Developing nations should not bear the brunt of the climate crisis caused by the industrialized world's historical emissions. This was the resounding message as the Solomon Islands, India, and Iran, among others, presented their cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The conclusion of the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) brings with it a blend of urgency, frustration, and a glimmer of hope for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Despite uneven economic recovery since the pandemic, poverty, inequality, and food insecurity continue to worsen, including in the Asia-Pacific region, which used to fare better than the rest of the Global South.
At The Hague, the United Nation’s highest court heard Fiji, a small island nation, lay out its arguments on the threat posed by climate change and the legal obligations, especially those of developed nations.
In the municipality of Congo, in the state of Paraiba, in the driest territory of Brazil's semi-arid region, an original initiative seeks to prove it is possible to overcome several challenges concerning family farming. It is the EcoProductive Pilot Project.
A few UN member states responsible for the majority of emissions have breached international law, Ralph Regenvanu, a special climate envoy from Vanuatu, told the International Court of Justice in the Hague in his opening address.
The intersection of law, diplomacy, and science will come under the spotlight at the International Court of Justice hearings starting today (Monday, December 2, 2024) in The Hague as the court starts its deliberations into the obligations under international law of UN member states to protect people and ecosystems from climate change.
Indigenous craftsperson Alicia Pech doesn’t know about the
Maya Train (TM), the Mexican government's most emblematic megaproject that runs through five states in the country’s south and southeast
With machete in hand, Salvadoran farmer Damián Córdoba weeds the undergrowth covering the trunk of what was once a leafy tree to show the deforestation taking place on the Santa Adelaida farm, where a company seeks to install a solar park in western El Salvador.
Long before the transformative discovery of its offshore oil in 2015, Guyana had made a strong pledge to decarbonization and climate action as set forth in its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030. The development of its oil industry has led to remarkable economic growth in Guyana, including a 62.3% growth rate in 2022.
As climate change wreaks havoc across the globe, its effects are most acutely felt by those living in vulnerable coastal and rural communities.
Chile, a country rich in solar and wind energy and with huge photovoltaic power stations and wind turbines in its elongated territory, managed to change its grid by incorporating renewable energies, which account for an installed capacity equivalent to 43.8 % of its electricity production.
At COP29, Saint Kitts and Nevis, the smallest independent nation in the Western Hemisphere, stands as a beacon of climate action and renewable energy ambition.
Education is under threat as multiple crises push children out of school and into harms way. COP29 Baku could break historical barriers that hold back education from playing a unique, critical role to accelerate the ambition of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, protecting people and planet from life-threatening risks of climate change.
The industrial revolution set the ball rolling towards global warming. Today, developing nations are on the frontlines of a climatic carnage and its snowballing effects. Developed nations bear a financial responsibility to provide climate finance to developing nations, as financing the transition to a low-carbon economy is an urgent, critical matter.
"This
Finance COP has to deliver. I think this is a crucial moment for the COP process," said Shantal Munro-Knight, Barbados Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Barbados, a nation at the forefront of climate advocacy, continues to push boundaries at COP29, the so-called Finance COP. Knight shared her views on the state of negotiations, the urgency of climate finance, and the innovative solutions her country is championing.
As the world grapples with ongoing armed conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza, advocacy for a more proactive approach to understanding and effectively responding to the needs of children affected by both armed conflict and climate-induced crises is growing.
The irony is that whatever the stakes, finance always features as the “crying onion” at each COP. Hence for the COP29, dubbed the finance COP, no wonder we reach an ocean of tears—especially in view of the current geopolitics, when the world is facing the likelihood of having its historically biggest financial contributor on climate pull out.
As COP29 negotiations continue in Baku, agricultural leaders are pitching the need for climate-resilient and data-driven solutions to support marginalized farmers and low-income communities.
Life in remote, marginal areas, drylands and deserts is increasingly becoming difficult because rural people are in the crosshairs of an unprecedented climate onslaught. A substantial number of lives and livelihoods are on the line, as nearly half of the world's population, 3.3 billion, lives in rural areas and 90 percent of them are in developing countries.
"Though I come from a 'no worries' island, climate change is deeply worrisome for us," Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell told IPS in an exclusive interview at COP29 currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Asked how his country was recovering from Hurricane Beryl, Mitchell said the island in the last 24 hours “experienced flash flooding and landslides... So, apart from Hurricane Beryl, we are also dealing with other climate catastrophes.”