Earth Today | Key climate questions still unanswered - Small islands disappointed by ‘pace, tone, approach’ at Bonn talks

WHILE NOT discounting that some progress was made at the recently concluded United Nations Bonn Climate Change Conference, SB64, small island states are less than pleased with how critical matters, including financing and adaptation, were handled.

“The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is expressing grave concern that countries have not laid a strong foundation for success at COP31 [the global climate talks set for Antalya, Türkiye in November]. AOSIS emphasises that countries must demonstrate genuine commitment to the spirit of multilateralism to meet one of the greatest challenges of our time,” said the group in a June 18 statement.

In fact, they insist that the progress at Bonn was out of step with the scale of escalating climate change impacts. Those impacts are fuelled by the human consumption of fossil fuels such as oil and gas, that drive emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide; and include the blistering heat now plaguing countries in the Caribbean as well as Europe and North America, with significant negative implications for public health. 

The impacts also include extreme weather events, the likes of Hurricane Melissa, which pummelled Jamaica as a Category 5 storm last October, causing multiple deaths, interrupted livelihoods, and billions of dollars in damage. 

AOSIS, which represents the interests of 39 low-lying coastal and small island developing countries in climate change and sustainable development processes, said they are “disappointed”, not only by the “pace, tone and approach to discussions” but also by “the lack of engagement on important matters related to finance”.

“AOSIS expected a more constructive approach, especially as it relates to the issues of adaptation finance and transparency,” it noted.

 “AOSIS is also deeply concerned by the attempts that were made across agenda items to place the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit in doubt; to overlook and diminish its significance as a lifeline for SIDS; and to undermine its policy relevance for this process. these approaches are completely out of step with the urgency we face now to limit the scale and duration of any overshoot,” statement said.

The 1.5 degrees Celsius target for temperature increase is one that has been hard fought for by Caribbean and other SIDS, even as the science shows that temperatures above that level will significantly undermine life as it is now known in the Caribbean and other SIDS.

“Adaptation is expected to be more challenging for ecosystems, food and health systems at 2 degrees Celsius of global warming than for 1.5 degrees Celsius (medium confidence). Some vulnerable regions, including small islands and least developed countries, are projected to experience high multiple interrelated climate risks even at global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius (high confidence),” reads a section of the Summary for Policymakers of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“Limits to adaptive capacity exist at 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming, become more pronounced at higher levels of warming and vary by sector, with site-specific implications for vulnerable regions, ecosystems, and human health (medium confidence),” the document added.

AOSIS has said that they were also concerned by the slow pace of the discussions on mitigation, which left parties “unable to move to an informal note or textual basis for negotiation”; as well as the “sluggish” progress on adaptation fund matters, “especially considering clean text that is ready to be transmitted on technical mandates”.

“SIDS are grappling with fiscal constraints and intensifying climate impacts. Securing concessional and accessible finance is imperative for effective climate action,” AOSIS noted.

As to adaptation, the small island states noted their “extreme disappointment” in how negotiations were conducted since, despite having turned up “ready to participate”, they were “consistently given texts with little to no time to engage before informal sessions were meant to begin”.

 “Further delay on delivery and implementation is not acceptable to the women, men, and children who are paying with their lives and livelihoods for a crisis they did not cause.  As we look now to COP31, if countries do not arrive with the ambition and political will required to drive real change, history will forever remember their choice to neglect the communities and environment they were entrusted to protect,” AOSIS predicted.

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