COP28: 70 nations endorse declaration for climate-hit communities

The COP28 Presidency on Sunday formally unveiled endorsements of its COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace, as part of its focus on accelerating global efforts to make fragile and conflict-affected countries and communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

The declaration, which has already been endorsed by 70 governments and 39 organisations, enshrines a collective commitment to increase investment and actions to drive resilience in countries and communities affected by conflict, fragility or a humanitarian crisis.

Commenting on the declaration, Ambassador Al Suwaidi, COP28 Director-General said, “Climate change impacts everybody, but we are not all being affected equally. In fragile and conflict-affected settings, extreme weather events affect three times as many people annually compared to other countries. Despite this, people living in extremely fragile states receive a fraction -- up to 80 times less -- of climate finance compared to those in non-fragile states. The COP28 Presidency is committed to driving action and consensus to change this.”

The day also saw the launch of a ‘Getting Ahead of Disasters Charter’, which sets out principles for collaborative action to manage climate-related risks and protect vulnerable populations. Both the declaration and the charter are among a series of initiatives being taken at the UN Climate Change Conference to accelerate global resilience efforts.

The COP28 Presidency UAE, IGAD, and the UN also hosted presidents of countries in the Horn of Africa to introduce their regional climate security strategy, and the COP28 Presidency partnered with the UN Secretary-General to mobilise new support for ‘Early Warnings for All’, the initiative to cover 100 per cent of the globe with early warning systems by 2027.

In keeping with this, December 3 was also dedicated to health, as part of efforts by the COP28 Presidency to focus global audiences on protecting communities from the threats of climate change.

As such, the day also featured the first-ever Climate and Health Ministerial to be held at a COP, bringing together Ministers of Health and senior health delegates from over 100 countries.

The ministerial mobilised support for the COP28 Climate and Health Agenda and the ‘COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health’ that was unveiled on December 2 at the World Climate Action Summit.

It was endorsed by over 120 countries and over $1 billion of climate health financing was galvanised by partners.

Speaking on the day Ambassador Al Suwaidi noted, “While we build the energy system of tomorrow, we cannot ignore the needs of people today. We must rapidly protect and promote their health and well-being while improving the climate-resilience of healthcare systems and reduce climate-health risks.”

‘Protecting Lives and Livelihoods’ is one of four central pillars in the COP28 Presidency’s Action Agenda which focuses on people, nature, lives and livelihoods.