From Addis to Belém: Is Multilateralism Back on Track?
Nnaemeka Oruh
The abiding vision of COP30 is the Global Mutirão. This concept, birthed by the Brazilian COP30 Presidency, recognises the need for collective action built brick by brick from the local to the national, the regional, and the global. Mutirão therefore places its feet firmly on the grounds that nothing concrete can be attained in the global drive for climate resilience and sustainable growth without collective and collaborative actions.
This perhaps became extremely urgent as the world battled an attack on multilateralism following the change of government in the United States of America, earlier this year. As some are putting a knife on the things that held us together, it became increasingly important that the world rally and bring back that very important spirit of multilateralism as aptly captured by the Mutirão vision.
Significantly, this year too, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) brought back the climate weeks with the first one taking place in Panama. Currently, the second climate week is going on in Ethiopia–the Origin of Life and a significant venue to resurrect the spirit of humanity.
What immediately captures the attention of many participants during the high-level Opening Ceremony today, is the level of importance given to this by the international community with the event graced by Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Ms. Noura Hamladji; both High-level Champions for COP29 and COP30, Ms Nigar Arpadarai and Dan Ioschpe respectively; both COP29 and COP30 Youth Champions, Leyla Hasanova and Marcele Oliveira respectively; Chair of the SBI, etc.
Strikingly, the presence of these champions of climate action was underscored by a repetitive call for collaboration.
Accordingly, Ms. Noura Hamladji stressed that there is no solution to climate change at the scale needed without solidarity and enlightened that climate weeks are about harvesting innovation, sharing best practices, and turning pledges into action.
Ms Hamladji’s view was further echoed by the COP29 High-level Champion and Member of Parliament, Ms Nigar Arpadarai, who highlighted the risk of mistrust in the climate change process and why COP29 tried to ensure that the voices of the global south were heard loud and clear. She reiterated that to succeed, the COP process must reinvent itself all the time and be deeply etched in honesty, humanity, and a deepening of trust.
This overwhelming emphasis on trust, solidarity and collaboration, becomes more significant when one takes into consideration the fact that for the UNFCCC, the focus for this second climate week is “Finance for Adaptation”— a focus that resonates with African needs and vision which was highlighted by the Chair of the African Group of negotiators, Dr. Richard Muyungi, when he called for COP30 to make the Global Goal on Adaptation work for Africa. This was further backed by the COP30 Youth Champion.
For Oliveira the youths’ focus is on adaptation finance, with the local communities and people directly impacted part of the decision process.
This unified call for adaptation finance remains a key pillar of Africa’s climate demands. But it must come in the form of grants, and not loans disguised as climate finance.
What one then expects is that this rekindling of the spirit of multilateralism must transcend beyond talks to action. There is an urgent need to mount the right pressures and ensure that the right support is delivered to Africa’s most vulnerable. This is critical as we move from Addis to Baku, to Belém, and beyond.
Thankfully, Ethiopia’s efforts at championing homegrown options and showing conscious leadership on climate action, including through its “Green Legacy Initiative” and the targeted generation of over 5,000 MWs of power through its “Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam,” shows Africa’s commitment to champion climate action even as a low-emitting continent. It further sends a message to other African leaders to take up the gauntlet and run with the idea that the continent’s sustainable development is anchored on well-structured climate action.
*Oruh, who is Senior Policy Analyst on Climate Change at the Society for Planet and Prosperity wrote from Addis Ababa.
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