25 August 2022 – by Ottoline Mary
A recent article from Arab News offers some insights on the 2022 edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly referred to as COP27, which will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) in November.
The upcoming summit represents an opportunity to raise awareness of the climate-related issues encountered by the MENA region, whose interests are often dismissed in global decision-making.
For example, during the 56th session of the Bonn Climate Change Conference that took place two months ago, a coalition of developing country representatives suggested that mitigating the devastating impacts of climate change throughout the Global South could be facilitated by implementing a Global North-funded international mechanism. However, despite wealthy nations being the main contributors to global warming, the initiative was rejected by the EU.
In addition, the event is providing Egypt with an incentive to address its own national climate challenges. For example, the high levels of pollution (especially in Cairo) are affecting air quality and, thus, causing health problems amongst at least 2 million residents each year.
After seven years of negotiations, the overall stake of COP27 is to prompt the implementation of the Paris Agreement at each country’s national level. As phrased by Zitouni Ould-Dada, deputy director of the FAO’s Climate and Environment Division, “the costs of inaction would be higher than the costs of action”.
