The Paris Agreement and Trump Presidency

by admin | Nov 11, 2016 | MYD2016

Hot topic at the year’s biggest climate negotiations – the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) was the US elections! With climate critique Donald Trump elected President of the world’s largest democracies, days after the historic Paris Agreement came into force the negotiations were flooded with great disappointment but driven to achieve more despite the hiccup.

President Barack Obama was influential in achieving the Paris Agreement at last year’s conference COP21. He changed American and world politics towards a new era by divesting on Fossil fuels and focusing on clean energy. However, the world is of the view that new presidential elect Donald Trump will reverse this course and withdraw from the climate change negotiation process entirely. The frustration and disappointment was evident in the American delegation at COP22 including the youth delegates of SustainUS. 20 years of negotiations and lobbying by environmental groups both in the US and globally, to achieve the Paris Agreement is at stake with Donald Trump as president.

Donald Trump has been quoted for referring to climate change as a “hoax”, one of the few world leaders to share this stance in a world affected by the impacts on climate change daily. The real estate magnate has keen interest in withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, which is a four year process. The billions of financial aid promised for the Green Climate Fund which was established to provide the financials means to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions will instead be invested in America’s coal industry which Trump promised to reboot if elected president. However, if this comes into force the agreement will be dysfunctional for a mere 3 to 4 months of the last year of the Trump Presidency.  

The President-elect has promised to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement within the first 100 days of him taking office while withdrawing all payments of US financial contributions to the UN global warming programs and the negotiators in Marrakech are of the view that it would seriously damage the credibility of the US.

SustainUS (an organisation of youth advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the US) organised an action at the COP22 venue in conjunction with the US election results. They were of the view that the Presidential to-do list should be a People’s to-do list and that the 2016 election was a “clear message that it has always been up to us, the people to prioritize and move forward issues of Climate Justice”

Source: SustainUS

The the only ray of hope today the 9th of November, 2016 is that even under a Trump Presidency, states like the New York and California are still pursuing their own climate policies and the Four year withdraw process of the Paris Climate Deal will ensure that he will not be able to alter the Paris Agreement for the entire duration of his US Presidency.

Tina Johnson speaking for the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at COP22 on her reflections of the new Presidency and its impacts on the climate change movement was quoted saying “We are down, but we are definitely not out.”  

Dulanga Witharanage reporting from Bab Ighli COP22 village, Marrakesh where 20,000 participants from across the world have gathered to try and advance the Paris Climate Agreement.

Written by Dulanga Witharanage
Edited by Shakirin Shahrul Jamal (Shak)

What to Expect at COP22

by admin | Nov 11, 2016 | MYD2016

Speakers for the side event on the expectation for COP22. From L-R: Meena Raman from the Third World Network; Xie Ji, representative of Government of China; Ravi Prasad, representative of Government of India; Youba Sokona, representative of Mali; and, Mariam Williams from South Centre

One of the events which I find most helpful amongst the other events I attended and which the conversations I was a part of for day one at COP22 was definitely the speech given by Mr Ravi Prasad, a representative of the government of India for the UN climate talks as he furnished a better sense of the key issues that would be anticipated at this COP. He stated that there is a high expectation in Marrakech after the achievement of the agreement reached in Paris last year at COP21.

Countries show an intention to be bound by the Paris Agreement once they have deposited their signatories. Thus, COP22 is crucial in getting the implementation process and framing of guidelines started.

One of the most pertinent issues that have been highly discussed at the climate talks is the process of entry into force of the Paris Agreement and how it would affect the countries which are still in the process of completing their domestic ratification. In spite of how some countries have yet to complete their domestic processes on time, they are given some leeway in putting these processes in place nonetheless as inclusive decision-making is a hallmark of the Paris Agreement.

The second issue concerns pre-2020 actions whereby although the Paris Agreement comprises mainly post-2020 actions, we were informed that we should not dismiss pre-2020 actions. The regime of pre-2020 actions includes the ratification of the Doha amendment of the Kyoto Protocol and also a revisit of the ambition that the developed countries have taken. However, the intention to provide support to the developing countries in regards to the provision of the means of implementation in terms of finance for adaptation, mitigation, technological transfer and capacity building have not been affected.

Therefore, two facilitative dialogues will be expected of COP22 to accelerate pre-2020 actions i.e. the facilitative dialogue discussion which focuses on 2018, as well as the immediate actions which ought to be taken in hopes of mapping out the necessary pre-2020 actions for countries to bring forth to the table, and consequently, creating a solid foundation for post-2020 operationalisation of the Paris Agreement.

Not forgetting to mention the third aspect of COP22 which is equally as important as the aforementioned issues – the development of technological transfer. As far as this issue is concerned, the crux of it is how developing countries would be able to transform into a long-term low emission development by acquiring technologies which are both affordable and accessible in order for them to achieve such transition. It is worth noting that a gap would be inevitable considering that this is a time-consuming process. There may be difficulties for the developing countries to adopt such technologies as there might be issues in relation to cost, as well as patent and intellectual property rights.

Without adequate clarity on how technology transfer works, it would be very difficult for developing countries to meet their climate action plan. Thus, there is a need to ensure that the groundwork of the transfer of technology is expedited at the climate talks to enable the developing countries to undertake what is expected of them and what they are trying to achieve in terms of their climate target if they are provided with such technology.

There is also the issue of enhancing the existing transparency framework by putting a system of reporting on different actions in place to provide more clarity, and how each transparency of action corresponds with a similar level of transparency of support. This could help the developing countries to plan their actions better if their NDCs project a clear need for support in terms of finance so they could receive the level of support needed by the developed countries to ensure that the developing countries can achieve their climate goals.

All of these are some of the elements to accelerate the momentum of what have been agreed at COP21 in hopes that there would be a fruitful interaction at COP22.

Written by Choy Moon Moon
Edited by Elaine See

Opening Day of COP22

by admin | Nov 10, 2016 | MYD2016

(Bab Ighli, 8th November 2016) COP 22 was officially opened on a chilling rainy day in the city of Marrakesh. Opening remarks from Marie-Ségolène Royal (COP21 President) and Salaheddine Mezouar (COP22 President) addressed the right of development of the vulnerable communities in Africa, besides repeating highlighted that sustainable development is very required in Africa. Patricia Espinosa (Executive Secretary) and Hoesung Lee (Chairman of IPCC) also delivered opening speech, reiterated that COP22 will be an Action COP, where mechanism in Paris Agreement shall be clarified and translated into action.

The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP), Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) and the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Paris Agreement (APA) has also kick-started. With that, the focus on COP22 is very much related to determining targeting period of the respective parties, clarification of adaptation and Loss and Damage, as well as Green Climate Fund.

The Malaysian Pavilion has also been set up in Zone D to showcase not just the rich natural resources in the country, but also some of the latest action plan and strategy addressing climate change for instance, The National Ecotourism Plan Malaysia 2016 -2025 which highlighted ecotourism top-spot in Malaysia, and the ecological approach to manage tourism activities in these areas.. A number of programs such as climate finance, renewable energy, and waste management are also being scheduled to take place throughout the 2 weeks at COP22, with Minister of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment arriving on 14th Nov 2016 to officiate the launching of the Malaysian Pavilion.

The first day of Malaysian Youth Delegation 2016 at COP22 was wrapped up with several sessions with youth constituency such as YOUNGO and environmental Civil Society Organisations (CSO) like Third World Network (TWN) and Climate Action Network (CAN), followed by a feast at the welcome dinner. The sessions with CSOs has thus far provided in-depth insights to the youth delegates especially matters on Transgenerational Inequality, the dispute between Global North and Global South, Climate Finance and Technology Transfer as well as understanding the gap between GHG emission and emission trajectories.

Photo Credit: Manila Bulletin

Written by Kelvin Diong
Edited by Elaine See

The Transition of COP from the Global North to the South

by admin | Nov 10, 2016 | MYD2016

Photo Credit: Yahoo News

The twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) serving as the 1st meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1) commenced today with the election of Mr Salaheddine Mezouar of Morocco as its President. The Bab Ighli village site witnessed a transition of from French to Moroccan Presidency today. COP22 is widely speculated to be the COP of Action.

The divide of Global North and South can be clearly witnessed across all preceding COPs and will be visible at COP22 as well. The Brandt Line was developed to represent geographically the richer and poorer nations. According to the model, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand, most of the richer countries of the world are located in the Northern Hemisphere whilst poorer countries are located in the tropics and the African continent, which falls on the Southern Hemisphere. However, over time the North-South divide was deemed less accurate with countries such as Malaysia and Argentina have above global average GDP. Yet, Malaysia remains as one of the very few counties from the South voicing out at the climate negotiations organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Paris agreement focusses on developing countries in the south and how they take action for climate change adaptation and mitigation whilst promoting developed countries in the North to support the developing world financially. The baton was passed from the Paris; the global North to Marrakesh, the global South to host COP22 accordingly.

Morocco has a unique geographic location, representing not only the Arab world but North Africa as well. In a region renowned for its use of fossil fuel, Morocco aims to be driven 52% by renewable energy in 2030 and has embarked on its journey of achieving it. In one of the world’s most water-stressed areas, Morocco is powering forward with its action plans to combat climate change. In a world driven by western politics, these years climate negotiations have been shadowed by the US elections.

Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects mankind regardless of country, race, and religion although its immediate effects are witnessed mostly in the global south. In a week where the world’s attention is focused on the US elections, lie the global south; the most vulnerable to climate change hosting one of the most important climate negotiations the world will ever witness.

Written by Dulanga Witharanage
Edited by Elaine See