Rebecca Wells
Founded 76 years ago on the 24th of October, the United Nations has, since its conception, been the global centre of diplomacy and international relationships, peacemaking and security. Having received over ten Nobel Peace prizes, the organisation and its colleagues focus on century-defining global issues and sustainable development goals. They do this in order to promote and influence uptake of social, economic, diplomatic and economic agendas worldwide.
THE UN AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Since 1945, the member states of the UN, or countries which affiliate themselves with the international organisation, has grown almost four times, from 51 member states upon foundation to 193 today. We are at a major crossroads right now. The climate crisis is demanding global attention, unity and immediate action, and the UN is a key player in leading the fight against it.
COP26 is the UN’s upcoming climate change conference which boasts an impressive cohort of attendees. This year it is being hosted by the United Kingdom’s government in Glasgow. Chairs are available for all member state representatives, encouraging intergovernmental discussion surrounding the climate crisis. These discussions aim to catalyse the development of pledges, which hope to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and halt increases in global temperature rises.
A STEP BACK IN TIME
“The joining of governments has been delayed and with it, so has their climate action.”
COP21 took place in 2015 in Paris, and made history by giving birth to the Paris Agreement. This is a pledge, which has been signed by 189 countries, to keep the rise of global temperature levels to below two degrees Celsius. The Paris Agreement keeps countries accountable towards their climate goals, known as their Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, by enforcing transparency surrounding the countries’ progress every five years.
This year’s climate conference was meant to occur last year, five years after the Paris Agreement was signed. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had to be postponed. This means that the joining of governments has been delayed and with it, so has their climate action.
BUT WHY IS COP26 SO IMPORTANT?
Not only is November’s discussion coming a year late, one report issued by the International Energy Agency earlier this year suggests that, in order to actually reach a net zero emissions scenario, all new oil exploration must come to an end. This is something the UN must take into consideration. It goes without saying that these intergovernmental discussions surrounding how the global economy is going to handle this huge shift of resource management are vital. The conference works in a productive way by providing a deadline by which governments should propose an actionable plan to halt their country’s carbon dioxide emissions.
“The conference is a space for voices otherwise left out of the conversation.”
COP26 also facilitates communication across borders and promotes negotiation on how we can tackle a global threat together. It is this communal discussion which COP promotes that makes it so vital. Research by Civicus explains how the conference is a space for voices otherwise left out of the conversation. Jessica Dercontée, spokesperson for the Collective Against Environmental Racism, describes this in detail by arguing that “although the current setting of COP26 has the major limitation of lacking diverse representation”, for two weeks, the leaders of the global north will be able to hear “the vital knowledge of the global south and a diverse set of voices”. These voices are the ones at the forefront of the climate emergency, and their presence amongst other leaders hopes to guide towards a more intersectional plan for a sustainable economy.
WHO GETS A SEAT AT THE TABLE?
Samim Hoshmand, climate change director at Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency, was recently forced to flee his country. As he said in an interview with Climate Home News’ editor Chloé Farand, “climate change is a threat in Afghanistan with or without the Taliban”. Whether a seat should be open to Afghanistan’s current government remains a prominent discussion. However, the idea that climate change is a big enough threat to transcend polarising political ideology certainly hammers home the message that a global effort is necessary in order to combat it. One country becoming net-zero or climate negative holds little significance if they are not joined by the global community.
“The larger governments really need to focus on the effect of mobilising the money they have promised.”
Margot Thompson-Wells, United Nations Foundation
This idea of collaboration across governments regardless of political ideology works on a similar strand of thought to what Margot Thompson-Wells, Partnerships & Engagement Associate at the United Nations Foundation, tells me over our Zoom chat. In her view, the best possible outcome from COP26 from a global perspective is an acknowledgement that we are above all a community, and one which also bears “in mind everyone’s stances. The poorer governments are going to have a very different view. The larger governments really need to focus on the effort of mobilising the money they have promised and following through whilst recognising that they are the ones who have caused most of this”.
WHAT IS THE UN FOUNDATION AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT TO THE UN?
“If I tell people that I work at the UN Foundation, they just assume I work at the UN, which is fair enough”, Thompson-Wells laughs, but doesn’t hesitate to correct the misunderstanding. According to Thompson-Wells, the UN Foundation “stands separate, but supports the UN”. It came to be in 1988 when Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, wanted to donate $1bn to the United Nations. However, they could not accept his private donation, so they set up the foundation in lieu.
“The foundation does a lot more of their own campaigns now” says Thomson-Wells, rather than just investing in those set up by and for the United Nations. They will piggy-back off of the United Nation’s focus areas, and as Thompson-Wells explains, “there are actually over 20 campaigns and initiatives, which people don’t even know are part of the foundation”.
SAY IT WITH SCIENCE
One such campaign has recently come about, which seeks to tackle the spread of disinformation surrounding the climate crisis in the media. This is in support of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This campaign, ‘Say it with Science’, works on the idea that informed discussion of the climate crisis is what leads to the most productive conversations around solutions. As has been suggested, “climate delay is the new climate denial”, and an unclear view of the facts, leads to hesitancy in action amongst those who need to implement it the most.
“Climate change is too broad of a concept for anybody to understand totally.”
As a climate communicator, I have found one of the largest barriers to educated discussion amongst friends and family leaning towards the denialism side of the debate, is the social and spatial gap between them and the issue. Climate change is too broad of a concept for anybody to understand totally, which is why bitesize pieces of information are so key. In order for real change to occur, compassion needs to be had. People in certain communities are less anxious to commit to economy-shifting practices because they can’t relate themselves to the plight of those individuals who are and have been at the frontline of the crisis for so long. As such, compassion, collaboration and communication are vital for the UN, and society at large, if we want to combat climate change.
Featured Image courtesy of Mathias P.R. Reding via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
