Preparations are ongoing for the 26th Climate Change Conference of Parties which will be held in Glasgow, UK on the 1st – 12th November 2021.
The Climate Change Conference of Parties also known as the COP refers to the decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Being the 26th time this meeting will be held, there are high expectations as to the contributions, innovations and general financial commitments countries have thought about and are ready to commit towards this global goal.
The Paris agreement came about in 2015 when the Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP) meeting was held in Paris.
It stipulates that countries are to develop Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCS) which is a voluntary document for countries to determine on their own what they are going to do to contribute to the fight against Climate Change.
After it is accepted at the national level, it becomes the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCS) and is reviewed after every 5 years.
Speaking with All Agricgh, the 2020 Goldman Prize Recipient, Chibeze Ezekiel explained that the meeting is about negotiations where countries make pledges in terms of what they are going to commit to contribute to the fight against change.
‘’Usually it has to do with the financial commitments by the big polluters or major contributors to the cause of climate change being China, Us, Europe etc. because of what they did in the past. ”
”These commitments can sometimes be other resources like technology and those from the least developed or developing countries go there to negotiate for more commitments or an increase in the value of the commitment when the initial commitment is not ambitious enough.’’
‘’It is more like a market place where there are different players who attend those meetings who go there to push, advocate for more support to push the developed countries to show more commitments to the fight against Climate Change’’
At every COP meeting they come up with a paper or a resolution in terms of what have been decided by the government and this document is published so parties can be held accountable for the commitments they made.
Climate change has adversely affected Ghana’s agriculture productivity and it will be interesting to see the results of this meeting.
Follow this link to read about the Impact of Climate Change on Ghana’s Agricultural Productivity.