Sustainability, human rights, the climate conference under fire
As the world grapples with multiple crises, and the Sustainable Development Goals face many challenges, one wonders if the 2023 climate change conference, or COP 28, which kicks off on November 30 In Dubai, political, economic and scientific leaders will be able to reconcile their differences, engage in cooperation for the common good, in order to avoid the irreparable.
The Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 entitled “Time of crisis, time of change: science to accelerate transformations towards sustainable development” emphasizes the fact that the current scientific model does not meet the most urgent societal needs, it advocates a more collaborative science in global challenges service.
Halfway through the 2030 Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals are significantly behind schedule.
And according to the alarming climate report 2023 “Life on planet Earth is under siege, we are now entering uncharted territory regarding our climate crisis, a situation that no one has ever witnessed first-hand in human history.”
Long term mission
Progress on the goals of climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, the eradication of poverty, gender equality, education, and the elimination of world hunger is regressing.
“International financial institutions, as well as national and philanthropic science funders, must rethink how they interact with the science sector, in order to develop new funding instruments, and promote large-scale, mission-driven research. long term."
We are slow to see the implementation of a systemic approach, a transversal action plan for all sustainable development goals, to confront the endemic crises that affect human societies.
Although there is a certain awareness, and there is no shortage of declarations of commitment, it is clear that they do not translate into substantial efforts, nor the implementation of strong, concrete actions, concerted efforts, often due to a funding gap.
Decision-making and financial processes
The sustainable development goals cannot be achieved unless all stakeholders concerned integrate them into all decision-making processes and financial mechanisms, with complete transparency and accountability.
To achieve this,transformational changes are not only possible, but inevitable, they must be guided by scientific research.
With regard to natural disasters, the 2023 global sustainable development report underlines that the failure to rapidly and massively reduce greenhouse gases puts the living world, and many species, including humanity, in a precarious situation, survival, and for some even the risk of extinction.
Human health, human dignity, the right to clean, healthy, sustainable environment , and human rights are threatened and violated.
Credibility
However, the United Arab Emirates, its ski resort in the middle of the desert, its oversized shopping centers, its air-conditioned stadiums, one of the bigger per capita emitters of greenhouse gases, a major driver of the climate crisis, where funds from their vast fossil fuel industry constitute the majority of their public revenues, does not seem to be the ideal place in which the fight against climate change could gain credibility, legitimacy and effectiveness.
Add to this, that the president of COP28, Sultan Ahmed al Jaber, is the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). The harshest criticisms are increasing, many are calling for a boycott of COP28, considering it a provocation, and denouncing conflicts of interest.
Should we go to Dubai to make the voices of scientific research and climate justice heard, or refuse to participate on the grounds that the fossil fuel industry is the dominant stakeholder?
Opinions are divided. According to former US Vice President Al Gore, whose commitment to fighting global warming earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, organizing the climate change conference in Dubai, and the appointment of its president, are proof that the fossil fuel industry has taken over the UN climate agenda.
Resistance
The last COPs saw the weight of oil lobbies strengthen considerably as shown by Global Witness , which investigates their presence every year and calls for a ban on hydrocarbon companies at the COPs, their number having increased by 25% between the Glasgow COP in 2021 and that of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2022.
Notable change this year, and little consolation, at the request of the UN the list of participants will be made public, they will be identified by their badge.
Resistance is being organized all over the world, in France scientists are gathering in Bordeaux, in a counter-summit, to raise citizens' awareness of climate issues.
Others lose hope. “We set long-term objectives for reducing emissions, for 2050-2060, but we never talk about the means to be implemented to reduce emissions: evolution of energy mixes, exit from fossil fuels, technological problems, etc. ",
Absurd and dangerous
We learn that 250 business leaders and association leaders are calling for boycott of COP28, an event that they do not hesitate to describe as absurd and dangerous, in a column published in the columns of Le Monde, where we can read in particular:
“Behind the beautiful “ecological ambitions” announced by the United Arab Emirates, the country is above all the seventh world extractor of black gold and the fifth largest emitter of CO2 on the planet. Abu Dhabi even plans to increase its production of barrels by 25% by 2027! It is clear that the country lives “by and for” oil, and organizing a United Nations climate conference there is not only absurd, but dangerous."
They call on public authorities, NGOs, associations, scientists and business leaders not to support and condone, by their presence, this staging in a country which only prospers thanks to the extraction of fossil fuels, and whose the road map assumed and claimed in favor of these energies must alert us.
Human rights
Human Rights Watch, an international association for the defense of human rights, notes for its part that climate conferences have failed to obtain the necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, nor to adequately support the transition to renewable energy, which would help protect those hardest hit by floods, droughts, hurricanes and other climate disasters.
The association founded in 1978 provides relevant and substantiated answers on its site, to18 worrying questions relating to the organization of COP28 in a country which does not enjoy, to say the least, a great reputation in terms of respect for human rights, including:
For Human Rights Watch, governments must ensure a just and equitable transition to renewable energy, and help populations adapt to the impact of the climate crisis.
If governments want to fulfill their human rights obligations, they should commit to including in the conclusions of COP28 their commitment to phase out all fossil fuels in a fair and rights-respecting manner.