Chile backs out as COP25 host due to riots; Spain steps in as the new host

After Chile announced that it will not be able to host the United Nations Annual Conference Of Parties (COP25), Spain has stepped in and offered to host instead. The country’s offer has been accepted by Chile and the United Nations and it confirmed that COP25 will be held in Madrid, Spain on the same dates as before, between 2-13 December. Patricia Espinosa, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) tweeted confirming the news. She said, “We are pleased to announce the COP Bureau has agreed that COP25 will take place from 2-13 December in Madrid, Spain.”

We are pleased to announce the COP Bureau has agreed that #COP25 will take place from 2-13 December in Madrid, Spain.https://t.co/4XZBBLOd15 pic.twitter.com/YI12XRaroj

— Patricia Espinosa C. (@PEspinosaC) November 1, 2019

The conference was supposed to take place in the capital of Chile — Santiago. However, the government decided, on Wednesday, against holding the conference due to the internal turmoil and riots taking place. The people of Chile are fighting against the increased cost of living and the inequality that is prevalent in the country. After they dropped this news, a scramble to find alternate locations to host the conference began. [caption id=“attachment_7599511” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] The location for the COP25 in Madrid. image credit: Flickr/Alquiler de Coches[/caption] Costa Rica, the co-host of the conference, was considered and then ruled out because the Minster of Environment and Energy Carlos Manuel Rodriguez said that it would be impossible to prepare for the conference at such a short amount of time. The seat of the UNFCC at Bonn, Germany was also considered as a possible location but they too said that they will be unable to host the conference on such short notice. Spain was the only offer on the table and it was accepted without any hesitation. The venue of the conference has been announced and it will be taking place at  IFEMA - Feria de Madrid. Climate activist Greta Thunberg, **travelled 3,000 nautical miles from Plymouth, England to New York** to attend different conferences and the COP25 was going to be one of them. She recently tweeted asking for help to travel to Spain from America.

As #COP25 has officially been moved from Santiago to Madrid I’ll need some help.
It turns out I’ve traveled half around the world, the wrong way:)
Now I need to find a way to cross the Atlantic in November... If anyone could help me find transport I would be so grateful.
-> https://t.co/vFQQcLTh2U

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) November 1, 2019

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The conference is important to discuss climate change and what the governments of the countries can do to help in adaptation and mitigation. COP25 will have to try and get the members to increase the ambitions in the fight against climate change. According to Mongabay, Ricardo Bosshard, Director of WWF Chile said, “This meeting was key at the global level to get to the 2020 climate summit with new commitments.” He said that ’the commitments made at the 2015 COP in Paris will expire next year (2020). A pre-COP took place in Costa Rica from 8-10 October. The delegates present at the conference disused the IPCC Special Report on the Oceans and the Cryosphere as well as the unresolved issues from COP24.