COP27: First time Compensating poor countries for climate disasters

Tags: Environment Summits International News

The 27th Conference of the Parties 9COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP27) is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on 31 October to 13 November 2022.

Important facts

• In this, various countries have agreed to provide financial assistance to poor countries to deal with the loss and damage caused by climate change.

• The participating countries agreed on a 20-point provisional agenda.

What is Loss and Damage?

• It refers to the economic and non-economic impacts of climate change, including extreme events in countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

• The demand for loss and damages is quite old, but it has faced strong resistance from rich and developed countries.

• The term was introduced in 1991 as a demand by the island country of Vanuatu, representing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

What is Conference of Parties (COP)? 

• The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the 'Earth Summit', was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 3-14 June 1992. 

• The conference focused  on the impact of human socio-economic activities on the environment. 

• The countries assembled here  agreed to work together to deal with issues of sustainable development and climate change .

• The Rio Earth summit agreed to  create the  United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) where the member countries can discuss issues related to global warming and climate change and take steps to deal with these problems .

• It entered into force on  21 March 1994, and has been ratified by 197 countries and territories .

• The countries which has ratified the UNFCCC are called as Parties 

• Every year they meet to discuss climate change related issues . These meetings are called Conference of Parties(COP) .

• The first COP was held in 1995 in Berlin, Germany .