| | | | | | | Hello. COP28, the UN’s climate summit, is starting tomorrow in Dubai. Our team of climate reporters have been preparing for a session that is already controversial - they’re telling us why. Meanwhile, we’re waiting for news on the truce deal between Israel and Hamas, which is set to expire after today. Our reporter in Gaza, Adnan El-Bursh, is reporting from the hour-long queues as Palestinians try to access basic supplies. I also have updates from Bolivia, Kenya and the Vatican. |
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| | | | | | Questions Answered | | Why Dubai’s COP28 is controversial | | | | Sultan al-Jaber has been a controversial choice to head the COP28 climate talks. Credit: Getty Images. |
| | The COP28 summit has been dealing with controversy before it has even started. It opens on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world's top 10 oil-producing nations. COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber, also the boss of the Emirati state oil company Adnoc, has denied a BBC report that the country was planning to use the meeting to discuss fossil fuel deals. | | | | Mark Poynting, climate and environment researcher |
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| | What is COP28? | | COP28 is the 28th annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting where governments will discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change. It's being held in Dubai from 30 November until 12 December 2023. COP stands for "Conference of the Parties", where the "parties" are the countries that signed up to the original UN climate agreement in 1992. | | Why is holding COP28 in Dubai controversial? | | Oil - like gas and coal - is a fossil fuel. These are the main causes of climate change because they release planet-warming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide when burned for energy. Sultan al-Jaber's oil company plans to expand production capacity. He has previously argued that he is uniquely well-placed to push for action from the oil and gas industry, and that as chairman of renewable energy firm Masdar, he has also overseen the expansion of clean technologies like wind and solar power. | | What are COP28 sticking points likely to be? | | There is likely to be disagreement about the future of "unabated" fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas, which are burned without technologies to capture their emissions. Mr Jaber has called for a "phase down" in their use, meaning a reduction over time, but not a complete end. However, the European Union is expected to push for a full "phase out". | | | | • | Go deeper: Can a climate summit in an oil state really change anything? Our climate editor Justin Rowlatt addresses this thorny question. | | • | Go simpler: BBC’s guide to climate change goes back to basics to answer the questions you might be afraid to ask. | | • | Sign up: The Future Earth newsletter has more essential climate news and hopeful developments - in your inbox, every Tuesday - from BBC correspondent Carl Nasman. |
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| AT THE SCENE | Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip | | Anger and despair as Palestinians queue for supplies | | | | More aid has been delivered during the pause in fighting, but people are struggling to find the basics to survive. Credit: BBC | | Up to 200 aid lorries have been reaching the Gaza each day since the beginning of the truce between Israel and Hamas. But that is still less than half of the number of lorries that entered daily before the war. Gazans across the Strip often wait for hours in the hope of accessing some supplies. | | | | Adnan El-Bursh, BBC Arabic |
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| "Where are all Arabs and Muslims? Where are all the defenders of human rights? You've left the Palestinian people to suffer, go hungry and be destroyed." A middle-aged woman rails at the world in a queue for cooking gas in Deir al-Balah, a town in the centre of the Gaza Strip. She shouts angrily in the air, desperation and frustration visible in her face, despair lurking in the background. "We've been waiting in line to fill one gas cylinder since early morning. I performed my morning prayers while standing."
Mohammed al-Qidrah is waiting patiently in the cooking gas queue. "We've been here for three days. We came here two nights ago and from 03:00 until now, we haven't been able to fill up," he says. "We can't find fuel, flour or anything. You need to stand in line for everything and you struggle to find it." Another man says: "You can't find a cup of tea or one pack of biscuits. Yesterday, people were sharing bread while sleeping on the street.” |
| | | | • | The latest: There is no news yet of an extension of the truce between Israel and Hamas, which is set to expire after today. Only two hostages have been released so far today. Our live page will have all the updates. | | • | In Israel: The Israeli army is looking into a claim from Hamas that Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped with her two sons, four-year old Ariel and 10-month-old Kfir, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike. | | • | In the West Bank: Two Palestinian boys, Adam al-Ghoul and Basel Abulwafa, have been shot dead in Jenin. They were respectively eight and 14 years old. Palestinian authorities say they were killed by Israeli forces. The Israeli military hasn't commented on the two boys specifically, but said suspects throwing explosive devices at its troops had been hit with live fire. |
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| | The big picture | | Caring for animals affected by wildfires | | | | A coati eats some of the food given by the locals. Credit: Reuters |
| | Wildfires have been raging this year in the mountainous region of San Buenaventura, in the north-west of Bolivia. Farmers say destruction and rising temperatures have been affecting the Amazonian fauna. Our gallery shows the extent to which some locals have gone to help affected creatures. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | More than one kind of wrap | | Best known as a Mexican dish, tamales may actually be ancestral to Guatemala. | | |
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| | And finally... in Kenya | | Kenya's parliament has banned a certain type of suit within the building. The suit, which takes its name from the late Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, counts Kenyan President William Ruto among its fans. But the Speaker of Parliament Moses Wetangula said Kaunda suits, as well as traditional African clothes, were not welcome. |
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| | | | | | | | Influential with Katty Kay | | In-depth and unexpected conversations with today’s change makers. | | |
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– Jules |
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