk of another devastating conflict in the future.

Mitigation

COP26 was the very first test of the Paris Agreement’s goal-raising function for mitigating climate change. In other words, preventing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it fell short of reaching its objectives.

By the end of this century, if member states would implement all changes from the ‘nationally determined contributions or ‘NDCs,’ it would still be predicted that the world’s average temperature would rise by 2.4 degrees Celsius. The COP26 final outcome urges all the parties to increase their targets by 2030 to become compatible with NDCs by 2022. Therefore, COP27 is more significant than the previous COPs.

So, COP27 should achieve a mitigation plan so that the vulnerable countries’ risk gets reduced in the long run.

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Adaptation

The COP26 urges the developed countries to double the adaptation financing along with the launch of a two-year work program towards the Global Goal Adaption (GGA). The GGA conducts international support to lessen the vulnerability of countries to climate change and adapt to the environment through holistic, sustainable development.

Vulnerable countries have been seeking assistance for decades. And it is expected that COP27 will bring out a proper adaptation plan for the affected countries.

Finance

The COP26 summit was a major point of frustration and anger for many developing nations. In particular, they expressed frustration and anger at the failure to deliver on promises of regular financing to assist them in adaptation and mitigation efforts.

There should be a move toward fulfilling historic pledges to provide annual climate financing of $100 billion from 2020 to 2025 every year, but those commitments are yet to be met. So, COP27 can be a milestone for vulnerable countries in getting their expected financing for mitigation and adaptation plans.

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Global Stocktake

COP 27 will host a Technical Dialogue as part of the 2021-23 global stocktake (GST). The GST will assess progress towards fulfilling the Paris Agreement, happening every five years in sync with the ratchet mechanism.

GST evaluates the progress made toward mitigation, adaptation, and preventive measures, assessing the mechanisms that help lessen climate change and its social effects. COP27 will be a crucial moment for scrutinizing the results of such deals. Hence, this can bring adequate outcomes for the susceptible countries.

Compensation for Loss and Damage

Loss of or damage to the environment refers to violations of the constraints of the natural environment that cannot be prevented by preventive measures or adaptation. Developing countries that are least responsible for climate change seek financial support for that irreparable loss and damages from the countries that are highly responsible for the climate crisis.

So, COP27 should achieve compensation for the affected countries.

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Final Words

The COP27 should make progress on agreement signings and declarations, which can help secure more financial support for vulnerable countries. The conference should provide them with new ideas on how to fight climate change, help them build resilience to climate shocks, and give them access to mitigation and adaptation plans. So far, we have discussed what COP27 should achieve for the climate vulnerable countries. Stay with us to know the updates of the COP27 conference in 2022.