COP26 Landmark forests declaration now covers 90% of forests globally Climate change and nature recognised as intertwined crises at COP26 but notably missed being featured in the ‘Glasgow Climate Pact’. Negotiations at COP26 failed to consider the whole food system.
Adaptation finance progressed, but not enough to cover adaptation costs. Loss and damage was a major sticking point at the conference. Developed countries stood their ground meaning little action was taken on loss and damage.
This thesis analyses the formal and informal barriers faced by the Community-based Adaptation (CBA) programme implemented by the NGO PermaAtlas in the Ounila catchment, located on the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains. Placed in one of the most water stressed regions in the world, the subsistence of rural communities in the study area strongly depends on effective and efficient management of water resources. Although researchers and policy makers have promoted Community-based programmes as a panacea to tackle water management issues, analysis of such programmes is limited and poorly demonstrated. With focus on the management of water resources, the barriers to the programme implementation were assessed through multi-criteria analysis using the Adaptative Capacity Framework. According to this analysis, cultural and community barriers, although strong at the beginning of the programme, have been partially overcome reaching now a fragile equilibrium. Currently, financial barriers are the main problem facing the expansion of the programme, as lack of sufficient funds could trigger latent disputes among different communities of the catchment. With this, the lack of adequate and complete monitoring also represents a major issue considering future infrastructure works and the increasing climate uncertainties of the region. Based on this evaluation, recommendations have been made to facilitate the dialogue among communities in order to reduce social unrest and to implement a reliable monitoring programme to quantify changes induced by the project.
Although the Paris Agreement rules that states must all do what they can to keep global warming below 1.5°C, it does not provide binding requirements on how they should do so, in accordance with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities”. It also does not bind corporations, who are the world’s largest GHG emitters. Although the Paris Agreement and the NDCs are the best climate framework we have been able to develop to this day, there are ways in which they could be strengthened. We could establish clear minimum emission requirements, for instance, or apply a similar framework of NDCs to large businesses.
C40 CITIES is a global network of cities aiming to identify and replicate urban climate action. Through networks, programmes, research, and agenda-setting C40 drives global climate action.
The EU is leading the way regarding emission standards. CO2 emissions regulations have been in place for passenger cars since 2009 and for vans since 2011. The proposal strengthens the reduction targets including a 100% reduction by 2035 relative to 2021 meaning the end of internal combustion engines.