Commonwealth Secretary-General Urges World Leaders to Address Urgency of Climate Change at COP26

 The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has appealed to world leaders attending the UN Climate Change Conference to close the gap in ongoing climate change negotiations, as millions of lies and livelihoods are on the line in climate vulnerable countries. She has been now to discuss this further. Patricia, thank you so much for your time today. Especially in the context of the Commonwealth, the issue is about climate-related disasters that really bring forward the issues that we are dealing with as a society. But before we get to these negotiations, can you just speak to the urgency to take this matter seriously? And what would you say has been greater conversion in terms of people appreciating the need to address these issues? I think there has, but not enough. In the past, we were arguing about the science simulation to climate change. What would happen? What do we need to do? Now there isn't any dispute about the science. We know that we need 1.5 in order for all of our countries to stay alive. And we know that if we go beyond 1.5, then we are putting millions and millions of people's lives at risk and many of our countries, particularly our small island developing states, more states in Africa, will no longer be here. And we know the consequences of climate change already. Much of Africa has already warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius since 1901. And the impacts of this warming includes an increase in heat waves, hot days, increasing droughts and floods, and spreading of infectious diseases and food insecurity. If you just look at the drought prone sub-Saharan African countries, the number of undernourished people has increased by 45.6% since 2012. Now nearly 45 million people across southern Africa, at region, for example, our food insecure as a result of the drought and floods and the impact of the coronavirus. So we know what's happened in Africa, but look at what's happened in the Caribbean and in the Pacific. If you take my island of birth, Dominica, we've had two traumatic storms. The first in 2015 when 95% of the Dominican economy was wiped out. And then two years later, there was the biggest hurricane that they'd ever seen, the world had ever seen at that stage. In 2017, 226% of the GDP was destroyed. And if you look at Antigua, which is a island very close by, the whole of Barbuda, all the people had to be evacuated. So we are at crisis point now and the warming is 1.1 with every degree that goes up, the danger to the people we love gets better, a worse and worse. And we're all in this. So we cannot leave any of us behind. And this is more urgent than it has ever been. And we in the Commonwealth have been banging this drum since 1989. When we said in Lankarway that this posed an existential threat, we're tired of being right. We do not want to be right. Again, if we go above 1.5, it will be heartbreaking. The state of the countries we will use, some of our islands, some of our countries will not exist if we reach 1.5. So the fight is on and we are just hoping that maybe the big countries, the countries who are most responsible for emitting this will stop and will help us because we're all in this together. Climate finance is obviously a big part of the solution. So can I speak to the progress that we're making, especially in the as COP26 is holding and those conversations are going on? How we are addressing that issue as a society? Well, let's talk about the good thing. The good thing is nobody is now saying that the 100 billion, which was promised in 2009, is enough. And everybody is accepting that we have not yet delivered that 100 billion and that the 100 billion a year needed go into the hands of those, particularly those in the South who have not really contributed to developing this terrible situation but are the first people to be adversely affected. But we're not there yet and it is heartbreaking. I really mean heartbreaking to see us arguing about what is a tiny amount of money when you look at the total GDP of our most wealthy countries. We need this money and we need it now. And I hope that when the negotiators are in that hall, they will be struggling to fill that gap. We have to fill the gap because if we don't fill the gap, we don't bring emissions down to 1.5. If we don't get the money into the hands of the member states who really need it to make sure that they do the adaptation mitigation, then we are lost. I hope everyone there is just fighting to fill the gap. We now have an agreement with business and others that this is an objective we all have to fulfill. And the commitments that have been made in relation to methane, the commitments that have been made in relation to deforestation, they're great but we need to do more. We need to do so much more to fill that gap. Right. Okay, let's talk a bit about some of the key announcements that are coming out of COP26, especially in the context of the Commonwealth. And can you speak to how they are relevant to African nations? Well, as you know, the Commonwealth is made up of 54 countries, about 2.5 billion people, 60% are under the age of 30 but 19 of our members are Africa. And so we've got members from South, East, West and North Africa. So we are really representative of the whole of the African continent and our members be powerfully not just for themselves but for the African region. But you'll know that the Caribbean has members and so does Asia. And we have them from the Pacific, from Europe, from the Americas. So all of the people around that table are working together and we need to work even harder. Where we in the Commonwealth Secretary out of creating something called the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub. We are placing advisors in country long-term advisors to work with and by the side of our member states so we can make applications for the money that is supposed to be made available. And with just 1.5 million pounds, we've already delivered into the hands of our member states, $44.1 million. But we've got $762 million still in the pipeline and we know we need to do more. And we need more to implement the three Rio conventions which will particularly look at desification and drought and water, the things that are pivotly important to Africa. And we have just at this COP, got agreement from our member states to launch what we call the Living Lands Charter which will seek to implement the three Rio conventions which deal with land and water and desification. And we're using open source data which is satellite data. And if you look at what we're doing on common sensing, all of that is desperately important to our member states which includes Africa. And so together we are looking to implement a regenerative model of development and giving the technical assistance and help that our countries need. We've got the blue chart of our oceans and we're now going to launch a new group in relation to methane as part of our seaset agenda which is looking at energy transformation. So we need to get from fossil fuels into green and blue energy and that's how we're going to cut emissions and hopefully get to that 1.5 so we can all survive and stay alive. Obviously emissions is a big part of this whole conversation around climate change. But obviously there are other issues like deforestation. But let's look at this in the context of Africa. As you know Africa obviously has huge energy challenges. What would be your message to African nations as they try to address these energy challenges which are real but at the same time do their best to protect the environment? I would say that we are with you. That the Commonwealth Secretary Act is going to do absolutely everything we can in terms of making the toolkits, getting the science and we are in the middle of trying to put together some toolkits as to what a bankable project will look like. And so with the energy transition all of our countries are working hard and are committed to working together to fast-track an inclusive just and equitable transition from low carbon energy systems across the Commonwealth and countries have been invited to set up action groups focused on three key pillars that's inclusive energy transition technology and innovation which we absolutely need and enabling frameworks and a COP26 as part of our CSAT agenda we launch the sustainable energy toolkit for small island developing states and this toolkit helps countries translate clean energy transition plans into investable business opportunities but this toolkit isn't just for the small because anything that works for the small works for us all and if you look at the WTO they are saying that cities are going to drive our economies in the future and many of our small states are about the same size as cities so all of this is replicable and I would say please join us do not give up hope we can do this we just have to work together the sciences there the innovation is there I've been saying the human genius got us into this mess and human genius will get us out we have genius in Africa we have genius in the Caribbean in the Pacific in Europe in the the East countries in Asia together we can do this we can't do it on our own but we will and we can do it together if we choose and I'm so proud that the Commonwealth countries are choosing but we need all our friends this will take all of us but it is doable that 1.5 is doable if we work together if you can speak very briefly to the significance of the Commonwealth Health of Government meeting in Rwanda next year especially in the context of this conversation that we're having can you speak to how significant that would be and what will be the next steps towards that well we hope to hold the next Commonwealth heads of government as you say in Kagali in Rwanda this has been postponed twice now because of COVID-19 but the Commonwealth has always spoken with a very strong voice climate change is doing to be on that agenda in Kagali I hope that we will be able to come up with the new model in relation to what we want to for climate change in 1989 the Commonwealth heads of government did that with the Lanqari declaration in 2015 it was the Commonwealth heads of government in Malta who came up with two degrees enforceability and a 1.5 aspirational target I know that when our leaders come together they will be talking about this issue but they'll also be talking about trade and how we feel that gap because we've lost about 345 billion as a result of COVID-19 we need to fill that back but the great thing is we have intra Commonwealth trade which we hope will be back up to 700 billion by 2022 with the hope and aspiration that we'll get to 2 trillion inter Commonwealth trade by 2030 now the African continental African free trade area and that agreement will be one of the driving forces together with taking advantage of the WTO trade facilitation agreement we are looking together to create draft and framework legislation framework regulation framework contracts all of it to enhance the interoperability of our member states to make trade easier a faster better cheaper because we will have to turbo charge our economies if we're to get over COVID and if we are to come up with the science of technology and the opportunities that we need so all of that will be at Chogham will be talking about women will be talking about young people will be a 60% of our population will be talking about governance equality and trade and that it should be this exciting Commonwealth heads of government meeting that we've had and we've waited three years so I know there'll be a thirst for our leaders to come together to block to plan and to make our world a much safer place. Okay.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, has appealed to world leaders attending the UN Climate Change Conference to close the gap in on-going climate change negotiations, as millions of lives and livelihoods on the line in climate-vulnerable countries. She joins CNBC Africa for more. 

Commonwealth SG, Scotland on how to close the gaps on greenhouse emissions

The Commonwealth SG, Patricia Scotland, has appealed to world leaders attending the UN Climate Change Conference to close the gap in on-going climate change negotiations, as millions of lives and livelihoods on the line in climate-vulnerable nations.

Commonwealth SG, Scotland on how to close the gaps on greenhouse emissions

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Commonwealth SG, Scotland on how to close the gaps on greenhouse emissions

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