Climate Change: A Race We Must Win

This briefing by the South African Institute of International Affairs discusses the objectives and context of the September 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York. It highlights the urgency of the 'climate crisis' as defined by the IPCC and UN Secretary General António Guterres, the role of youth activism, and the need to balance climate change mitigation with adaptation, specifically through Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in Africa.

• The UN Climate Action Summit, scheduled for 23 September 2019 in New York, aims to accelerate climate action and enhance Paris Agreement commitments before COP25, driven by IPCC reports and global youth climate strikes such as 'Fridays for Future' and 'Extinction Rebellion'.
• UN Secretary General António Guterres and the IPCC have framed the situation as a 'climate crisis' and a 'direct existential threat to humankind', warning that current greenhouse gas (GHG) emission trajectories are not slowing down despite the need to keep global mean temperature increases below 1.5°C.
• While climate change mitigation has seen progress—with 183 parties submitting Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and 43 developed countries reporting positive progress—the summit will specifically focus on the world's two largest carbon emitters: China and the United States.
• Climate change adaptation has received less focus than mitigation; a January 2019 UN Framework Convention on Climate assessment found that no country that submitted National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) had actually implemented the stipulated policies or projects.
• Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) is proposed as a critical solution that provides simultaneous benefits for adaptation, mitigation (via 'carbon sinks' like mangrove restoration), and socio-economic upliftment, particularly for Africa, which is highly vulnerable and currently lacks response capacity.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2019). Climate Change: A Race We Must Win. https://saiia.org.za/research/climate-change-a-race-we-must-win/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Climate Change: A Race We Must Win. 2019. https://saiia.org.za/research/climate-change-a-race-we-must-win/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Climate Change: A Race We Must Win |date=19 September 2019 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/climate-change-a-race-we-must-win/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2019climate, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Climate Change: A Race We Must Win}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/climate-change-a-race-we-must-win/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }