COP29, the 29th Conference of Parties to be held in Baku Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22, 2024, is a special one. It sets the stage for two critical agendas, starting 2025. One: push Climate Finance beyond the $100 million-mark that was set earlier, and two, set further stretch targets on Emission Reduction by countries, in their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
While the NDCs are scheduled for an update and upgrade in 2025, countries are parallelly expected to submit National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by 2025. The NAP Progress Report published by UNFCCC in 2023 details the risks that developing countries believe they will face as a result of climate change and their proposed strategies to adapt to them. The single largest hazard perceived by countries is that of drought, with 69% of all NAPs mentioning the same.
A large number of countries rate damage caused due to extreme events as the biggest threat they face: 59% of NAPs created mentioned abnormally high temperatures, 49% talked about floods, and others underlined the fear of sea-level rise, forest fires, and tropical cyclones (UNFCCC, 2023). Consequently, the adaptation plans largely focus on agriculture and food security, adding up to 48% of submissions. The next large chunk of plans include water resources, ecosystem services and infrastructure. That ecosystem services feature in 35% of all plans is a welcome move towards recognising nature as an important partner in our fight against climate change.
COP29 aims to direct meaningful conversation on the climate-nature-land-cities connection. Nature-based solutions can help restore lands and halt climate change, while making cities more resilient to climate change impact. As much as 37% of the climate change mitigation targets mentioned in the Paris Agreement can be met through nature-based solutions (World Bank, 2022).
COP29 is also a milestone one since it lies sandwiched between two COP16s. One is the Biodiversity COP16 being held in Cali, Colombia, in October 2024, and the other is UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in December 2024. The coming together of all three COPs is of special significance to the Global South.
Many developing countries with negligible historic and, in many cases, present emissions, are most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Drought is the largest threat that they face today, making their lands increasingly prone to desertification. This is a double whammy, since these are mostly agrarian economies whose development depends significantly on soil fertility. Little wonder then that most of their plans are about agriculture and food security.
At the same, some of the largest biodiversity hotspots are in the Global South. As we rapidly lose biodiversity (with 69% of species killed over the past 50 years), protection of these hotspots is now a global necessity. All hands need to reach out to the developing countries so as to allow them to provide their citizens a life of dignity and well-being, hitherto denied, while they save the planet’s species and forests. COP29 aims to get them the $1 trillion that they so sorely need, to save humanity from plunging into a catastrophic future.
Jayati teaches and consults on Business Sustainability, in multiple B schools and organizations. She publishes papers on Sustainable Development with Springer International. Her community initiative, Dilli Meri Jaan Walks, aims at increasing public participation and action on conserving Delhi's biodiversity and history.
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