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CAPE TOWN | Xinhua | South Africa has welcomed the outcomes of the recently concluded 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the country’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said that COP30 resulted in the adoption of the Belem Political Package, including key outcomes related to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), bolstering climate finance and a mechanism for just transition.
In the statement, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Willie Aucamp noted that his country stood ready to work with all parties to ensure that the decisions taken at COP30 translate into action.
“Our local climate change instruments already enable robust domestic climate action, while ensuring compliance with our international obligations,” he said.
According to the statement, this year’s COP particularly focused on the new NDCs, which are countries’ climate action plans under the Paris Agreement. NDCs are submitted every five years and are key to ensuring the goals of the Paris Agreement are on track to being met.
The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, was adopted by 195 parties at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, France, on Dec. 12, 2015. It entered into force on Nov. 4, 2016.
Another pivotal outcome of COP30 was the decision to establish a two-year work program on climate finance, including the provision of finance to developing countries, the statement said.
COP30 also called on developed nations to triple adaptation finance by 2035 and to increase the collective provision of climate finance to developing countries.
South Africa welcomed the guidance to triple finance flows to the funds, the calls for replenishment of the Global Environment Facility, the Green Climate Fund, and the calls for increased pledges to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage Fund.
COP30, hosted in Belem, Brazil, from Nov. 10 to 22, was termed the “COP of truth” by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for denoting an honest reflection and urgent actions needed to address both historical and emerging climate challenges. ■
