“Nature’s Battle: UN Climate Conference Disappoints, But the Fight Rages On” 

Two weeks of fraught UN climate change negotiations have concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan. The final deal is far from addressing the scale, urgency and inequity of the climate emergency. Hopes now turn to the next Climate COP hosted by Brazil in 2025.By Cathy Yitong Li, Sarah Brady, and Noelle Kumpel Two weeks of fraught UN climate change negotiations have concluded in Baku, Azerbaijan. Overrunning by 30 hours, tense disagreements over climate finance led to walkouts and ultimately inadequate outcomes. The final deal is far from addressing the scale, urgency and inequity of the climate emergency, especially for the most vulnerable communities, peoples and wildlife.COP29 fails to deliver for people and nature Branded as ‘the finance COP’, the top mission of the Conference of the Parties to the UN climate change convention – COP29 – was to secure an ambitious and equitable global climate finance goal. It was a rushed-through decision formally denounced by civil society and governments. Reference to the crucial role of nature was deleted and disappointingly the deal doesn’t bridge the critical finance gap, nor safeguard those most impacted by the crises. The impacts of climate change warned about by scientists are already here; suffering of millions of people fuelled by a stream of natural disasters, disruptions to food supplies and the loss of nature on a global scale. Nature can deliver over 30% of the climate solutions by 2030 to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C, a key goal of the Paris Agreement on climate agreed in 2015. “Protecting and restoring nature is vital to preventing the escalation of the climate and nature crisis. We cannot keep 1.5°C alive without it.”, highlighted Cathy Yitong Li, Senior Climate & Energy Policy Manager at BirdLife International.  COP29 was a critical opportunity to strengthen connected climate and nature action, as outlined in our BirdLife International COP29 Position and Nature4Climate COP29 Statement. However, nature was largely absent on all fronts. “The COP29 deal is clearly inadequate and it fails to acknowledge the vital role that nature plays in our response to the climate crisis. We came to Baku to push for faster and stronger climate action by countries, with nature at its heart. Governments chose to ignore the urgency of speeding up climate action and ultimately failed to use this opportunity to mitigate the crisis. This deal has only raised the stakes for next year’s crucial meeting in Brazil. Before then, governments must demonstrate that they are serious in tackling the nature and climate emergency by submitting ambitious plans that get us back on track. BirdLife International will continue fighting for a world where birds and all life can thrive.”Martin Harper, CEO, BirdLife InternationalHeader Image: © Noelle Kumpel, Senior Policy Advisor at BirdLife International© Noelle Kumpel, Senior Policy Advisor at BirdLife International“COP29 has failed to deliver. Tr