NEW YORK — With extreme weather events increasingly impacting countries worldwide, the United Nations (UN) on Sept. 6 underlined the importance of limiting temperature rise to the internationally agreed goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius [34.7 Fahrenheit] above pre-industrial levels.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said in a high-level meeting on climate action, the entire planet is going through a season of fire and floods, primarily hurting fragile and vulnerable populations in rich and poor countries alike.
Speaking via video message to the Dialogue on Accelerating Adaptation Solutions Ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), the annual UN climate conference, which will take place in Glasgow in November, the deputy UN chief said already-visible impacts with a 1.2-degree rise [34.16 Fahrenheit].
“Countries and populations worldwide — particularly those most vulnerable and least responsible for the climate crisis — will experience even more devastating consequences,” Mohammed said in a statement.
“The effects will reverberate through economies, communities, and ecosystems, erasing development gains, deepening poverty, increasing migration, and exacerbating tensions.”
With “bold and decisive steps” towards a net-zero global economy by 2050, Mohammed said that the world could still limit global warming to within 1.5 degrees [34.7 Fahrenheit].
“Acting now is a question of climate justice. And we have the solutions,” she said, calling for a “massively scaled-up investment” in adaptation and resilience and stressing the importance of simplifying rules and easing access for underprivileged countries, especially those in Africa.
She said to date, only 21 percent of climate finance is channeled to adaptation efforts.
“Of the $70 billion that developing countries need now to adapt, only a fraction is being provided”, the deputy UN chief said, adding that adaptation costs to the developing world could rise to as much as $300 billion a year by 2030.
With less than 80 days to COP26, the deputy UN chief urged the participants to “act boldly now for people and planet before it’s too late.”
“Lives will be saved, and livelihoods protected,” she said, noting that this was why the Secretary-General had called on donors and multilateral development banks to allocate 50 percent of total public climate finance to adaptation and resilience.
Mohammad stressed the importance of simplifying rules and easing access for least developed countries (LDCs), small islands developing states (SIDS), and other vulnerable nations and accelerating initiatives, such as the African Adaptation Acceleration Program jointly developed between the Global Center on Adaptation and African Development Bank.
“I welcome this much-needed support for people of Africa,” she said.
“We must respond to the climate crisis with solidarity. Adaptation can no longer be the neglected half of the climate equation.”
(With inputs from ANI)
Edited by Saptak Datta and Praveen Pramod Tewari
