22nd COP : Environment for UPSC Exams
22nd COP : Environment for UPSC Exams
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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into force in 1994, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
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The Conference of the Parties (COP) was designated as the supreme governing body of the Convention.
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To date, 195 countries have submitted their instruments of ratification. These countries meet once a year, during two weeks, in order to evaluate the application of the Convention and develop the negotiation process between the Parties in front of new commitments.
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By virtue of this Convention, all the Parties have common but differentiated responsibilities. In addition, they take into account the specific nature of their national and regional development priorities, their goals and circumstances.
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The twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12), and the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1) were held in Marrakech, Morocco from 7-18 November 2016.
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Several substantive details remain to be worked out and, in fact, will be completed only by 2018. These include accounting of the NDCs, adaptation communication, building a transparency framework, the global stocktake every five years, and other procedures that facilitate the implementation of and compliance with the Agreement.
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Financial support for developing country action on the NDCs was an important agenda item of this meeting as was the issue of transparency.
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One of the remarkable announcements at the Marrakech COP was the pledge by the Climate Vulnerable Forum, comprising 48 least developed countries, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia and South Sudan, to get 100 per cent of their energy from renewables by 2050.
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165 sub-national jurisdictions, calling themselves the Under2s, announced that they would reduce their emissions by 80-95 per cent below 1990 levels and limit their per capita emissions to under 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050.
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Science Based Targets initiative got a boost in Marrakech when over 200 companies worldwide committed to emissions reductions targets.
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With regard to the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, the framework for a five-year rolling work plan was approved.