A short post about COP27

 

Water was a part of the agenda in COP27 for the first time. 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water, and it is developing regions, particularly those in Africa, that are most vulnerable (WMO, 2022). At this year's COP27, the Action for Water Adaptation and Resilience (AWARe) initiative was launched. The first COP initiative aimed at tackling the water crisis. AWARe has three principles in mind: 1) decrease water loss and increase supply, 2) promote cooperation in water adaption, 3) promote cooperation and interlink water and climate action (WMO, 2022).

To say the least, this is quite disappointing. These principles are nothing more than what has been said for many years. It appears that all COP27 was able to do to address water inadequacy was to repeat the same old "we need to get serious" statement that has been said for a very long time.

COP27 was held in Egypt this year (This Day, 2022).

But how did COP27 fair for Nigeria specifically? 

Pressure targeted at wealthy and polluting nations to compensate developing regions impacted by climate change was ramped up this year. This led to the creation of a fund to be set up the next year to pay for damages developing nations face as a result of extreme weather events (This Day, 2022). This is a huge win for Nigeria; not only is Nigeria in the top 10 most climate-vulnerable nations but this year saw massive climate change exacerbated flooding events that left 600 dead and 1.2 million displaced (This Day, 2022). Nigeria will finally get compensated for damages done.

However, Nigeria this year also pledged to "phase down", not "phase out" fossil fuels (This Day, 2022). In my previous post about how politics impacted climate change response, experts highly recommended that oil and gas extraction be reduced to an absolute minimum to avoid the impacts of climate change. Unfortunately, this year's COP27 proved once again Nigeria's hesitancy to commit to phasing out fossil fuels which would greatly reduce the impacts of climate change.

So, overall, COP27 for Nigeria went exactly how every COP goes; it was a mixed bag. Where there were signs of progress, there was also disappointment.