COP Countdown

I’m heading to Poland next week to participate as part of the American Anthropological Association delegation to the United Nations Climate Negotiations known as the COP. The COP, or Conference of Parties, is an annual meeting of 195 countries held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Established in May 1992 at the Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro, the UNFCCC aims to facilitate the global response to the threat of climate change.

This year’s 24th COP will be held December 3rd -14th in Katowice, Poland. It is the penultima meeting prior to 2020 when the Paris Agreement will come into effect. Thus, the goal of this year’s conference is to solidify the "rulebook" under which the framework will operate. In addition to these guidelines, delegates are expected to discuss a variety of pressing issues including climate action plans, gender inclusion, and climate finance.

In attending COP24, I hope to gain an overarching understanding of the negotiation landscape. In particular, I’m interested in seeing how Central American countries—specifically Costa Rica and Panama—are continuing to position themselves with respect to the implementation of REDD+. I’ll also be following the on-going negotiations around Article 6.4 (rules, modalities, and procedures for cooperative approaches) and the discussion around the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP), which is aimed at facilitating the exchange of knowledge and best practices in addressing climate change.

Stay tuned as I share firsthand updates from the negotiations…