COP25: The long, winding journey to Spain

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is an international environmental treaty adopted on May 9, 1992. It entered into force on March 21, 1994 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified the convention. These countries, 197 of them,  are called “parties” to the Convention. Each year, UNFCCC organises what it calls conference of parties (COP). The 2019 conference tagged COP25 has witnessed a winding journey occasioned by political and economic conditions in the countries that were built to host it.

According to the UNFCCC, “hosting a climate COP is a significant political, financial and logistical commitment.”

Serving as a host rotates every year among the five regional groups, and in 2019 it was the turn of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) to host the conference.

The UNFCCC secretariat had received a letter from GRULAC presenting the offer of Brazil to host COP25. This offer would have been presented to and be accepted by the parties at COP24, which held in 2018 in Katowice.

However, in November 2018, Brazil announced that it was withdrawing this offer.

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Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro decided to withdraw from hosting COP25 due to economic reasons.

The next step was for the GRULAC members to discuss among themselves whether another country in the region will offer to host COP25.

Chile, a country in the region, stepped up to the plate. All roads were leading to a city called Santiago, in Chile, where COP25 was to hold from 2 to 13 December this year. This was until, Wednesday last week, Wednesday, October 30.

In the wake of weeks of civil unrest in which millions have taken to the street in protest over economic inequality, embattled Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera made the announcement that it was withdrawing from hosting COP25, along with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit which it was also meant to host.

In her reaction, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, said, “Earlier today, I was informed of the decision by the Government of Chile not to host COP25 in view of the difficult situation that the country is undergoing. We are currently exploring alternative hosting options.”

Thankfully, a bailout came from Europe in 24 hours when Spain offered to be the latest COP25 host.

The government of Chile informed that they received an offer of support from the government of Spain to host COP25 in Madrid on the same dates as originally planned.

With this development, Espinosa said, “It is encouraging to see countries working together in the spirit of multilateralism to address climate change, the biggest challenge facing this and future generations.”

And on November 1, UNFCCC released a statement from its executive secretary saying, “We are pleased to announce the COP Bureau has agreed that COP25 will take place from 2-13 December in IFEMA – Feria de Madrid in Madrid, Spain.”

Spain has its own problems stemming from the self-actualisation agitation from Catalonia, a region in northeastern Spain. It is, however, hoped that despite this, Spain will indeed be the last stop for COP25 which is now less than a month away.

Nigerian Tribune