“Right now our species is undermining and destabilising the very foundations that are necessary for life on earth to thrive. We know that things are changing, and COP26 is one of our last and most crucial opportunities to make sure it is humanity that has to change, and not the planet.” Bella Lack – Global North Youth Co-Chair of the Cop26 Civil Society and Youth Advisory Council.
Climate change is the new threat to development and environmental sustainability in the 21st Century. Countries around the world decided to come up with a way to deal with climate change after seeing the alarming effects of climate change.
This saw the birth of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, whose ultimate objective is stabilization of the level of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere that will prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
The UNFCCC secretariat is the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. UNFCCC has near universal membership (197 Parties) and is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
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UNFCCC organizes and supports between two and four conventions each year. The largest and most important is the Conference of the Parties (COP) held annually and hosted in different locations around the globe.
The First COP
The first COP (COP21) took place in Paris, France in 2015. Every country (parties) agreed to work together to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees. They also resolved to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate as well as make money available to deliver on these aims. This was known as The Paris Agreement.
Every country (parties) agreed to work together to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees.
The commitment to aim for 1.5 degrees is important because every fraction of a degree of warming results in the tragedy of many more lives lost and livelihoods damaged.
COP26
The 2021 conference, hosted by the UK will be the 26th meeting of the Parties, which is why it’s called COP26. The conference was postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is currently scheduled to take place in the city of Glasgow, Scotland from October 31 to November 12, 2021.
Kenya’s Stand
Kenya has been adversely affected by climate change despite its insignificant emission of greenhouse gases. However, Kenya has been committed to the global fight against climate change and has sent out a couple of National Communications to the UNFCCC.
On 28 December 2016, Kenya ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement (signed 22 April 2016); which represents a first collaborative virtually unanimous climate change global framework.
Kenya in accordance to the UNFCCC obligations, has come up with mitigation actions whose implementation is still in progress with a few being brought to completion.
COP26, will be another key moment and an opportunity to turn the Paris Agreement into action. This means governments, business, and civil societies need to come together and put in more of the groundwork that will make climate action happen quickly.
Get Involved
For the sake of people and planet, this is an opportunity everyone must seize. Follow @COP26 on Twitter and Instagram for updates on how you can get involved.
To learn more about COP26, click here. You can also join a global community of climate change activitsts and learners here.
LEARNING WORDS
ultimate, greenhouse, anthropogenic, secretariat, entity, treaty, global warming, adversely, ratified, collaborative, unanimous, mitigation, groundwork.