Yousra Adel (Dubai)
Fatma Varank, Turkey's Deputy Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change, called on developed countries to assume their historical responsibility in achieving emissions reduction goals, stressing that her country has done its part to implement the Paris Climate Action Agreement. She told Al-Ittihad: The importance of COP28 stems from the process of building trust and assuming joint responsibility for preserving the planet.
Turkey's Deputy Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change praised the UAE's organization of COP28, stressing the UAE's commitment to climate action and its leadership role in the field of renewable energy.
She said: The UAE’s presidency of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change provided momentum to reach agreements and take important steps to confront climate change, expressing his appreciation for the UAE’s presidency of the conference and its exceptional hosting, describing the organization of COP28 as “wonderful.” She stressed that the success of COP28 in activating the establishment of the “Loss and Damage” Fund is a matter of great importance.
She said: “It is necessary to provide funds to the countries most affected by climate change, and to ensure that mechanisms are put in place to address the urgent needs of countries exposed to environmental disasters.”
She added that there is an urgent need to support the countries most affected by climate change, most of which lack the financial resources and technology to adapt to climate change, and stressed that countries should not be required to completely change their economies overnight to achieve the goals of confronting climate change, as she said: Structural reform must It should be applied carefully and through compatibility between global goals to reduce emissions and countries’ capabilities for economic transformation. Regarding the updates that Turkey faces regarding climate change, she said that her country has been exposed to disasters such as drought, floods, and severe weather phenomena as a result of climate change, noting that the temperature in the Mediterranean basin has risen by more than 1.5 degrees, which makes disasters resulting from climate change a threat. His country's cities, infrastructure and sources of energy production.
The Deputy Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change in Turkey said: UN reports clearly indicate that Turkey is one of the countries most exposed to severe weather phenomena in Europe, as over the past two decades it has been repeatedly exposed to floods, storms, heavy rains and forest fires, as a UN report revealed. Lake Beyşehir, the largest freshwater lake in Turkey, is vulnerable to drying up by 2070. The Turkish minister explained that his country witnessed 2,793 forest fires in 2021 alone.
Fatima Varank explained that Turkey is contributing to global efforts to reduce emissions and confront climate change through its ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement, in addition to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement of the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2053. The Turkish official said: Achieving this goal is It requires adopting a road map to decarbonize the steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizer industries and increasing the share of renewable energy, and that her country will seek to achieve the goal of zero emissions by adopting a clear development plan that ensures technological transformation and the creation of new markets, new employment sectors and green development.
She pointed to her country's adoption and update of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which outlines each country's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change, as it doubled the emissions reduction for 2030 to 41%. She added that the Turkish government is currently working on the final stage of the climate law, which will enhance the contribution to protecting the environment and combating climate change.
Also among the Turkish efforts to combat climate change, the Turkish official referred to the “Zero Waste” initiative that his country launched in December 2017 at the initiative of Emine Erdogan, wife of the Turkish President, and which was adopted by the United Nations. It is an initiative that aims to combat the impact of waste and waste on the environment, change people’s consumption habits, and deal with that waste by recycling it and making use of it after separating it according to its types at the source, with the aim of achieving a recycling rate of up to 35% in 2023, and 60% in 2030. .
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