Janet Rogan, UK COP26 Regional Ambassador for the Middle East and Africa visits Uganda
Kampala; Janet Rogan said she is delighted to be visiting Uganda just about three weeks ahead of COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference that the UK will host in Glasgow for two weeks in November.
COP26 will take place against a background of several interlinked global crises – COVID, climate, economy, development, oil/energy and security/conflict. So this COP will be very important.
The COP will start with the World Leaders Summit – and more than 120 world leaders have already confirmed that they will attend – including President Museveni. HM the Queen. The Pope – who last week handed over a joint interfaith statement on climate action by global faith leaders.
Her visit as COP26 Regional Ambassador for Africa and the Middle East is part of a series of visits to engage with countries about their participation in the COP and to hear their priorities.
“We have four key priorities for COP26:- mitigation – every country acting to reduce global warming by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases they produce especially through power generation, transport and agriculture,” she said.
As part of the preparation for COP26, and as set out in the Paris Agreement on Climate Action, each country is supposed to report on its circumstances and actions since 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as produce an updated plan for future action with increased levels of ambition. This is called the Nationally Determined Contribution.
Uganda is still working on its NDC but this is the very last minute and I urge the government to submit it to UNFCCC by the final deadline of 12 October so that it can be included in the sysnthesis report for discussion at COP26.- adaptation – every country is already feeling the impact of changes in our climate.
“Here in Uganda, which is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, we are seeing changes in rainfall patterns, deforestation, soil degradation. We need to adapt our ways of living and working to take account of these changes and also to prevent further changes from happening. We need to build resilience at all levels including right down to grass roots and across communities. ALl this costs money so our third priority is:- finance – we are pushing the developed countries to reach the target of USD 100 bullion every year for developing countries that was promised at Paris in 2015, but has never yet been met.
And we want to ensure that climate finance is more accessible – not enough funds have reached the places where they are needed, especially grants for adaptation.
We need to get the finances flowing. – and fourth – collaboration. No government can take climate action alone – it needs the private sector, civil society, academia, communities and individuals all to play their part – including the media!”.
