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Monitoring the UN Climate Negotiations

As changes in climate become more extreme, their affects are being hardest felt throughout developing countries. Since 1994, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has laid out actions to limit the increase of global average temperatures and confront the impacts of climate change.

The States that are Parties to the Convention meet every year in the so-called Conference of the Parties (COP) to review their commitments, the progress made in fulfilling them, and pending challenges in the global fight against the climate crisis.

At COP21 in 2015, they adopted the Paris Agreement, which seeks to strengthen the global response to the climate emergency, establishing a common framework for all countries to work on the basis of their capacities and through the presentation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) that will:

  1. Limit the increase in global temperatures to 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels and continue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C;
  2. Increase the capacity of countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change; and
  3. Ensure that financing responds to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Our Focus Areas

THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

The climate crisis, due to its transversal character, has repercussions in various fields, geographies, contexts and people. In this regard, the Preamble to the Paris Agreement states that it is the obligation of States to "respect, promote and fulfill their respective obligations on human rights, the right to health, the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, the empowerment of women and intergenerational equity."

AIDA at the COP

COP25: Chile-Madrid 2019

At COP25 in Madrid, Spain, we advocated for the inclusion of the human rights perspective in various agenda items. We promoted the incorporation of broad socio-environmental safeguards in the regulation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which refers to carbon markets. We closely followed the adoption of the Gender Action Plan, as well as the Santiago Network, created "to catalyze technical assistance […] in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse affects of climate change." We also encouraged the inclusion of ambitious and measurable targets for the reduction of short-lived climate pollutants in the climate commitments of States.

What AIDA is doing: 

  • Participating actively in the climate negotation sessions.
  • Promoting the adequate implementation of the Paris Agreement, particularly in terms of the effective reduction of greenhouse gases.
  • Advocating to ensure nations fulfill their climate commitments by seeking a just transition and respecting human rights, thus contribuing to a more just, resilient and sustainable way of life.

The Latest

Accountability and Transparency, Capacity Building, Climate Change | 23 December 2014

COP20 fails to provide certainty on climate finance and human rights

The 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP20) was held this month in Lima, Peru, with the goal of drafting a new climate agreement, to be...read more

Photo: María José Veramendi Villa, AIDA attorney, speaks at the Constitutional Court of Peru on incorporating the protection of human rights in the new climate agreement. Credit: Víctor Quintanilla.

Accountability and Transparency, Capacity Building, Climate Change | 15 December 2014

COP20: Towards a climate deal with human rights protections

The impact of climate change on human rights is clear. Yet no international treaty on climate change makes reference to­ human rights, nor does any human rights treaty reference climate change. The...read more

climate finance event

Accountability and Transparency, Capacity Building, Climate Change | 3 December 2014

COP 20: And what about the effective use of climate finance?

The amount of money required to confront the effects of extreme climate changes is much larger than currently sought in global negotiations. Clearly more resources are needed, but it is also...read more

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