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COP26, let's avoid a climate change catastrophe

Posted on 3 November 2021

The world is gathered in Glasgow, UK, from October 31 to November 12, 2021, for the COP26 of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

We all expect Glasgow to bring hope for solving the climate crisis, whose manifestations are becoming increasingly violent.

This international conference is important for the world and Madagascar, which has been ravaged by thirty-five cyclones, eight floods and five periods of severe drought in 2020 and 2021 alone. This is the worst period for the big island in four decades, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Rising atmospheric temperatures and ocean levels are combining to threaten the lives of the inhabitants and the unique biodiversity of the big island. Madagascar and Africa are extremely vulnerable to climate change, even though they account for only 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Moreover, it has always been the case that the countries that pollute the least are the most affected by the effects of climate change and are redoubling their efforts to increase their capacity to absorb global carbon dioxide.
Thus, it is important for Madagascar and all of Africa that COP26 is an opportunity to seek and promote climate-friendly solutions and actions that will enable recovery from the Covid19 pandemic. This meeting in the UK can be seen as one of the last chances for world leaders to save us from a climate change catastrophe by making the right decisions and acting fast. The phrase is printed in large letters throughout COP26: "We can do this if we act now".

Among the solutions, WWF recommends to continue but especially to strengthen climate change adaptation measures. This is very important for communities and ecosystems. In this process, WWF has already promoted the integration of climate change adaptation into its conservation activities through the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI). Stronger advocacy to increase and unlock various climate financing is also expected. For Madagascar in particular, the President of the Republic, in his address to COP26, spoke of the need to mobilize additional, predictable and adequate long-term financing. He also called on world leaders to "accelerate the mobilization of the 100 billion dollars of the Paris Agreement in order to finance an energy transition policy, especially for Africa".
More than ever, collaboration between all countries, all sectors, is important. This would allow us to receive the maximum amount of expertise, especially from conservation organizations. WWF, for 60 years has worked in a hundred countries around the world so that nature and humans can continue to coexist harmoniously, it is its inclusive and collaborative approach that has enabled sustainable conservation worldwide. WWF calls for ambition and action on climate change adaptation, mitigation and implementation of commitments. But speaking of commitments, the Malagasy government's finally joining the Leader’s pledge for Nature represents momentum. We are well on our way to putting nature at the center of global development.