Climate Wins

Tonight at the UN Climate Talks (COP17), the UNFCCC Secretariat will launch a new initiative, “Momentum for Change” as supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Momentum for Change aims to showcase efforts that have proved effective across communities in developing countries, either in increasing resilience to the effects of climate change, or in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Opening statements are expected from South African President Jacob Zuma, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres.

The event will present ten exemplary adaptation and mitigation projects from different regions around world that will act as models that can be replicated in other countries, and can be scaled up into larger frameworks for action.

Projects showcased will vary from simple solar bottle light projects in the Philippines, to larger scale micro-insurance schemes for crop farmers across the Horn of Africa, and will be open for question and answer by the audience and press.

Nicholas Stern who will be moderating the discussion supports showcasing on the ground development initiatives in the lead up to the final negotiations.

“The confidence of where things are going, are crucial for decision making. You are more likely to get an agreement at the top, if people are able to see visible results on the ground,” he explains. “Often negotiators and policy makers become disengaged with what has really being agreed upon. They commit to a 2°C target as a maximum global average, but do not curb emissions that are necessary to reach that goal.”

Stern published ‘The Stern Review’, a report on the economics of climate change in 2006, where he urged for an international response to climate change built on a shared vision of long-term goals and agreements on frameworks that will accelerate action over the next decade.

Tonight’s launch will be the first of a series of platforms launched by the UNFCCC Secretariat that recognise and encourage opportunities that benefit people directly whilst simultaneously contributing to global efforts to control emissions and enhance adaptive capacity.

By Awa Momtazian, photo by Laura Owsianka. 

Awa Momtazian