Bini Dahal

When Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg was asked to assess the recently held COP26, she called the summit to be a complete ‘blah, blah, blah’. And I could not help but agree a little on her comment. It’s not just this summit but most international agreements on environmental and climate change (that have taken place so far) have achieved very little, while major problems continue to persist.

There were certain concerns in terms of negotiations made in the Glasgow Summit. While the world has aimed to reduce the global temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius, media reports have presented how current pledges made by countries worldwide are able to reach a level of 2.4 degree Celsius. The commitments made by different nations are varied in nature but not everyone wants to prioritise achieving the economic development through exploitation of nature over anything.

For instance, the COP26 has reached a last minute agreement to not ‘phase out’ but ‘phase down’ the use of coal. This is not a desirable move as coal contributes around 40 per cent to global carbon emissions. And nations like India who are heavily based on the use of coal for their economic progress are not fully ready to completely cut it off. The biggest dilemma and challenge that we face today is our inability to balance out and integrate development with climate scenarios. This is quite evident in case of India as not making use of coal will make it difficult for the country to deal with poverty.

But what is most disappointing is the failure of the developed countries to raise $100 billion by 2020. Anyhow, many vulnerable countries seem to be at the receiving end. They are neither getting the pledged financial support nor are most countries ready to sacrifice certain conditions for the better climate change situation. Such actions have brought huge disappointment and deep frustration as well. Island nations like Tuvalu, the Maldives, among others, can disappear from the world map any time soon if the current trend of global temperature rise continues.

But who will understand this? Those countries having the upper hand on this matter will take no actions as long as they themselves do not suffer. So, it would not be wrong to say that knowingly we are learning things the hard way. The consequence will be truly destructive but our pledges will remain continuously unfulfilled. And goals of integrated, transformative and universal sustainable development will remain almost impossible for us to achieve.

Climate change is becoming a huge issue day by day. The number of people and countries vulnerable to climate change is increasing annually. And the many countries that prioritise economic development over anything are creating further dire consequences for themselves and others. The efforts made by these susceptible countries are not enough for their own survival.
It is quite irrational to demand the developing and climatically weak countries to strictly follow climatic pacts while developed and economy-centric nations continue breaching them. Hundreds of pacts like the COP26 may come and go but it is the unity of the big and small countries that protects the importance and legitimacy of such agreements. Let this be remembered before the situation goes out of hand.