A unique opportunity exists for the Global South to shape the outcome of COP28

 A unique opportunity exists for the Global South to shape the outcome of COP28

 A unique opportunity exists for the Global South to shape the outcome of COP28

As part of the current Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the G77 will convene at the level of heads of state or government on December 2 for the first time while the annual UN Climate Change Conference started 28 years ago. Known as COP28 globally

The United Arab Emirates, the host nation for COP28, which has been actively involved in matters affecting the Global South, fully supports the conference.

Though they have not fully recovered, Third World concepts like non-alignment and developing nation organizations like the Group of Seventy-Seven (G77) have endured. But this weekend in Dubai, the G77+China, as this coalition of poor nations is officially named, will get a significant boost on the international scene. The majority of the 134 nations that make up the G77 are also participants in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

As part of the current Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the G77 will convene at the level of heads of state or government on December 2 for the first time when the annual UN Climate Change Conference started 28 years ago. referred to as COP28 globally. With its September G77 leadership, Cuba has a great chance to capitalize on this conference. The United Arab Emirates, the host nation for COP28, which has been actively involved in matters affecting the Global South, fully supports the conference. The United Arab Emirates is a member of the United Nations Security Council. The G77 is the biggest group of countries in the UN in terms of both population and membership, with its headquarters located in New York. For the first time since the G77's ministerial meetings started in Algiers in 1967, India, one of the original members, did not send any ministers to Havana in September. Like other worldwide nations, the Indian delegation at COP28 is now feeling some irritation over this absence. The South has moved into India's former territory. It could be too late to make up for this miscalculation in judgment.

G77 meeting in Dubai

President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez of Cuba, who chairs the G77, will open the historic meeting on December 2 in Dubai. With the passing of the iconic Fidel Castro in 2016, the communist state's founding leader, this would represent a major restoration of Cuba's standing on the international scene. As the summit's opening speaker, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will express support for the G77. The 78th UN General Assembly President, Dennis Francis, will likewise provide comparable support. After Guterres, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, will address. On November 30, the first day of COP28, the UNFCCC said that Sheikh Abdullah will speak on behalf of the UAE President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In a speech to the heads of state and government in attendance in Dubai, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the COP28 President for the next year, will recognize the contribution of developing nations to the battle against global warming. The UAE's Special Ambassador for Climate Change is Al Jaber.

Simon Still, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, is expected to be closely watched by leaders during the G77 conference. not only because he plays a crucial part in the effort to rescue the environment, but also because he is a native of Grenada, a little Caribbean island. Rising sea levels and global warming pose a danger to its islands. The UNFCCC has been led by representatives of affluent or big nations, so Steele's nomination last year was a welcome change. This organization's second and third executive secretaries were both Dutch. One of them also worked for the wealthy nations' club known as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is headquartered in Paris. The Netherlands is very vulnerable to drownings and washouts, as its name implies. However, it belongs to the first world.

The Netherlands consistently votes with the Group of Seven industrialized countries (G7) when it comes to climate change policy, which mostly affects tiny island nations in the Third World. This is in line with India's ongoing grievance that the UN Security Council and other organizations fail to represent the realities of the modern world and need immediate change. When UN changes are discussed, Mexico, the country that preceded Still, always votes in favor of the status quo. Stills is not just another politician; she is a technocrat. After completing his engineering and business administration training in the UK, he spent fifteen years working in Silicon Valley's technology industry. Stell was a strong proponent of holding a G77 meeting on climate change when the notion first surfaced. The fact that he was Caribbean-born helped. Cuba, which is hosting the G77 conference at COP28, is doing the same.

collaborating together

It is expected that Brazil, which will host the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in November 2024 after India, would collaborate with the G77 on all issues pertaining to the Global South, not just climate change. At the September summit in Havana, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva underlined the environmental risks to developing nations, revealing what would happen on these topics the next year. Lula advocated for funding the bioeconomy, low-carbon agriculture, sustainable industry, and renewable energy sources. The statement that the Third World "should not forget the fact that we do not bear the same historical burden for global warming as rich countries" was perhaps his most significant. As the President of COP28, the UAE shares these views as well. They also hint to possible outcomes in the event that the COP28 and G20 collaborate.

For fifteen years, KP Nair worked as a foreign reporter out of Washington, covering a great deal of territory in West Asia. Opinions are subjective and may not always reflect the position of this publication.