UN General Assembly 2023: Political declaration on pandemics approved, critics call it ‘rhetoric’

Subject :IR

Section: International Organisation

Context:

The United Nations member states adopted September 20, 2023 a historical political declaration to ensure that the world is better prepared for future pandemics, at a High-Level Meeting during the ongoing UN General Assembly.

About the declaration:

Declaration title: Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response
Aim of the declaration is to prevent catastrophic health and socio-economic impacts that were experienced during COVID-19.
The declaration encourages, “fair, equitable, and timely sharing of benefits of pathogens with pandemic potential, including genomic sequences and information, through a multilateral system.”
It resolved to address the global shortfall of health workers in accordance with the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 by investing in education and employment.
The declaration emphasized that health workers should be protected from all forms of violence, attacks, harassment, and discriminatory practices.
The declaration also called on member nations to take measures to counter the effect of health-related misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and stigmatisation, especially on social media platforms, on people’s physical and mental health, including vaccine hesitancy.
The declaration emphasized the need for a Pandemic Accord.

Climate Action Summit (CAS):

CAS organized by: United Nations Secretary- General.
Held at: New York, USA
Aim: To accelerate action by governments, business, finance, local authorities and civil society, and hear from “first movers and doers”.
The design and outcomes of the Summit will be delivered on three distinct but interrelated acceleration tracks – ambition, credibility and implementation.
China, the United States and India — who collectively account for about 42% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are the top three emitters in that order — were all absent from the CAS.
The criteria for countries to be considered for a speaking slot at the summit were: that they would be expected to present updated pre-2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (as agreed in Glasgow); updated net-zero targets; energy transition plans with commitments to no new coal, oil and gas; fossil fuel phase-out plans; more ambitious renewable energy targets; Green Climate Fund pledges; and economy-wide plans on adaptation and resilience.

India’s transition plans:

India last updated its climate pledges in 2022 of reducing emissions intensity — or the volume of emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) — by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030, a 10% increase from what it agreed to in 2015.
The government committed to meet 50% of its electric power needs from renewable, non-fossil fuel energy sources — up from 40% committed at the Paris agreement.
It is assured to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3bn tonnes of CO2-equivalent [GtCO2e] through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
In 2021, Prime Minister of India committed to India achieving net zero by 2070.
The scientific assessment is that India’s commitment, alongside similar commitments by G-20 economies, are insufficient to keep temperatures from keeping below 2^oC by the end of the century.
India’s low per capita emissions and contribution to the carbon already in the atmosphere has led other analysts to suggest that India has committed “more than its fair share” to keeping to the Paris-agreed limits.