A Debate on the Contributions the COP 20 May Make to Climate Negotiations
| Changes in rainfall patterns at the end of 21st century according to projections from the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (in inches of liquid water per year) |
The 20th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 20), which will take place in Lima, Peru, over the first two weeks of December, is particularly important as part of the process of negotiating a new global climate agreement to be signed in Paris, France, in 2015.
It is expected that the conference will clarify the main challenges, roadblocks and opportunities available over the course of this complex negotiation process, which, if it reaches fruition, may lead to the realization of a global agreement with responses to the climate crisis.
What can one truly expect from the COP 20? Will actual foundations be set forth for a new climate agreement that, from now on, engages and commits all actions devoted to reducing negative impacts on climate? These issues will be discussed in the debate “COP 20: What Can We Expect?” which IEA-USP's Environment and Society Research Group, with support from the Interdisciplinary Climate Investigation center (INCLINE), will hold on November 26, at 2 pm, at the IEA-USP.
Panel members will include Eduardo Felipe Pérez Matias (from Nogueira, Elias, Laskowski e Matias law firm), Ricardo Baitelo (Greenpeace Brazil) and Wagner Costa Ribeiro (from USP’s School of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences, and IEA-USP). The discussion will be moderated by the research group coordinator, Pedro Roberto Jacobi (USP’s School of Education and IEA-USP).
According to Jacobi, the obstacles and arguments that hinder the adoption of effective commitments by the parties can worsen the progressive withering of multilateral governance on climate change: “As the central controversy of the negotiating process, differentiation may create new foundations to advance actions that mitigate and enable adaptation to climate changes.”
Also according to Jacobi, the central controversies – which are related to the differences – are the degree of responsibility and the ability of each country to measure and acknowledge what it might do to contribute to the actions of adaptation to climate change, inasmuch as mitigation depends on global agreements. For him, the decarbonization agreement between the US and China signed on November 12 is insufficient, but signals changes in the position of the major players.
The event will be broadcast live on the web.