COP 23 : A half victory for developing countries
COP 23 : A half victory for developing countries The Un Climate Change negotiations ended at nearly 7 o’clock this morning with a song from the Fijians. Started two weeks ago, these negotiations make time to find any compromise between developed and developing countries. As usual. The story. By Houmi Ahamed-Mikidache The implementation of the Paris Agreement have many issues: adaptation and mitigation through the NDCs, loss and damage, adaptation, adaptation fund, finance, transfer of technology, transparency, support and capacity building. Most of all these elements have been taken separately through a facilitative dialogue launched during COP 21 in Paris and pursued in Marrakech during COP 22, then in Bonn with the Fiji presidency, and the Talanoa Dialogue, a conversation between north and south representatives to achieve the long term pathway to 1,5°Celsius. The Talanoa Dialogue “ We have been doing the job that we were given to do: advance the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement, and prepare for more ambitions actions for the Talanoa dialogue in 2018,” said the Prime minister of Fiji and president of COP 23, Frank Bainimarama. For the Prime Minister of Fiji, there has been a positive momentum in various areas in COP 23 : the global community has embraced the Fiji concept of grand coalition for greater ambition linking national governments, states and cities, civil society, the private sector and all women around the world.“ We have launched a global partnership to provide millions of climate vulnerable people an affordable access to insurance,” said the president of COP 23. For him, this COP has put people first. It has connected the people who are not experts on climate change to the UN Climate negotiations. According to him, putting people first showed to the world that these people are facing climate change in their daily lives. What has been achieved? Saturday, 2.40 Am, the African negotiators left again the negotiations rooms and were happy: “ We got it Adaptation Fund and Article 9.5,” said Ambassador Nafo from Mali and head of the African group of negotiators. The decisions adopted in Bonn explained that there will be modalities for the accounting of financial resources provided and mobilized through public intervention in accordance to the article 9 of the Paris Agreement. The Article 9.5 of the Paris Agreement has mentionned that the Developed country Parties shall biennially communicate indicative quantitative and qualitative information related to finance of both mitigation and adaptation. Back and Forth Last night was marked by Back and Forth from all the delegates. And it continued earlier this morning. At 3am, the Republic of Ecuador on behalf of the G77+...
COP 22: Four Adaptation Projects Approved for South Africa by the Adaptation Fund
COP 22: Four Adaptation Projects Approved for South Africa by the Adaptation Fund A US$2.44 million program for an innovative approach to respond to local climate adaptation needs has been approved recently by the Adaptation Fund for South Africa. Explanation. By Houmi Ahamed-Mikidache The Adaptation fund innovative approach A US$2.44 million program for an innovative approach to respond to local climate adaptation needs has been approved recently by the Adaptation Fund for South Africa. Indeed, four projects from the Adaptation Fund’s accredited National Implementing Entity (NIE) for South Africa- the South African National Biodiversity Institute ( SANBI)- the Small Grants Facility ( SGF) provide affected local communities the opportunity to access resources and build local and national climate adaptation capacity directly, said the Fund board. “One of the strengths of the way the Adaptation Fund works is that it allows us to respond in a multi-pronged way to the needs of the communities in the areas where we are working,” said Mandy Barnett, Project Director for SANBI. “In the Small Grants Facility [SGF]similarly, we have interventions looking at climate resilient livelihoods, climate smart agriculture, and climate proof settlements responding to the needs expressed by the communities in vulnerability assessments and the project development process, ” she added. In October 2015, the first four project concepts were approved for contracting and implementation by SANBI’s Steering Committee. With the Small Grants Facility, local communities will work in partnership with community-based organizations to build resilience to climate change. What is the Small Grants Facility project about ? “The SGF builds on the principles of Direct Access and involving and empowering communities through capacity building and delivering tangible benefits,” said Adaptation Fund Board Chair Naresh Sharma. “So this is very good news and an important achievement for the enhanced Direct Access modality, ” she underlined. The Small Grants Facility project is based on two South Africa areas vulnerable to climate change. These two South Africa areas are the Mopani District in Limpopo within the northeast and the Namakwa District in the Northern Cape of the northwest part of the country. . The Small Grants Facility strives to increase climate resilience there by working with local stakeholders. People in these areas are facing warming temperatures, increasing intensity of rainfall events and variability, water scarcity and droughts, seasonal shifts and storm-related disasters. To implement climate adaptation response strategies, the Small Grants Facility fosters local practices so that assets, livelihoods, and ecosytem services are protected from climate-induced risks, said the Fund Board. The four approved Small Grants Facility projects include enhancing water harvesting and installing water-saving techniques through the introduction of compost toilets. The SGF is supporting...