Environment: in Abidjan, COP15 on desertification is entering its home stretch
Workers plant trees around Karbala, Iraq, trying to prevent further desertification and sandstorms, May 12, 2022. Illustrative image.
© REUTERS - ALAA AL-MARJANI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Abidjan, COP15 on desertification is due to end this Friday, May 20.
It is one of the three UN conventions to be held this year with the COP Biodiversity and the COP on climate.
For ten days, the representatives of the 195 member countries of this convention debated to agree on common commitments to fight against desertification and land degradation until 2030. So today is the last line right in these negotiations.
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On the two main objectives of this
COP15,
namely the rehabilitation of one billion square kilometers of degraded land and the fight against droughts and sand and dust storms, Abou Bamba, the president of the organizing committee, believes that the discussions are going well, even if the debates can sometimes be tense: "
There are some stumbling blocks between regions
", he analyzes thus, "
in particular between African countries and developed countries on the elaboration of a binding additional protocol on drought and the creation of a trust fund to finance the implementation of this additional protocol
.
»
► To read: What challenges for COP 15 desertification?
According to a diplomatic source, the United States and their allies indeed refuse the adoption of a protocol on the model of that of Kyoto and the creation of a fund dedicated to the fight against drought.
It would be too binding and too expensive to finance, according to them, when there are already multiple international aid programs: "
it is clear that it is those who actually hold the purse of financial resources who end will decide to allocate them or not to allocate them,
continues Abou Bamba.
But we are hopeful because at the end of this COP, we will reach a consensus on the political declaration of Abidjan
.
»
Concrete actions?
The final deal may not be as ambitious as it could have been.
But it will have the merit of existing.
It will then remain to transform it into concrete actions, and this is always the greatest challenge.
► To read: 2021 among the hottest years on record
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COP15 Desertification