Tune in For These 4 Moments at the UN Climate Change Conference
What do you do when the forecast says rain? Or when the newscaster announces a hurricane headed your way? Or a stifling heat wave or a drought envelops your community? For many of us, we grab an umbrella, hop in our cars and drive to safety, or turn on the AC and reduce our water use.
But for the 700 million people living in extreme poverty, every rainstorm, heatwave or drought can be a matter of life or death.
This week, the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference kicks off in Paris. It’s a two-week series of negotiations — with multiple events on the sidelines — all dedicated to setting the world on course to meet the challenges of climate change.
Representatives from nearly 200 countries will join in negotiating an agreement that everyone hopes will create a new global framework to curb carbon emissions and spur clean energy growth.
While we all know we need healthy soils and plentiful rains and a stable climate to grow crops and access water, and that climate change puts all this at risk, it may be less clear to the poor why they should worry about climate change when they already face so many other challenges.
The fact is, though, that the poor have less capacity to manage disasters, and climate change serves as a threat multiplier to the poor in many of the countries in which we work around the world.
This is where the rubber hits the road: Climate change could set us back on the progress we’ve made to end extreme poverty by 2030. The World Bank warns, in fact, that without serious action, climate change could push 100 million more people back into poverty by that date.
This is not a rosy scenario. But here’s what we’ve learned about climate action in our work over the last decade or more: Climate action can and should be seen as less about addressing risk, and more about seizing opportunity. It turns out climate action involves many of the same approaches that we’re already taking to alleviate the problems the poor are facing. It just means getting smarter at solving problems, accessing better information, and being more prepared for worst-case scenarios.
As the lead U.S. Government development agency, USAID is addressing climate change in more than 50 countries. This involves lots of different actions, like mobilizing clean energy investment and curbing carbon emissions from deforestation — and also harnessing data to help people better predict and prepare for risks.
These efforts, and the next stages of climate change work, will be essential to the way our future unfolds from here on out — and if that’s something you care about, this is the perfect time to start paying attention.
You can get more information here, watch a livestream here, and follow along as we tweet from @USAIDEnviro.
If you don’t have time to follow everything that goes on in Paris during the next two weeks, at least watch out for these top four key moments.
1.) Opening remarks from 100+ heads of state
To kick off the conference today, presidents and heads of state from more than 100 countries around the world have come to Paris to speak. President Obama gave remarks at noon (that’s 6 a.m. EST) on the significance of the conference and U.S. commitment to leading global action. Check out the highlights from that speech @USAIDEnviro.
2.) Climate-resilient development
On Friday, we’ll discuss ways to make our development efforts more resistant to climate change. In Making U.S. Government Development Assistance Climate Resilient, we’ll be talking about how USAID has numerous projects and strategies — from helping Ethiopia complete the largest geothermal plant in East Africa to protecting at-risk towns in Asia, Africa and Latin America from potential natural disasters — to secure a safe, durable future.
3.) Data for clean energy
Care about numbers? On Saturday, experts will be sitting down to talk about data and what it means for addressing climate change. Mapping the Future: Data Enables Smart Renewable Energy Growth will be an event reflecting the power of high-quality resource data in attracting, scaling up and evaluating clean energy efforts.
4.) Renewables in Africa
The following week, during The Case for Inclusive Renewable Energy in Africa event on Dec. 9, learn about the Power Africa initiative’s efforts to expand renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. These projects are helping to diversify energy portfolios and accelerate countries’ transitions to thriving, low-carbon economies.
So tune in, and pay attention. This isn’t just another conference — this is our world’s future being discussed and planned for. It’s worth following because the outcomes won’t only affect you, they’ll involve you. We all have a part to play in securing a safe, durable and beneficial world, and that world will be critically influenced by what happens over the next two weeks in Paris.
About the Author
Carrie Thompson is a deputy assistant administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment, heading up USAID’s environment work.
