Afghanistan left out of COP-28 and hopes for inclusion in COP-29

Afghanistan left out of COP-28 and hopes for inclusion in COP-29

Subject: Environment

Section: Int Conventions

Context:

• Humanitarian concerns have been raised over Afghanistan being left out of United Nations climate negotiations for a third year in a row, as the country grapples with worsening drought and floods.

More about News:

• Afghanistan is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, but the country was absent from the COP­28 climate summit in Dubai. It has been left out of U.N. talks since the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021.
• No foreign government has formally recognised Taliban leadership and it doesn’t have a seat at the U.N. General Assembly.
• Foreign officials have cited the Taliban’s restrictions on women as the reason for current isolationist policies, particularly its barring of girls and women from high school and universities.
• The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)‘s COP Bureau, which is responsible for accrediting parties to the annual summits, decided at a November 2022 meeting to defer a decision  on future Afghanistan representation.
• The Taliban’s takeover of government institutions has also meant that Afghanistan is unable to access key U.N. climate funds, including the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

About GCF:

• The GCF was set up in 2010 under the UNFCCC’s financial mechanism to channel funding from developed countries to developing countries to allow them to mitigate climate change and also adapt to disruptions arising from a changing climate.

How it helps?

• The Green Climate Fund will support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing country Parties using thematic funding windows.
• It was intended to be the centerpiece of efforts to raise Climate Finance of $100 billion a year by 2020.

• The Fund will promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
• The Fund will strive to maximize the impact of its funding for adaptation and mitigation, and seek a balance between the two, while promoting environmental, social, economic and development co-benefits and taking a gender-sensitive approach.

Who will govern the Fund?

• The Fund is governed and supervised by a Board that will have full responsibility for funding decisions and that receives the guidance of the Conference of Parties (COP). The Fund is accountable to, and functions under the guidance of, the COP.