ABSTRACT
Recalling the remarks of the UN Deputy Secretary-General at the high-level General Assembly meeting about the 2016 New Urban Agenda, that “the battle for the planet will be won or lost in cities” and his strong warning at COP 27 about “being on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator”, the overall conclusions aligned with the outcome of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties are presented in this chapter, learning lessons from the success of the Montreal Protocol to elevate the urgency of action required to address the complexity of climate change, conflict and displacement in the up-coming 28th session that is planned to take place in the UAE. With both COPs hosted in the MENA Region consecutively for the years 2022 and 2023, the international response to adaptation to and mitigation of climate must be directed towards financing and needs for assistance in developing countries and addressing the pressing challenges of the most vulnerable in the Global South. At COP26, developed nations were urged to double, at least, their collective provision of finance for adaptation from 2019 levels by 2025, yet only 24 of 193 countries have followed through on pledges made in Glasgow, UK. Thus, greater efforts are required to achieve this balance between adaptation and mitigation, with the recommendation to adopt the principles of the UNEP Adaptation Gap to help to develop Urban Resilience Action Plans (U-RAPs). Based on the lessons learnt from previous chapters, research conclusions are drawn towards achieving the global targets of Climate Change 2015–2030 in the context of fragility in the MENA Region and recommendations for key actions in the future are made.
