Speak climate fluently in the climate era

UNDP (2023), The Climate Dictionary. New York: UNDP

The world is abuzz again about another United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP29, which will take place from November 11 to 22, 2024, at Baku Stadium, the capital of Azerbaijan.

The Baku Conference will be the 29th edition of the UN Conference.

COP 29, the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is the foremost global event for addressing climate change. Nigeria had an outsized team at the last event, as people with official access filled every space, which was embarrassing for the country. The 2024 event will be held on the acclaimed tourist island of Baku. What will Nigeria take to the event? What will our participation yield?

The Secretariat of the Climate Conference released a handbook on 4 September 2024 to guide participants and observers. The Observer Handbook for COP 29: A Guide for Non-Governmental Organizations is a downloadable PDF document. It specifies that the role of the observer “is to monitor negotiations, advocate for specific policies, and engage with various stakeholders.”

We will return to this handbook. Before then, in 2023, UNDP published an instructive E-book called The Climate Dictionary. It is a glossary of core terms and issues in the now dominant discourse on climate change.

The book quickly establishes the qualification of UNDP as a coordinator. “UNDP is the leading United Nations organisation fighting to end the injustices of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations build integrated, lasting solutions for people and the planet.”

UNDP coordinates climate actions through Climate Promise. It says UNDP’s Climate Promise is the most significant global offer on NDC support, covering over 120 countries and territories, representing 80 per cent of all developing countries globally – including 40 least developed countries, 28 small island developing states, and 14 high emitters – to enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions under the global Paris Agreement. Delivered in collaboration with various partners, it is the world’s largest offer of support for enhancing climate pledges. Learn more at climatepromise.undp.org and follow at @UNDPClimate.”

The terms run from the letter A, adaptation, to W, Weather versus Climate.

Cassie Flynn, UNDP’s Global Director of Climate Change, provides a rationale for the dictionary. She stated,” The climate crisis is the defining issue of our time. It affects every country and community. At the same time, many of the terms and concepts on climate change can be complicated and inaccessible to a broad audience. The need for accurate, easy-to-understand information about climate change has never been greater.

“At UNDP, we have one of the largest climate portfolios in the world. We worked with our experts to define 40 frequently used climate terms simply. The result is The Climate Dictionary, which you’re holding in your hands.”

Flynn hopes that readers will read, share and use it. “By better understanding the climate crisis, we can push for global climate action more strongly.”

Here are some definitions from The Climate Dictionary. It starts with a long entry on adaptation that reads like a manifesto:

Climate change adaptation refers to actions that help reduce vulnerability to the current or expected impacts of climate change, such as weather extremes and natural disasters, sea-level rise, biodiversity loss, or food and water insecurity.

Many adaptation measures need to happen at the local level, so rural communities and cities have a big role to play. Such measures include planting crop varieties more resistant to drought and practising regenerative agriculture, improving water storage and use, managing land to reduce wildfire risks, and building more robust defences against extreme weather like floods and heat waves…

Climate change significantly alters the Earth’s average weather conditions over a sustained period. Here are some key terms associated with it:

GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Definition: The process by which certain gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the Sun, preventing it from escaping back into space.

Key gases: Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapour.

GLOBAL WARMING

Definition: The long-term increase in Earth’s average temperature.

Cause: Primarily due to human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes.

CLIMATE MODELS

Definition: Computer programs that simulate the Earth’s climate system, helping scientists predict future climate changes.

CARBON FOOTPRINT

Definition: A measure of the amount of greenhouse gases produced by an individual, organisation, or country.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Definition: Energy sources that can be naturally replenished over a short period, such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass.

MITIGATION

Definition: Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow down climate change.

SEA-LEVEL RISE

Definition: The increase in the average height of the ocean over time, primarily caused by the melting of glaciers and ice sheets.

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

Definition: The decrease in pH of the ocean due to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS

Definition: Severe weather conditions, such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, and heatwaves, are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change.

PARIS AGREEMENT

Definition: A legally binding international agreement to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

UNDP encourages everyone to download The Climate Dictionary for free at their shop. Add it to your cart and get a free dictionary download at checkout.

The more recent handbook addresses observers. In this age, observers must not be present in Baku but can contribute from everywhere. Key roles are to monitor negotiations, advocate for policies, and engage with stakeholders through networking with other observers, government representatives, and experts.

The book’s core counsel for those preparing to attend is to research the agenda, familiarise themselves with the issues, develop a strategy, and organise their materials.

Climate Finance is the leading issue to watch at COP 29. The book defines it as “Providing financial resources to developing countries to help them mitigate and adapt to climate change.” Others are loss and damage, defined as Addressing the impacts of climate change that cannot be avoided, such as extreme weather events and sea-level rise; Climate Justice, or “Ensuring that the burdens and benefits of climate action are equitably distributed”; and Net-Zero Emissions, which are Commitments to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by a specific date.