The Hydropolitics Academy of Turkey  at UN's Climate Change Conference (COP23).

16 November 2017 The 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)  has been  organised by Fiji and hosted at the headquarters of the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany. The 2-week event takes place 6-17 November. HPA particapeted at the conference. During the two weeks conference ,9-10 November is also themed Water Action Day, which follows up on the COP22 commitment for action on water and climate.  Outcomes and priorities emerging from this events will be disseminated. During COP 23 in Bonn, Germany, the Africa Department of UNESCO and its Contextual Analysis and Foresight Unit will organize the second edition of the round table entitled "Climate change: What is the impact for Africa?" on 13 November 2017, from 10:00a.m. to 12:00, at the UNESCO Pavilion. This side-event will gather scientist panelists to exchange and make recommendations on climate change issues that directly affect the African continent. The panelists who represent various stakeholders (NGO, Academic sector, private sector and United Nations system) will expound and develop recommendations on crucial issues raised by climate change in Africa, such as water scarcity, energy, gender, African small island states, etc. This side-event proposes to discuss different aspects of climate-induced migration, notably issues related to women in migration and to showcase a concrete example of environmental displacements from the field. It will also be an opportunity to present UNESCO’s activities in the context of migration. It is organized during the UN Climate Change Conference known as COP23. The number of international migrants worldwide has continued to grow rapidly over the past fifteen years. The increase in refugee arrivals to several European countries confronts transit and destination countries with challenges relative to adequate reception needs as well as to xenophobic hostility towards migrants. Women migrants, whose share in the global international migrant stock oscillated in recent years between 48 and 52%, are often faced with ‘triple discrimination’ – as women, as unprotected workers, and as migrants. The role of environmental changes and natural hazards in migration and population displacements is becoming increasingly important. Massive numbers of ‘environmental refugees’ are now regularly presented as one of the most dramatic consequences of climate change and natural disasters. ‘Environmental refugees’ have been defined as people who can no longer gain a secure livelihood in their homelands, because of marked environmental disruptions. The impacts of climate change that can trigger displacements are extreme weather events such as droughts, flooding, heat waves, tropical cyclones; desertification and land degradation; deforestation; soil erosion and sea-level rise. The impacts of geohazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and tsunami, are also already accountable for mass displacement. These phenomena result further in loss of land, shelter, educational facilities, employment, food insecurity, increased morbidity and mortality, and negative psychological impacts. Gender inequalities are likely to be exacerbated by climate change and related hazards/disasters, by entailing higher workloads. International climate change negotiations are  hard to follow during two weeks .Therefore the debates concern all of us can be summurized as follows  UN climate meetings, held this year in Bonn, The Basics COP: The Conference of the Parties, or the annual gathering of the 197 Parties that have joined the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty adopted in 1992 to stabilize global greenhouse gas emissions. This year's COP in Bonn is the 23rd, hence COP23. READ ON: 4 Signs to Watch at COP23 Presidency: Fiji is the President of this year's COP. The presidency rotates between five regional groups and involves political leadership and chairing meetings of the COP. Party : A country or regional group (like the EU) that has joined a particular international agreement, such as the UNFCCC or the Paris Agreement. Paris Agreement: An international climate change agreement under the UNFCCCadopted by 196 Parties at COP21 in Paris in 2015. It entered into force on November 4, 2016. This year's COP is all about how Parties will implement the goals of this Agreement. Long-term goals: The global targets established by the Paris Agreement. They include limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels, and achieving net-zero emissions (where greenhouse gas emissions do not exceed what the world's carbon sinks can absorb) in the second half of this century. All Parties to the Paris Agreement have agreed to take action in their own countries to collectively achieve these long-term goals. READ ON: Understanding the "Emissions Gap" in 5 Charts NDC: A nationally determined contribution. Refers to the 165 national climate plans countries have submitted to the UNFCCC to date (they are from 192 countries since the EU submitted one for all of its 28 member states). The NDCs describe commitments to emissions-reduction targets and policies, adaptation plans and other climate action goals. Withdrawal : Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is a lengthy process. A Party is only eligible to submit withdrawal papers three years after the Agreement enters into force for that Party, and withdrawal then takes effect one year from receipt of those papers. The United States is the only Party so far that has announced plans to withdraw, but this withdrawal process cannot be initiated for three years (November 4, 2019) and U.S. remains a Party to the Paris Agreement until that time. U.S. negotiators are participating in COP23. HPA Director Dursun Yıldız listening the one of the conference in the COP 23 CMA: Shorthand to describe the official Meeting of Parties to the Paris Agreement. (The source of the acronym is even more cumbersome: C onference of the Parties Serving as the M eeting of the Parties to the Paris A greement.) The CMA is the official governing body of the Agreement, and makes key decisions regarding its rules and processes. Modalities, Procedures and Guidelines (MPGs): The guidelines that need to be developed under the Articles of the Paris Agreement to provide Parties with instructions for achieving the Paris Agreement's purpose and long-term goals. Parties will negotiate these MPGs in addition to other key aspects of the Paris work program at COP23 and over the next year; the CMA will finalize them at COP24 in 2018. The MPGs are also commonly referred to as the Paris rulebook, implementation guidelines or operating system . READ ON: INSIDER: Negotiating Paris Agreement's Implementation Guidelines at COP23 UNFCCC bodies: In addition to the COP and CMA, a number of other bodies under the UNFCCC will play key roles in developing various aspects of the MPGs or Paris work program. These are the APA (Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement), SBI (Subsidiary Body for Implementation) and SBSTA (Subsidiary Body for Technological and Scientific Advice) Ambition Mechanism: The various elements of the Paris Agreement that combine to increase the ambition of climate action over time to ensure that countries achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. This includes the global stocktake every five years and the submission of NDCs every five years. READ ON: How the Paris Agreement Will Keep Accelerating Climate Action Enhanced NDC: All Parties have the opportunity to submit new or updated NDCs by 2020. This opportunity should be viewed in the context of the principles of enhancement and progression under the Paris Agreement. READ ON: 4 Reasons for Countries to Enhance Their NDCs by 2020 Global Stocktake: The collective moment to take stock of progress towards achieving the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. It will occur every five years, beginning in 2023, and will inform the submission of new NDCs. READ ON: INSIDER: Designing the Global Stocktake Under the Paris Agreement Talanoa Dialogue, or 2018 Facilitative Dialogue: The first moment when countries will conduct a stocktaking exercise. COP23 will see the formal launch of this Dialogue, with technical discussions happening throughout the next year, culminating in a ministerial-level event at COP24 in 2018. "Talanoa" refers to a process of inclusive dialogue through storytelling, traditional to Fiji, that the Fiji Presidency is expected to use to facilitate consensus. READ ON: INSIDER: Clear Picture Emerging for Talanoa Facilitative Dialogue in 2018 Non-state Actor: Any non-country entity, such as a city or business. Because current NDCs alone won't limit global temperature rise to 1.5-2 degrees C, mobilizing climate action through non-state actors is also critical for achieving the Paris Agreement's goals. Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action: The official platform for non-state actors to announce their climate initiatives. This platform, previously known as the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, is hosting a five-day calendar of special events in Bonn. Climate Champions: Each year, two climate champions – one appointed by the previous COP President and one by the current President – focus on action by non-state actors. A new climate champion, representing the Presidency of the following year's COP, replaces an existing one every year. Loss and damage : Severe climate change impacts that cannot be adapted to, such as the impacts of catastrophic weather events or loss of coastal areas to sea-level rise. The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage was established at COP19 in 2013, and aims to " address loss and damage associated with impacts of climate change, including extreme events and slow onset events in developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change." National Adaptation Plans: Established at COP16 in Cancun in 2010, Parties use National Adaptation Plans to identify medium- and long-term adaptation needs and strategies to address them. READ ON: At COP23, Prioritizing Adaptation and Addressing Loss and Damage Adaptation Fund: An international fund created in 2001, under the Kyoto Protocol, to support adaptation projects in developing countries. It began approving projects in 2009, and pioneered the concept of direct access. At COP 22 in Marrakech, countries agreed that the Fund should serve the Paris Agreement, following decisions that address its governance and institutional arrangements, safeguards, and operating modalities. Its final relationship to the Paris Agreement is not yet determined; this is a key area of discussion for COP 23. $100 Billion Goal : A target agreed to in 2009 at COP15 in Copenhagen, where developed countries committed to mobilize $100 billion a year of finance by 2020 from a variety of sources, including public and private finance, to help developing nations mitigate and adapt to climate change. Countries at COP23 will be looking for clarity on progress towards the goal and reassurance that it will be met. The $100 Billion Roadmap refers to the developed countries' plan, requested at COP21 in Paris, and released in 2016, for how they will increase the level of finance to meet the goal. Green Climate Fund : An international fund created in 2010 to support adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries. An initial $10.3 billion was pledged to the GCF from over 40 countries, and the Fund began approving projects in 2015. Money developed countries provide to the GCF is one, but not the only, source of funding that counts towards the $100 billion goal. At each of its meetings, the COP provides guidance to the GCF. Macron / One Planet Summit: A summit convened by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on December 12, 2017, two years after the Paris Agreement on climate change was finalized. The summit will focus on financing climate action and aligning financial flows in order to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement.     COP23: Global Action Days 9-10 November 2017  Climate action—The climate action agenda has firmly been part of the international dialogue on climate since the 2014 Climate Summit, and even before that, innovative solutions and ideas have been integral components of the climate conferences. Now that the Paris Agreement has been adopted, the action agenda has taken on a new urgency, as it encompasses all the work being taken to actually reduce emissions and build climate resiliency—and which help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Today, the Bonn Climate Conference looked at action on energy, agriculture, and water. A view from above—It was while astronaut Thomas Pesquet spent 196 days at the International Space Station that he realized how fragile the world seemed. At first, he said, there is that awesome window on the world that “space view,” but on closer inspection, it was apparent how small and how connected everything was, and how much we need to protect the planet. In his luggage was a copy of the L’Accord de Paris”—the Paris Agreement, and he is now urging people to do even more to address climate change. The inconvenience of it all— Al Gore has attended many climate conferences, and he visited the Bonn Climate Conference today with an updated message of urgency and hope that the world will move to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. “I’m gonna show you some slides. That’s what I do.” The fundamental question he asked was, “do we have to change,” and the answer was yes. Unprecedented heatwaves, floods, droughts, extreme weather and increasing numbers of refugees and migrants are starting to have political consequences. But he saw an emerging spirit around the world to tackle climate change, noting dramatic investment increases in renewable energy in countries such as Algeria, Chile and India. “We are approaching a moment in time. We are approaching a tipping point,” adding that the Bonn Conference needed to provide more momentum. Investing in water–Global financing to prioritize sustainable water management must triple to US $295 billion per year to meet Paris targets, said representatives of the international water community who co-signed a “nature-based solution declaration” on Friday, the COP’s Water Action Day. As 40 per cent of the world’s population could face water shortages by 2050, what start as local water management issues have global impact as resources become scarce and migration accelerates. “Involving both women and men in decision making and integrated water resources initiatives leads to better sustainability, governance and efficiency,” said Mariet Verhoef-Cohen, President of the Women for Water Partnership, and Co-Chair of Water Scarcity in Agriculture Platform (WASAG). Building national climate plans—Central to the success of the Paris Agreement are the nationally determined contributions—known as NDCs in climate speak parlance–of every country. But for many countries, putting these plans together, and then implementing them, requires assistance. That is why UNDP is devoting its space at the Bonn Climate Conference to discussions on the NDCs. And it’s not so easy. There are questions to be answered, what to invest in, whether, or how, to scale up certain initiatives, and what would be the financial requirements. UNDP experts say that governments are looking for “impact investment,” but determining what works best is sometimes counterintuitive. For example, investing in small scale clean energy renewable energy projects might not yield the greater emission reductions or income benefits—often investments in social development can yield far more value. In Burundi, it is estimated that a $50,000 development investment had delivered $181,000 in benefits, annually, in better health and employment. it is important to realise that even though the main task of the COP is for government delegations to negotiate and make important decisions, there are various non-governmental observers from civil society and business community, including the youth, indigenous people, etc., who hold hundreds of side events all over the city. And often these events are far more interesting than the boring “official” negotiations! Over the next two weeks, I hope to issue commentaries on the COP23 negotiations, as well as on the side events in Bonn.