By Sibi Arasu | Associated Press
BENGALURU, India — Despite two weeks of U.N.-sponsored negotiations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the 197 participating countries failed to agree Saturday morning on a plan to deal with worsening global droughts. long and more serious by global warming.
The biennial negotiations, known as COP 16 and organized by a United Nations body tasked with combating desertification and droughts, attempted to create strong global mandates to legally bind and compel nations to finance systems of early warning and building resilient infrastructure in the poorest countries, particularly in Africa. who is most affected by the changes.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification released a report earlier this week warning that if global warming trends continue, nearly five billion people – including across most of Europe, in some parts of the western United States, Brazil, East Asia and central Africa – will be affected by the Earth’s land drying by the end of the century, compared to a quarter of the world’s population Today. The report also says that agriculture is particularly at risk, which can lead to food insecurity for communities around the world.
This is the fourth time that UN negotiations aimed at getting countries to agree to make more progress in tackling biodiversity loss, climate change and plastic pollution have failed to reach an agreement. consensus or yield disappointing results this year, worrying many countries, particularly the most vulnerable.
Nations participating in the Riyadh talks have decided to push back until the 2026 talks, hosted by Mongolia.
“The parties need more time to agree on how best to resolve the critical drought problem,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, head of the Convention, speaking at the end of the Riyadh talks.
Thiaw said this conference was unlike any other in the 30-year history of the talks. “We have elevated the agenda on land and drought beyond sectoral discussions, making it the cornerstone of global efforts to address interconnected challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity , migration and global security. »
More sustainable solutions to drought – such as tackling climate change – were not a topic of discussion.
Host country Saudi Arabia has been criticized in the past for blocking progress on reducing emissions from fossil fuels in other negotiations. This Gulf country is one of the world’s largest oil producers and exporters, with the world’s second largest oil reserves.
Earlier in the conference, host country Saudi Arabia, a few other countries and international banks pledged $2.15 billion for drought resilience. And the Arab Coordination Group, made up of 10 Middle East-based development banks, has committed $10 billion by 2030 to combat land degradation, desertification and drought. The funds are expected to help 80 of the most vulnerable countries prepare for worsening drought conditions.
But the UN estimates that between 2007 and 2017, droughts will have cost 125 billion dollars worldwide.
Erika Gomez, Panama’s lead negotiator, said that while no decisions have been made on drought management, significant progress has been made on other key issues.
“We have reached several key milestones, especially regarding the growing engagement of civil society and the decision on gender equality,” Gomez said. “Until the very end, the parties could not agree on whether the new drought response instrument should be legally binding or not,” said Jes Weigelt of the think tank European Climate Council TMG Research, which followed the negotiations.
“I fear that COP 16 of the UNCCD has suffered the same fate as the COPs on biodiversity and climate this year. He failed to deliver on his promises,” he said.
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