COP19—Warsaw Local weather Convention — World Points

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May 3, 2025

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by Anup Shah
This web page Created Monday, December 02, 2013

This web page: https://www.globalissues.org/article/803/cop19-warsaw-climate-conference.
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On this web page:

Introduction
Assembly end result
In context: widespread however differentiated obligations
In context: Storm Haiyan
Lack of urgency
Extra info
Information tales from IPS

Introduction

November 11 – 23, 2013, Warsaw, Poland was the venue for the nineteenth annual United Nations Local weather Change Convention, also referred to as the nineteenth Convention of the Events — or COP 19.

The aim of this convention was to create a loss and harm pillar of a brand new local weather treaty to be finalized in 2015. The opposite two pillars mentioned in earlier conferences are mitigation (emission reductions) and adaptation pillars.

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Assembly end result

The principle end result of the assembly was the institution of a world mechanism for a loss and harm related to local weather change impacts .

Predictably, the loss and harm side of local weather negotiations introduced out the worst in some nations. Some creating nations had been going to withstand the thought of financing adaptation to local weather change, whereas others appeared to hate the thought of local weather reparations for poor nations. Just a few years earlier, industrialized nations had made a authorized dedication to a worldwide local weather fund. Unsurprisingly, not a lot got here of it, as Inter Press Service summarized,

In 2009 on the semi-infamous Copenhagen talks, the wealthy nations made a cope with creating nations, saying in impact: We’ll provide you with billions of {dollars} for adaptation, ramping as much as 100 billion {dollars} a 12 months by 2020, in trade for our mitigation amounting to small CO2 cuts as a substitute of constructing the large cuts that we must always do.

The cash to assist poor nations adapt flowed for the primary three years however has largely dried up. Warsaw was presupposed to be the Finance COP to deliver the promised cash. That did not occur.

International locations like Germany, Switzerland and others in Europe solely managed to scrape collectively guarantees of 110 million {dollars} into the Inexperienced Local weather Fund. Growing nations wished a assure of 70 billion a 12 months by 2016 however had been blocked by the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and others.

Stephen Lehey, South Scores Eleventh-Hour Win on Local weather Loss and Injury, Inter Press Service, November 24, 2013

It received to the purpose that a whole bunch of representatives from varied NGOs walked out of the negotiating rooms to protest in opposition to developed nations’ reluctance to decide to a loss and harm mechanism. And this was a day after the G77+China group of 133 creating nations walked out of negotiations over the identical factor.

Trying via the briefing stories from the revered NGO, the Third World Community, It appears that evidently on the floor, whereas an end result was finally thrashed out, there are a lot of areas of weak point of adequate vagueness to fulfill everybody that contentious points which might be seemingly resolved can nonetheless be challenged and adjusted sooner or later.

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In context: widespread however differentiated obligations

A few years in the past all nations agreed that local weather change was largely the results of actions from at this time’s industrialized nations, as carbon dioxide — the principle greenhouse fuel — stays within the environment for many years. But, the poorest would find yourself struggling probably the most for an issue they largely didn’t trigger. The approaches to mitigation (emissions discount) would due to this fact be completely different for these teams of nations — the widespread however differentiated obligations precept.

It’s on this context that the dialogue for loss and harm has come about. And it’s one thing that wealthy nations are eager to do away with .

The years of resistance on this difficulty (and lots of others) means every time it’s mentioned once more the reactions appear to get much more hostile. Mixed with the dearth of detailed context within the mainstream media protection of this side, it then turns into simpler every time to see culprits as China and India given their monumental greenhouse emissions lately, in comparison with the far higher quantity by the industrialized nations over the longer interval. See this website’s part on local weather justice for extra detailed background.

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In context: Storm Haiyan

Storm Haiyan was the biggest cyclone on file to hit land

The assembly got here on the time when the devastating Storm Haiyan had simply killed hundreds within the Philippines and affected hundreds of thousands extra. It was an ominous warning of what may very well be extra frequent as local weather change continues to take maintain.

It was additionally an instance of how poorer nations may very well be affected by an issue they’ve largely not been answerable for and that whereas all of the worldwide outpouring of assist and help was extremely welcome, that assist for stopping and adapting to such occasions is paramount and efforts are urgently wanted to curb emission will increase.

In an emotional speech the Philippines lead negotiator for the convention, Naderev Saño, obtained a standing ovation for saying that he’ll go on a starvation strike till a significant end result is in sight.

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Lack of urgency

Inter Press Service (IPS) famous the seeming lack of urgency given the years and years of delay and watering down of significant motion:

To have probability at staying beneath two levels C, industrialised nations have to crash their CO2 emissions 10 % per 12 months beginning in 2014, stated Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Local weather Change Analysis on the College of Manchester.

We will nonetheless do two C however not the way in which we’re going, Anderson stated on the sidelines of COP 19 in Warsaw. He questioned why negotiators on the within are usually not reacting to the truth that it’s too late for incremental modifications.

I’m actually surprised there is no such thing as a sense of urgency right here, he advised IPS.

Stephen Lehey, South Scores Eleventh-Hour Win on Local weather Loss and Injury, Inter Press Service, November 24, 2013

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