LAST UPDATE | 9 Nov 2022
Lauren Boland reports from COP27
FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER Simon Coveney has emphasised the “moral obligation” on the world to act on climate because of its mounting threat to human lives.
The minister met with representatives of countries acutely vulnerable to the climate crisis in Egypt today at COP27, bringing back the message of the stark reality that “people are dying” because of the climate crisis.
COP27 is coming to the close of its fourth day in Sharm El-Sheikh, where pressure is growing on countries to successfully negotiate new climate commitments.
Coveney arrived in the coastal city last night and spent the day at the conference, where there were 12 meetings on his agenda, before leaving early tomorrow morning.
He met Somalian President Hassah Sheikh Mohamud, as well as the country’s foreign minister and climate minister, where he received an update on the security situation in Somalia and climate issues.
Speaking to Irish reporters at COP27, Coveney said that “in many ways, Somalia is an interesting case study in just how dramatic the impact of climate change can be on populations”.
“We are seeing children starve to death in Somalia because of the fifth drought season in a row, crops failing and some rural communities not being able to feed themselves,” the minister said.
That’s what we’re talking about when we talk about the moral obligation to respond to the climate challenge. Because of the change in weather patterns in certain parts of the world, people are dying.
“On top of that, Somalia has all the security challenges that they face and indeed NGOs working in that country face having to respond to that.
He described the “extent of the challenge that we face and the responsibility that countries and continents like Europe have towards other parts of the world in terms of making a serious impact on reducing emissions in a way that limit and somehow contain the climate change that is already underway in the years ahead”.
Minister Coveney later met Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is also the COP27 President, whom he met for around an hour to speak about Egypt’s aims for the outcomes of the conference, and the Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, who discuss the climate situation for small island developing states.
He also met the Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Secretary General of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as well as a team from UCC and Irish solar power company Amarenco.
“The big focus now in terms of what’s new about this COP is what’s going to happen around loss and damage,” he said.
“That is a new area of funding and what is effectively compensation or recognition of the the loss and damage that has been caused by climate change that is currently happening in many countries in the world, and there is an ongoing debate as to how we can progress that area.
“That debate started in Glasgow last year and it’s very much gathered pace in the first week of this COP27.”
That question of whether developed countries will agree to provide substantial loss and damage support to vulnerable ones will continue to dominate this COP and is considered by many to be the marker of whether or not the conference will been seen as a success.
“Ireland is working with its EU partners to try to respond to legitimate asks from many other countries in different parts of the world to recognise that along with mitigation and adaptation, there is also this other sector that needs new funding and new finance,” Coveney said.
“I’m hopeful that we can come to an agreement on that by the end of next week.”
Coveney is the second Cabinet minister to make the trip following Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s attendance at the World Leaders Summit yesterday and on Monday but he won’t be the last.
Minister of State for Overseas Development Colm Brophy, based in the Department of Foreign Affairs alongside Coveney, is attending for two days later this week.
And Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan will lead the delegation next week as the conference picks up pace during the final days of negotiations.
Addressing the World Leaders Summit yesterday, the Taoiseach said that the global climate situation is “urgent but not hopeless”.
He said that “if this generation doesn’t step up urgently, future generations will not forgive us.”
“The burden of climate change globally is falling most heavily on those least responsible for our predicament.
He said that “this generation of leaders cannot say that we didn’t know” about the climate threat.
“The science is clear – every tonne of carbon warms the world, every delay makes our task that bit bigger. Let us not waste a second more.”
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