An opportunity to turn the balance of climate action in favor of Arab countries

Updating CDN plans and raising climate ambition is a priority on the agendas of Arab countries

Modest and uneven achievements in climate action in MENA countries

COP26 climate conference is an opportunity to tip the scales of climate action in favor of Arab countries

The Covid-19 pandemic has turned the scales upside down, as the long-awaited 2020 is no longer decisive for the issue of climate change, which has become the second on the agenda of countries in the Middle East and Africa of the North, because of the response to this current health crisis.

The twenty-sixth United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) was supposed to be held last November in the Scottish city of Glasgow, but due to the global and continuing impact of Covid-19, it has been postponed until next year, according to a released statement. In early April, the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

This postponement, along with the concern to respond to the Corona pandemic, has given a great impetus to countries in the Middle East and North Africa, with the exception of the United Arab Emirates, not to present new long-term goals. term this year and to determine the way forward to avoid the global climate emergency crisis, or to update specific contribution plans. At the national level, which she presented earlier to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention, to be more ambitious and increase its climate commitments,

The plans for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted by twenty-one Arab countries under the Paris Agreement on climate change included mitigation and adaptation actions, but seven countries did not include in their reports on emission reduction targets (Bahrain, Qatar, Sudan and Somalia). And the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), according to what was stated in the Arab Report on Sustainable Development released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in early June 2020.

Since then, and over the year 2019 to date, countries in the Middle East and North Africa have taken a set of decisions and actions to adapt to the effects of climate change and reduce gas emissions. greenhouse effect, to fulfill their obligations in the Paris Agreement or to serve their economic interests, without affecting the continuity of its systems dependent on oil and gas, which represent the vast majority of its revenues.

For example, the UAE had decided to increase the target percentage of energy to be achieved through renewable sources, from 24% of total energy produced to 27% by 2021.

The government has approved the UAE 2050 Energy Strategy, which aims to increase the percentage of clean energy to 50%, of which 44% will come from renewable sources. This is part of its orientations to achieve the principle of sustainability at the level of all sectors, in particular the energy sector.

However, the United Arab Emirates were the first of the Arab countries to present the amended version, and the most ambitious of the nationally determined contributions, to the secretariat of the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in which they are committed to a reduction of 23.5% compared to the normal scenario, in 2030.
In addition, the State of Kuwait issued a set of urgent decisions and measures to deal with the climate crisis, the most important of which was the formation of the National Committee for Preparedness and Response to the Effects of Climate Change and Disasters. environmental health, with the aim of assessing the current situation and developing plans to this end, while identifying indicators related to health and preparing and implementing awareness-raising and training programs, to strengthen capacities, in coordination with the competent authorities.

Moving to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he announced several “green” initiatives and programs, even though they did not directly address climate action and did not address its effects. Among his recent decisions, the Saudi monarch, King Salman bin Abdulaziz announced, at the virtual summit of the twenty, chaired by the Kingdom, at the end of November 2020, to “launch a national program for a circular carbon economy, in order to consolidate and accelerate current efforts to achieve sustainability globally. “.

By going to the Arab Mashreq and North Africa, Jordan has implemented a series of measures, including a project to support slums to adapt to the effects of climate change, and prepare climate plans for three municipalities in the second category, which are Deir Alla, Laayoune in Jerash, and another in the south, in addition to launching a Green City of Amman project, to increase the Municipality’s adaptability in the transport and lighting, which will be implemented for a total estimated cost of nine million dinars.

As for the countries of North Africa, the achievements of Tunisia and Morocco have appeared on the scene during the past period, through the implementation of numerous green energy projects, which include, for example, at Kingdom of Morocco, the development of an energy system for smart buildings, and ecological construction based on the exploitation of fibrous waste for the brick industry, and the crystallization and implementation of an experimental agricultural factory powered by solar energy to adapt to climate change, as well as the development of new sources of biofuels from the remains of olive crushing units.

However, the unstable political and security situation witnessed by some countries in the region was the reason for their delay in implementing projects and programs that would help them meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement, such as the Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Egypt to some extent.

However, these efforts by countries in the Middle East, North Africa and even the world have not “raced with the coming climate crisis, but rather still very late,” according to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, even with the hypothetical summit of climate aspirations, which was held in December. (December) 2020, organized by the United Nations, the United Kingdom and France, in partnership with Italy and Chile, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement.

With 75 leaders from all continents of the world announcing “new commitments to step up action on climate change and implement the Paris Agreement”, except countries in the Middle East and North Africa , of which only Iraq participated in the conference, as they recently acceded to the Paris Agreement. The world is not moving in the right direction after five years of passing the agreement, in which countries pledged to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Nonetheless, the conference is seen as a milestone in efforts to prepare for the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26), to be held in November 2021, thereby placing countries in the Middle East and Africa of the North to be well prepared to enter the negotiations from a position of strength and of It will address the issues outstanding since the COP25 climate conference, such as the issue of financing climate adaptation capacities.

The importance of the conference also lies in the fact that one of the axes of negotiation on its agenda concerns the determination of the mechanisms for the implementation of Article VI of the Paris Agreement (global carbon markets). , which depend on the return of the United States to the agreement, after their formal withdrawal in early November 2020, New U.S. President Joe Biden’s promises in this regard have renewed hope for major and positive changes that could occur in the global landscape with regard to climate action and environmental policies.

Among the measures that the countries of the region must take as a preventive measure for the conference is to reconsider the national development plans that they had previously put in place, to take into account the changes imposed by the Corona pandemic, so that the issue adaptation to the effects of climate change is integrated, and plans are prepared to rehabilitate the structures. Infrastructure in various health and other sectors, to become more capable of dealing with such crises in the future.

This step will also help improve the economic system of countries, and within their various development sectors (health, transport, water), to be able to create more operational opportunities and enable poor and more vulnerable communities to resist the effects of this phenomenon.

Among other things that countries must do as well, start the process of updating the nationally determined contribution plans, and include the so-called (ICTU), which are tools to monitor achievements in this regard, with the need to raise the conditional ambition, which holds the developed countries, not the governments. In the Middle East and North Africa, greater commitments are represented in the need to provide the necessary funding to implement adaptation projects, as well as the transfer of technology.

However, in order to ensure that governments take these steps, and before the arrival of the climate conference, it is incumbent on civil society institutions in the region to implement an electronic storm early in the next 2021. , and in the form of digital campaigns, to gain public support and influence decision-makers by shedding light. Spotlight on the impacts of climate change and its repercussions on socio-economic development, human health, migration and displacement, food security and terrestrial and marine ecosystems, especially since the COVID-19 epidemic did not slow down its increasing pace.

Not only that, but the institutions themselves should improve communication and interaction with each other at the regional level, in an attempt to implement these campaigns simultaneously and on a large scale, with the selection of a number from influential figures to participate, from different age groups, until they move into the field. And after the epidemiological situation in the countries allows it.

It should also pressure governments to allow them to be an active and supportive partner in the process of updating national development plans and nationally determined contributions, to ensure that programs adaptation and mitigation are in line with the reality of climate change within them, and to ensure that the most vulnerable groups are included and empowered to be able to withstand their impacts.

However, the important moment for civil society institutions and countries will come when the COP26 climate change conference meets, as it becomes clearer and steadily increasing and the feeling that the next 12 months represent the last opportunity to do so. effectively facing the danger posed by global warming