Category: Opinion
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Opinion: Effective climate adaptation must be locally-led
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report, released in 2021, stated that South Asia will face intensified monsoon seasons, heatwaves and changing snowmelt patterns as the planet warms. And yet, the people most affected are often left out of adaptation projects. According to the think tank International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), “estimates suggest under 10…
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Saleemul Huq was and will remain one of our strongest voices for the climate
The fight against climate change is difficult even at the best of times. But this week began with the loss of one of the foremost warriors in this fight. My first encounter with the maverick, Dr Saleemul Huq, happened about a decade ago. I had already been working for many years in the remotest, most…
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COP28 must set up a new ‘Dubai Loss and Damage Fund’
The litmus test of success for the U.N. climate summit will be the creation of an urgently needed fund to help the most vulnerable people. Open letter to the incoming president of the COP28 U.N. climate summit Dear Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Let me thank you for inviting me to join the Advisory Committee for…
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I’m a COP veteran. Here are 3 suggestions for the new Loss and Damage fund
Comment: Cop27 resulted in the historic decision of setting up a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries, but success depends on a few key actions.
Last November, at Cop27 in Egypt, a pivotal decision was unanimously agreed by all countries to establish a funding mechanism to address loss and damages caused by human induced climate change. The process for doing this was also agreed by setting up a Transitional Committee (TC) on funding loss and damage with 24 members representing…
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LLA lessons feature in annual Gobeshona conference
The seven-day round-the-clock conference was a platform for local leaders of LLA from over 30 countries to share their knowledge and experience.
Last week, my young colleagues at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) spent seven days at a hotel in Dhaka hosting the third annual Gobeshona Global Conference on locally led adaptation (LLA) and resilience. This is now a well-established, fully online conference that takes place round the clock, for seven days,…
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International Women’s Day: “The urgency demands phenomenal leadership which women repeatedly demonstrate”
UN Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP27 and COP28, H.E Ms Razan Al Mubarak and Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, along with our Global Ambassadors, explain why women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life are key to accelerating the race to a net zero and resilient world. H.E Ms Razan Al Mubarak, President of the…
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The three eras of loss and damage
The world has entered the third era of loss and damage from human-induced climate change. In the first era, the experts were focused on completely avoiding the potential losses and damages from climate change by stopping – or at least drastically reducing – greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which caused the global temperature to rise. This…
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‘It is not easy, but one cannot give up’
A conversation from COP27 on inclusive locally led adaptation. When it comes to climate change adaptation in affected communities, top-down approaches where international- and national-level decision-makers drive interventions do not work. In recognition of this, efforts to promote locally led adaptation (LLA) have been growing steadily and in August 2022, over 100 organisations endorsed eight…
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What Bangladesh Can Teach the World About Talking About Climate Change
The lights are out here in my home city of Dhaka as I write these words. Cyclone Sitrang has knocked out the electricity in Bangladesh’s capital, plunging much of this city of 22 million people into darkness. But one thing we Bangladeshis are not in the dark about is climate change. We understand that overheating the planet…
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OPINION:COP27 will be the first U.N. climate summit in the era of loss and damage
The upcoming talks must agree to set up a funding facility to help countries deal with the growing harm caused by climate change impacts It has now been 30 years since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1972 – and…
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OPINION: We need a clearer roadmap to a resilient food system
As climate change hits farmers and those who depend on them, creating a smarter food system is now critical Each year the country presiding over the UN Climate Summit – which this year is Egypt – can choose key areas in which to raise ambition through the ‘presidency programme’. The news that Egypt has chosen…
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Preparations for CoP 27 in Egypt leave vulnerable countries with serious doubts on outcomes for Loss and Damage
I have just spent two weeks in Bonn, Germany attending the Subsidiary Bodies meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in preparation for the 27th Conference of Parties (CoP 27) to be held in Sharm Al Shaikh, Egypt in November this year. I have been participating in these meetings since 1992…