BirdLife takes flight at the UN Climate Summit
As many start winding down towards the end of year and holiday period, the climate world is working at a frantic pace. Starting yesterday, approximately 70,000 people have joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 28th Conference of the Parties, or COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Here, we’ll see world leaders, government representatives, academics, business, philanthropy, Indigenous Peoples, activists, youth, and non-government organisations fight to increase collective ambition around climate action.
These meetings happen annually, and last year’s – COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt – made big headlines, with leaders coming together under tense negotiating conditions to deliver the long-awaited Loss and Damage Fund, first floated as an idea back in 1991.
This year, eyes of the world are on Dubai and the UAE, to assess our global progress on action against the Paris Agreement under the ‘Global Stocktake’ and limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Parties must make advances across a range of thematic issues, addressing mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, just transition, as well as means of implementation support for developing countries. This is our Leaders’ opportunity to come together and take meaningful action. The recent Emissions Gap Report from UNEP shows that current pledges under the Paris Agreement put the world on track for a 2.5-2.9°C temperature rise above pre-industrial levels this century. We must change course.
What are BirdLife’s priorities?
BirdLife will be at COP28 ready to put our flock into action.
We will be continuously beating the drum for nature to be put at the heart of the climate conversation. The importance of biodiversity in reaching climate goals, and vice versa, is now widely recognised by science. Achieving the Paris Agreement and the recently adopted Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) global goals – and in turn the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – will only be possible if these are addressed in an ambitious, synergistic, integrated and mutually supportive manner. An integrated, rights-based approach to tackling humanity’s challenges has also never been more critical.
