largeto COP28 Of Dubai it opened with the foot on the gas and many revolutions. On the first day, an agreement was reached on the hotly debated issue “Loss and damage” fund. and continued with the adoption of the “Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action”. Let’s see what the first, initial, small wins of the conference are
There are faint signs of hope, but COP28 is anything but calm and predictable. The first days of the conference were also marked by moments of intense tension, such as when the Iranian delegation walked out of the negotiations in protest at Israel’s presence. Some shadows are cast by the supposed deals on natural gas and oil that the COP28 president would aspire to, Sultan Al Jaberat the top of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), and which would clearly conflict with the goals of the World Climate Conference.
The first day, however, brought good news.
The conference effectively began with the agreement to create a “loss and damage” fund for the most vulnerable countries
A small victory, even if there are still many question marks about the role of the World Bank and some doubts about the actual availability of the necessary capital. Italy will allocate 100 million of the total 100 billion expected worldwide.
What stole the show on the second day was the adoption of the ‘Declaration on Agriculture’, adopted by 134 nations. However, the focus is now on grounding those promises. In fact, although it is a big step forward, for now it remains just a list of principles which, unless followed by a timetable consisting of intermediate stages and allocated funds, will lead to nothing. After all, as we know, many words are said in the various KOPs.
According to tradition, the Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterresunderlined the urgent need to move from rhetoric to action by completely phasing out fossil fuels
What then caught our attention was the whole series of doubts, also raised by Guterres himself, for the alleged neutrality of the conference presidentsuspected conflict of interest for the goals of decarbonizing and abandoning traditional energy sources.
Hope always remains the hope of a real and concrete commitment to address the global climate crisis.
Federica Gasbarro works with The Wom independently and is in no way associated with the advertisements that may appear in this content.
Subscribe to our WhatsApp channel!