Journal d’une COP#3

Back to multilateralism ?

We thought it had fallen into the forgotten pages of history, swept away by the global geopolitical upheavals, relegated to the rank of an illusory idea. And yet, here it is reappearing at a COP and a Peace Forum. Who is it? Multilateralism. And it seems to be rather in good shape, at least in theory.

Certainly, at this stage, we can consider that these are just words, but they have the merit of conveying somewhat forgotten notions. We are witnessing the return of a key concept: cooperation.

• Cooperation on Climate – “Cooperate or Die” – which has the merit of acknowledging that nothing, absolutely nothing, will be possible without international cooperation if we want to meet the challenge of climate change. We can see it in the numbers. The situation is getting worse, particularly due to a lack of coherence and international coordination.
• Cooperation on Food Security in the face of the worst food crisis the world has experienced since World War II, which is only just beginning. While the current crisis is a price crisis related to the war in Ukraine, it should not obscure a deep dysfunction in the global production system that leads to conflicts over access to resources and significant migration phenomena around the world.
• Cooperation against inequalities: this is the meaning of the “loss and damage” mechanism on the one hand, but it is more broadly the meaning of ongoing reflections on new ways of cooperation for development, the terms of which must be drastically reconsidered, as well as the mechanisms and conditions of financing.

“We are witnessing the return of a key concept : cooperation.”

Although there is often a long way to go from words to action, two elements argue for a beginning of optimism:

• The clarity, even the radicalness, of the position of institutions that had become accustomed to sometimes absurd syntheses to appease both the oil rig and the solar panel or deforestation and agroecology.
• The simplification of both the indicators and the solutions. Whether it be reference standards in environmental matters or actions to be implemented to meet all these challenges, it must be acknowledged that the clearer they are, the more likely they are to generate the support and mobilization of all societies.