^{By BUSINGYE Evelyne}

Background

Last year, 27,000 delegates participated in the annual UN Climate Conference COP25 held in Madrid, Spain. The target was to finalise the ‘rulebook’ for the Paris Agreement, the operating manual needed when it takes effect in 2020, setting rules for carbon markets and other forms of international cooperation under “Article 6” of the deal. However, the talks were unable to reach consensus in many areas, pushing decisions into 2020 under “Rule 16” of the UN climate process. Matters including Article 6, reporting requirements for transparency and “common timeframes” for climate pledges were all pushed into 2020, when countries are also due to raise the ambition of their efforts.

Despite all these debates and negotiations, the question that lingered in many peoples’ minds was: “What do all these discussions and agreements mean to the ordinary citizen who is struggling to cope with the changing weather, seasons, losses and damages to their crops, death of their animals and human diseases as a result of the changing climate?

Post COP25 Reflection meeting in Uganda

For the last eight years, IUCN has been supporting the Government of Uganda to convene stakeholders to discuss Governments position prior its participation in the UNFCCC COP negotiations. The Ministry of Water and Environment together with sector policy makers, parliamentarians, representatives of development partners, media, private sector and Civil Society Organisations meet prior the COP conference to agree on the action areas for discussion during the conference. In the same spirit, the Government meets all stakeholders post the COP conferences to inform them of the outcomes of conferences vis a vis Uganda’s position, reflect on the implications for the country and make meaningful interpretation to facilitate national climate action, building on early lessons.

This year 2020, IUCN together with Climate Action Network members and in collaboration with the Climate Change Department under the Ministry of Water and Environment, convened the post COP25 reflection workshop on 14th February 2020 in Kampala. The workshop that brought together 105 (69 Male, 36 Female) stakeholders. During the workshop, the heads of thematic negotiating groups (i.e. Adaptation, Mitigation, Finance, Capacity building, Gender and Technology) gave feedback on the outcomes of the COP25. 

Way forward:

Following the discussions participants agreed on the following actions:

• Collective action for COP26 and beyond through coordination including strategic influencing of article 6;
• Capacity building for state and non-state negotiators;
• Engaging the legislative arm of Government in discussions and shaping the national position;
• Building the ambition on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) prior to COP26 negotiations;
• Linking COP26 and other related processes including Africa Climate week, CBD, Pre-COP26, UN secretary general’s meeting, SDGs voluntary reporting and the NDC review