 The COP23 opened on November 6th, 2017 in Bonn, Germany. (Photo: cop23.unfccc) |
The 23rd UN climate summit is the first COP since US President Donald Trump declared that the US would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the first time Fiji, a small island nation in the Pacific, has held the presidency.
In a statement summarizing the conference’s goals, Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said there is no time to waste to end the human suffering caused by intensifying hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, floods, and threats to food security caused by climate change.
He said he hopes every country will take urgent action to reduce the greenhouse effect.
 The opening ceremony involved a traditional Fijian welcoming ceremony, involving Pacific warriors who served a Kava drink. (Photo: cop23.unfccc) |
At the opening ceremony, Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said Germany will increase its contribution to the Climate Change Adaptation Fund by 50 million euros to show that Germany wants to stand side by side with the countries most seriously affected by climate change.
Until November 17th, representatives of the 195 countries will discuss implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Signatories will soon begin to deploy their plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions to keep global temperature rise since 1950 below 2 degrees C.
At COP23, Paris Agreement signatories will try to reach a consensus on the details of the process, procedures, and instructions for implementing the pact to be approved at next year’s COP.
Climate change is already having serious consequences for people and economies. According to a recent study, extreme weather caused economic losses totaling 129 billion USD last year. That figure is forecast to rise as climate change intensifies droughts and typhoons around the world.