Press |

May 16, 2016

|

Advocacy

Bonn, Germany. The first session of UN climate negotiations, after the historic Paris Agreement was forged, ends under mounting pressure on governments to deliver on their climate commitments. CARE International urges countries to keep the Paris spirit alive and scale-up efforts to stop global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Sven Harmeling, CARE International’s Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator said in Bonn:

“The Paris spirit is alive, but the implementation of the new climate deal remains a challenge. Some countries seem to be reverting back into their old position, questioning the positive processes started in Paris.”

“The civil society and the climate vulnerable countries fought hard to get the 1.5°C temperature limit into the Paris Agreement. As temperatures keep spiralling out of control, countries must urgently accelerate the transition away from dirty fossil fuels. Achieving the 1.5°C target will become extremely difficult, if countries are not able to close the gap between their ambition and actual climate actions.”

“There was some technical progress in helping vulnerable countries and people adapt, prepare and build resilience to the dangerous impacts of climate change on their livelihoods. CARE’s experience of working with poor communities shows that, to be effective, efforts must focus on promoting local gender-equitable adaptation plans and programmes. The potential new COP22 gender work programme could add to this. Unfortunately, in the negotiations on agriculture, countries remain largely divided on the way forward.”

“Next time countries will meet at COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco. COP22 needs to be the next step on the road to a climate safer and just world, but countries need to be able to provide a clearer roadmap for this, including concrete plans for scaling up financial support for adaptation in the coming years and addressing unavoidable loss and damage.”