Parliament deputy speaker MP Mohamed Abou El-Enein participated Wednesday morning in the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting held on the sidelines of the COP28 U.N. climate summit taking place in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Inter-Parliamentary Union is the first permanent international political organization and was the cornerstone of multilateral cooperation between nations across the world.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union played an active role in establishing the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 1899.
It had called for establishing an international institution linking the world’s governments together which paved the way for the founding of the League of Nations in 1919 and the United Nations in 1945.
The idea of bringing members of parliaments from different countries of the world together began to attract the attention of pacifists in the period between the 1870s and 1880s, but it was not until 1889 that anyone took the initiative to turn this idea into reality.
The United Arab Emirates hosted the parliamentary meeting accompanying the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which was organized by the Federal National Council in the UAE, in cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the participation of more than 30 Speakers of Parliaments, 500 parliamentarians, and experts representing 100 parliaments and international organizations around the world.
This international parliamentary event is the first of its kind hosted by the UAE and is being held for the first time in the Green Zone in Expo City Dubai, the conference hosting area.
The parliamentarian meeting represents a historic achievement for the UAE to involve parliamentarians in climate conference activities.
The meeting witnessed several sessions, where the first session, titled “Setting the Scene: Scientific Visions, Global Progress, and the Call to Enhance Ambition,” focused on the current climate scene, and the progress achieved in implementing the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.
During the session, the speakers touched on the latest scientific results and outcomes of climate research.
The parliamentarians also discussed the results of the global performance assessment of the contributions made to the Paris Climate Agreement.
This session is a platform to highlight the seriousness of the climate crisis as a global challenge, and the parliamentary participants called for taking qualitative measures to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, by carrying out their legislative and oversight powers in supervising and holding accountable climate commitments.
The second session, entitled “Bridging the Gap: Promoting Adaptation with Climate Action for the Benefit of Vulnerable Communities,” included a broad discussion of ways to enhance dialogue on parity in addressing climate change, in parallel with efforts to mitigate the impact, and the issue of adaptation, with a focus on vulnerable groups.
The conference participants also discussed measures that must be taken into account social diversity and achieve the goals of alleviating fallouts of climate change, including nature-based solutions.
The session will provide a space for parliamentarians to exchange visions and experiences on mechanisms to support adaptation financing and emphasize the urgent need to increase financing for developing countries that are suffering from climate challenges and face a severe shortage in adaptation financing, and compensation mechanisms under the title “Beyond Mitigation and Adaptation: Activating Losses and Damages.”
The third session's discussions on activating compensation and loss mechanisms for countries facing irreversible impacts as a result of climate change, in isolation from national, regional, and global efforts at mitigation and adaptation.
This session provided an opportunity for participants to exchange experiences in dealing with losses resulting from climate change, and to discuss opportunities and challenges related to holding governments accountable for the details of the mechanism of loss and damage.
Translated by Ahmed Moamar
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