Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Work moves forward with informal meet

While the world is still battling with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate activists along with several world leaders have tried to raise the issue of environmental degradation at the United Nations. Recently,  UN’s Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee (PAICC) took forward the 2015 accord in an informal virtual meet addressing the different ways in which the world can work in unison to effectively tackle the issue. 

After PAICC conducted its first ‘ground-breaking’ formal virtual meet in June 2020, it came up with a second informal meet in September before the next formal meeting scheduled in October 2020. According to the statement by the UN, the main aim of the informal discussion was how the Committee will function by noting the substantive aspects of its draft Rules of Procedure.

The statement said, “The draft Rules of Procedure under discussion aim to address any matters necessary for the proper and effective functioning of the PAICC.  Once completed, the Rules of Procedure will address any matters necessary for the proper and effective functioning of the PAICC, including the role of the PAICC Co-Chairs, conflict of interest, timelines for the PAICC’s work, as well as reasoning in decisions of the PAICC.”

Read - Climate Change Concerns Raised At UNGA, Leaders Urged Not To Ignore It Amid COVID-19

Read - Leaders To United Nation: If Virus Doesn't Kill Us, Climate Change Will

Climate Change concerns raised at UNGA

Meanwhile, as the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to dominate the 75th United Nations General Assembly, some world leaders also acknowledged the alarming climate change situation that the world now finds itself in. Noting that environmental degradation will prove to be a greater catastrophe in the long run, the leaders echoed that if COVID-19 doesn’t end the world, "climate change will.”

While Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said the world is witnessing a version of “Environmental Armageddon”, the Alliance of Small Island States and the Least Developed Countries Group said, “In another 75 years, many... members may no longer hold seats at the United Nations if the world continues on its present course.” 

Fiji PM had also cited the devastating wildfires in the United States that have taken hundreds of lives along with the loss of glaciers that amounts greater than many islands. According to Bainimarama, 2020 was meant to be the year the world leaders “took back our planet” but the unprecedented global health crisis diverted the focus as well as the resources. 

Read - Komodo Dragons Could Become Extinct In Few Decades Due To Climate Change: Study

Read - UK At Risk Of Losing Climate Research Centre Contract Over Brexit Row With European Union

Image: AP