The Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa,
is leading the South African delegation to the 23rd
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Conference of Parties (CoP23), held in Bonn, Germany.
COP23 started its meeting in Bonn on 6 November under
the Presidency of Fiji, with the High-Level Segment
scheduled for 15 to 17 November 2017.
The CoP23 is expected to advance work on the
implementation guidelines for the Paris Agreement. This
guideline has to be concluded in time to enable COP 24
to take key decisions that will enable timeous
commencement of post-2020 actions to be implemented.
The CoP23 is also expected to discuss among others, loss
and damage due to climate change, finance, technology
and capacity-building for developing countries.
¡§In determining the climate action during the pre-2020
period, COP23 is crucial in determining what is required
of all parties to continue the good work that we have
been doing to ensure that clear elements of action are
agreed to that can be converted into text early in
2018,¡¨ said Dr Molewa.
¡§South Africa is hopeful that the Bonn Climate Change
Conference will not only take stock of what is required
to implement the Paris Agreement, but that it will
provide assurances that the political balance of the
Paris Agreement is upheld. We are hopeful that all
issues of importance to developing countries, such as
adaptation and means of implementation, will be
addressed in the rule-book to be adopted before 2020,¡¨
the Minister said. |