Speech

Consultation Meeting - Operationalization of the COP27 Presidency Initiative “Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace” (CRSP): CCCPA

06 March 2023

Opening Remarks by the UN Egypt Resident Coordinator.

Thank you, Ambassador Abdel-Latif, for the invitation and the opportunity to share remarks at this important consultation meeting on the operationalization of the initiative on Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace.

I would like to congratulate the Government of Egypt, as holders of the COP Presidency, and CCCPA on the successful launch of this initiative during COP27. This is a testament to the leadership and courage of the Egyptian Presidency.

In many ways this initiative was built on the success of the Aswan Forum, where I see a similar logic. The critical insight that the Aswan Forum is founded on is the linkage between sustainable development and sustaining peace. Indeed, they are two sides of the same coin. And one of achievements of the Aswan Forum has been bringing together two different communities of practice and policy dialogues to come up with a result that is larger than the sum of its parts.
And it is no surprise that this initiative on Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace was first tested in the context of the Third Aswan Forum last year. Building on the foundation of the linkage between sustainable development and sustaining peace, this initiative makes the critical connection with climate change, both at the policy level and at the network level.

I was impressed by the political commitment that I saw at COP27, with ministers from very different countries and a wide range of multilateral actors endorsing the initiative. Going forward, and in the spirit of COP27 as an implementation COP, we now need to translate this positive momentum into concrete deliverables. I look forward to the coming two days, providing an impetus to that.

Allow me to make one suggestion at the onset of these deliberations, based on COP27. A key takeaway for me was on the issue of civil society involvement. There are around 3000 observer NGOs accredited to UNFCCC. Out of these 3000, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Sudan each have only one accredited NGO in the process. Syria, South Sudan and Somalia have no accredited NGOs. Beyond conflict-affected countries in the region, the six GCC countries have no more than a total of six NGOs accredited.

Firstly, of course this points to a serious representation issue in the global climate debate both for the wider MENA region, and specifically for conflict-affected countries. Secondly, this is also an indication that at the local level we miss capacitated civil society on climate issues, again especially in conflict-affected countries. There seems to be little grassroots knowledge and bottom-up analysis, and as a result we have very little evidence-based advocacy around these issues. This may result in blind spots at the policy level and in terms of prioritizing vulnerable populations.
Now, what could be the action perspective for this initiative? Given the focus on extending the knowledge base and building communities of practice, there is a real opportunity for this initiative to look at strengthening and building the capacities of civil society partners working on climate and sustaining peace, throughout the region, but especially in fragile contexts. I leave you with this thought.