Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja is flying to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the 28th annual United Nations (UN) climate change summit also known as the “Conference of the Parties” or COP28.

The summit, for the “parties” which are the countries that signed up to the original UN climate agreement in 1992, is being held in Dubai, UAE’s most populous city from Thursday, November 30 till December 12, 2023.

More than 200 governments were invited, but environmental charities, community groups, think tanks, businesses and faith groups will also take part.

“I am travelling to the UAE this evening to represent the President at COP28, where I will present a paper. I will use Uganda Airlines,” Nabbanja said on Wednesday afternoon after opening the two-day seminar on modalities for joint system-wide evaluation of operational activities for development of the UN System in Uganda at Mestil Hotel in Kampala.

The seminar is designed to evaluate the operational activities and interventions of the UN system in Uganda and it’s being guided by the current National Development Plan and the National Policy on Monitoring and Evaluation.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja posing for a picture after delivering a keynote address at a high-level two-day seminar organised to discuss the modalities for the joint system-wide evaluation of operational activities for development of the United Nations. (Photo by Alfred Ochwo)

Nabbanja, who delivered a keynote address, thanked the UN for the continuous support of Uganda’s development journey.

Tackling climate change

President Yoweri Museveni has been saying that while the developed world must reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Africa should play its part in stopping the destruction of forests and wetlands, which has contributed to adverse climate change effects.

According to the BBC, it is hoped that COP28 will help keep alive the goal of limiting long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C, which was agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015.

The 1.5⁰C target is crucial to avoid the most damaging impacts of climate change, according to the UN's climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Long-term warming currently stands at about 1.1⁰C or 1.2⁰C compared with pre-industrial times — the period before humans started burning fossil fuels at scale.

However, recent estimates suggest the world is currently on track for about 2.4⁰C to 2.7⁰C of warming by 2100, although the exact numbers are uncertain.

As a result, the window for keeping the 1.5⁰C limit in reach is “rapidly narrowing”, the UN says.

As well as progress towards the existing Paris climate goals, COP28 will concentrate on fast-tracking the move to clean energy sources, to “slash” greenhouse gas emissions before 2030, delivering money for climate action from richer to poorer countries, and working on a new deal for developing nations, focusing on nature and people, as well as making COP28 the “most inclusive” ever, according to the BBC.

There will also be themed days on issues including health, finance, food and nature.