Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Why in the News?
• What is COP Climate Summit?
• News Summary

Why in the News?

• A key draft note of the ongoing COP-28 Climate Summit in Dubai (UAE) has been released recently.

What is COP Climate Summit?

• In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, 154 countries signed a multilateral treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• It aimed to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system.”
• The treaty came into force two years later, and since then, countries which are part of the UNFCCC, meet every year at different venues.
• Today, there are 198 ‘parties’ or signatories of the Convention.
• The first ever COP took place in Berlin, Germany in 1995. The first edition of COP entailed a discussion on how to implement the UNFCCC.
• At the meeting, an agreement was reached “to meet annually to discuss action on climate change and emissions reductions”.
• COP-8 was held in New Delhi, India. It is the only COP held in India till date.
• Between 30 Nov to 12 Dec 2023, the Government of the United Arab Emirates is hosting the 28^th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP-28).

News Summary

• As the search for a mutually agreeable position on fossil fuel elimination continued at the COP28 Summit in Dubai, negotiators at the climate meeting took a small first step on initiating greater action on adaptation.
• A draft text on identifying some “global goals” on adaptation emerged for the first time and countries agreed to use this as a starting point to negotiate for a more meaningful outcome on this track.
  • On other subjects, including the contentious issue of fossil fuel phase-out, negotiators were still engaged in informal discussions to look for common ground.
• Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA):
  • The draft text is titled as ‘Global Goal on Adaptation’.
  • GGA is an attempt to identify a common global goal on adaptation, just like keeping temperatures below the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold is a global goal on mitigation.
  • It has been a long pending-demand of the developing countries, primarily to ensure more focus and resource mobilisation on adaptation.
  • The draft text talks about the following issues:
    • Reducing climate-induced water scarcity,
    • Making food and agriculture production climate-resilient,
    • Strengthening resilience against climate-related health impacts and
    • Similar issues that are common points of interest for the world.
  • The text also asks countries to make an assessment of their risks and vulnerabilities, prepare and implement adaptation plans, and put monitoring and evaluation systems in place.
• Criticism of the GGA:
  • Developing countries made it clear that the adaptation draft fell well below their expectations and needed to be improved significantly.
  • Right now, it only flags issues that are largely developmental in nature.
  • Besides, there is no mention of how these objectives are to be realised or the mechanisms that will fund these efforts.
  • The draft talks about launching a two-year work programme to develop indicators that would measure the progress being made on the adaptation goals.
  • Critics argue that the targets are really vague. Targets in terms of water security, health, livelihoods are not covered.
• Way Ahead:
  • If the GGA framework is adopted, more than 195 countries will have to do their risk and vulnerability assessment of climate hazards, and formulate their specific national adaptation plans by 2025.
  • They will also have to establish multi-hazard early warning systems and climate information services for risk reduction by 2027.
  • Its adoption, however, depends on consensus of all countries as adaptation action will need a huge amount of money.

Q1) What is the difference between Adaptation & Mitigation?

In essence, adaptation can be understood as the process of adjusting to the current and future effects of climate change. Mitigation means making the impacts of climate change less severe by preventing or reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere.

Q2) What is the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities? 

Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR), principle of international environmental law establishing that all states are responsible for addressing global environmental destruction yet not equally responsible.

Source: Countries take small step on climate adaption, no movement on other tough issues | Hindu.