Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad during her speech at 14th Biological Diversity Conference - Screen shot from Extra News Channel
CAIRO - 9 November 2021: Egyptian Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad held talks with representatives of children and youth to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on the sidelines of her participation in COP26 conference.
The minister was briefed on the activities of the representatives at the conference as around 20 groups are undertaking different activities at the event.
The youth and children representatives confirmed that they are keen on boosting cooperation with the Egyptian side after the Glasgow conference wraps up its activities.
The two sides discussed efforts for confronting climate change effects.
Egypt’s Ministry of Environment issued a booklet on its preparations to host the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (UNFCCC COP 27), under the title "Road to COP27...A United Africa for a Resilient Future” in the city of Sharm El Sheikh.
The conference, If Egypt were elected by the UN to host its next session in 2022, would provide a platform for new and ambitious commitments to develop innovative solutions for facing climate change, and to build on the previous session of the UNFCCC that was held in Morocco (COP 22) more than 5 years ago, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Although the African country contributes to CO2 emissions with the lowest percentage, it suffers from climate change impacts, the statement added.
On behalf of the African countries, Egypt has proposed to host the COP27 in 2022, said President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in his speech at the COP26 summit in Glasgow on Monday.
“The booklet features Egypt's efforts to support green transformation and nature conservation nationally, regionally and internationally,” said Egyptian Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad.
The Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh has natural, logistical and technical components for hosting this important and huge event, The Minister added, noting that the city had hosted the COP14 Biodiversity Conference in 2018.
The Ministry said that Sharm El Sheikh, the green city of peace, was chosen because it has hosted several international events and UNESCO chose it to be the best city of peace and charm.
“We’ve started the journey from Sharm El Sheikh, the city renowned for its eco-tourism and protected diverse natural habits, through the UN Convention of Biodiversity Conference of Parties (COP 14) and will continue ahead to COP 27. We are committed to working with all countries and joining forces with civil society, companies and people on the frontline of climate change to inspire climate action ahead of COP 27 in 2022,” the booklet says.
The booklet addresses Egypt's serious steps in climate action through adopting a vision based on reform, re-imagining concepts and rebuilding, the statement said.
Also, the booklet has set a number of goals to create consistency and compatibility between urgent development goals and environmental sustainability, and to integrate environmental dimensions into various development fields through the implementation of clear policies and precise goals. Egypt is seeking to increase the rates of green investments to represent 50% of total government investments by 2024, through issuing green bonds.
“Africa will continue to speak with one voice in climate change Conferences of Parties. The continent heavily contributes to global GHG emissions but on the contrary, will be hit hard by the impact of climate change,” the booklet said.
“The upcoming CoP 27 will build upon the previous success of the African Continent Priorities, mainly the African Renewable Energy Initiative and the African Adaptation Initiative. Africa needs technical and financial support to tap on the abundant renewable energy resources to secure clean energy necessary for achieving SDGs,” the booklet added.
“Africa needs the financial support of the international community in order to minimize impacts of climate change on achieving SDGs. In order to set global priorities to tackle climate change, it is critical to review the existing local and regional priorities to establish shared priorities across several levels of governance,” it said.
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