Egypt’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and other international organisations in Geneva organised a dialogue on climate, science, and humanitarian action in cooperation with the UK’s Permanent Mission to the UN, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The opening session was attended by Secretary-General of the IFRC Ahmed Ihab Gamal Al-Din, the permanent representative of Egypt to the UN in Geneva, and alternate representatives of the UK, as well as a number of authors of the report of the IPCC Working Group II that is titled ‘Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.’
During the dialogue, Gamal Al-Din stressed the importance of working quickly to adapt to the phenomenon of climate change, especially in African countries that lack the necessary infrastructure, systems, and mechanisms for early warnings against disasters related to climate change.
This is especially important since African countries are the least contributors to the phenomenon of climate change but are the most vulnerable to its adverse effects.
In this context, he stressed the need to work towards the global goal of climate finance and to increase funding for adaptation to the phenomenon of climate change, as well as the need to promote mitigation efforts in a balanced manner that takes into account the positions and concerns of all parties.
Gamal Al-Din also highlighted the UN secretary-general’s launch of an important initiative few days ago to ensure that people around the world are covered by early warning systems against disasters related to climate change, including floods and droughts.
He stressed that the phenomenon of climate change has become linked to the aggravation of humanitarian disasters, which requires concerted international efforts to deal with these challenges and prevent them based on data and information.
Furthermore, he emphasised Egypt’s interest in taking into account the views of all actors during the preparatory process for the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) that will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November.
During the event, various speakers reviewed the various impacts of climate change on local communities in a number of countries and regions in the world, including worsening heat waves, water scarcity, droughts, floods, and melting glaciers.
They all stressed the need to work to strengthen partnerships to deal with these phenomena from a comprehensive perspective based on the principles of justice to ensure the participation of all parties affected by climate change — especially women and youths — and the importance of capacity-building, financing, and technology to enhance resilience.
The event also witnessed a special session on the lead-up to the COP 27, with the participation of Ayman Tharwat — the Deputy Director of the Department of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — where he reviewed the priorities of the Egyptian presidency of the conference, both in terms of the formal and informal process and various related initiatives.
