By Ayuska Motha
Stacey Kimmig and I are now one week into the intersessional meetings at the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) here in Bonn. 2018 will be a critical year in terms of climate change action. In 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed and has since been adopted by 195 countries. The goal of the Agreement is to keep global warming to well below 2C, if not closer to 1.5C, as compared with pre-industrial levels. Although this general goal has been agreed upon, the actual implementation rules are only being drafted and negotiated right now, as we speak (or read).
By the “Earth Summit 2018” or 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) in Katowice, Poland in December this year, these implementation rules, otherwise known as “the Paris Rulebook” need to be drafted and adopted. There is a lot of work yet to be completed, so much so that there has already been an additional meeting penciled in for early September, just in case negotiators need more time. Since FAWCO is a member of the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) to the UNFCCC, Stacey Kimmig and I are once again coordinating with and supporting the WGC. The WGC work toward gender equality and the inclusion of human rights in taking effective action on climate change.
This past week, the WGC along with other non-governmental groups and organizations have been working toward ensuring that these eight overarching principles are included in the implementation rules;
- public participation,
- indigenous peoples and local communities,
- just transition,
- gender,
- human rights,
- food security,
- ensuring ecosystem integrity and protection of biodiversity, and
- intergenerational equity.
These eight elements are already included in the introductory paragraph of the Paris Agreement but they need to be stated again within the implementation rules, otherwise these goals will be lost forever. By countries taking these principles into account while planning their future reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, they can strive toward a fair transition.
Stacey and I will continue to keep you updated during the next and final week of the intersessional meetings.