Indigenous COP2
World leaders gathered at this crucial climate summit secured new agreements on Tuesday to end deforestation and reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, building momentum as the conference prepared to shift to a more grueling two weeks of negotiations on how to avert the planet’s catastrophic warming.
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Capping off two days of speeches and meetings, President Biden on Tuesday said the United States pledged to be a “partner” with vulnerable countries confronting climate change, while expressing confidence that his own domestic climate agenda is on track to pass in Congress. He also promised to quadruple the amount of funding for developing countries to help them respond to the climate crisis.
The most consequential agreements reached on Tuesday came in areas where Mr. Biden said the United States was poised to move aggressively by reducing methane emissions and protecting the world’s forests.
Soon after that announcement, administration officials said that 105 countries had signed the Global Methane Pledge, a commitment to reduce methane emissions 30 percent by 2030. This pledge included half of the world’s top 30 methane-emitting countries and is expected to grow.
The leaders of more than 100 countries also pledged on Tuesday to end deforestation by 2030, agreeing to a sweeping accord aimed at protecting some 85 percent of the world’s forests, which are crucial to absorbing carbon dioxide and slowing the rise in global temperatures.
The plan is focused on an effort to reduce the financial incentives to cut down forests, with 12 governments committing $12 billion, and private companies pledging $7 billion, to protect and restore forests.
Wednesday was Finance Day at COP26. Finance, especially the developed world providing funds to developing countries, is an important aspect of solving the climate crisis. The topic of finance was brought up earlier on Tuesday during the UK COP Presidency Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples, a public meeting that included eight Indigenous leaders and COP26 president Alok Sharma.
During the brief time allocated to each indigenous leader to speak, a frequent theme was the importance of including Indigenous people in the development of their Nationally Determined Contributions by nations. It is also necessary that Indigenous people are included in their national strategies for combating climate change.
Leaders advocated for the creation of a new fund to finance climate adaptation and mitigation specifically for Indigenous groups who are the traditional caretakers of the land and are living on the front line of climate impacts. An important stipulation of the proposal was that the fund be separate from the Green Climate Fund designated for developing nations, and that it be managed exclusively by Indigenous groups.
Several countries and organizations including the UK and US recently pledged $1.7 billion over the next several years in grants designated to assist Indigenous groups in their enduring stewardship of the planet’s biodiversity. While the Indigenous groups applaud the financial pledges, they still feel left out of the climate change decision-making table.
Prayer Requests
Please pray that the nations of the world promise to cut their greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to ensure that half of the world’s greenhouse gases are removed by 2030.
Please pray that the developed nations of the world at least quadruple their financial commitment to the developing world by 2024 to help them respond to the climate crisis.
Please pray that the momentum created by the passage of the Global Methane Pledge and the pledge to end deforestation by 2030 will continue by addressing other elements of the climate crisis.
Please pray that Indigenous people are allowed and encouraged to participate fully in the efforts of their nations.
This article is republished from the CCOP Daily Update.