Egypt to be first African state to host UN climate conf. since Paris deal

27 / 07 / 2021

By Marwa Nassar - -

Egypt – which is gearing up to host the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) in 2022 – will be the first African country to host a United Nations conference on climate change since the inking of the 2015 Paris Agreement which is an international treaty on climate change.

What is COP?

COP stands for the Conference of the Parties. Parties are the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a treaty agreed in 1994 which has 197 Parties (196 countries and the EU).

The United Nations climate change conferences are among the largest international meetings in the world. The negotiations between governments are complex and involve officials from every country in the world as well as representatives from civil society and the global news media.

Egypt’s efforts to host COP27:

Egypt is exerting great efforts to host the COP27 that will build on the achievements to be realized by the COP26 which will be held in the UK on 31 October – 12 November 2021.

In press statements, Egyptian Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said Egypt’s hosting of COP27 will mark a turning point in view of the progress which Egypt is realizing in the climate change file.

She added that hosting the event will have a direct impact on people’s awareness of climate change and means of confronting it

With about 27,000 people due to participate in the 2022 conference, Egypt will have a chance to bring to limelight the achievements it realized in various domains.

Egypt’s hosting of the conference will serve the interests of the developing and African countries and promote climate adaptation measures.

Egypt believes in the importance of accelerating the implementation several adaptation projects, Fouad said, underlining the importance of investing in adaptation projects.

She noted that climate adaptation projects are closely related to protecting biodiversity, adding that Egypt – as the chair of the Fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP14 ) – has worked with member states on drawing up a roadmap for biodiversity until 2050.

During the inauguration of COP 14, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi announced an initiative linking the three Rio Conventions – the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

She added that the coronavirus pandemic had underlined the link between health, climate change and environment.

Egypt is currently working on a draft framework for a national strategy on climate change 2050 in preparation for referring it to the National Council for Climate Change under the prime minister.

The strategy aims to help Egypt set plans for controlling climate change for the coming several years, achieving sustainable development and Egypt Vision 2030.

The strategy will serve five main goals; realizing sustainable economic growth, building resilience and capabilities for adaptation with climate change, promoting good governance and business management in the field of climate change, and raising awareness about combating climate change.

The strategy also sets the tools and policies needed to achieve these goals and draw a roadmap for managing Egypt’s climate file.