SHARM EL SHEIKH, 11/20 (IPS) – After intense deadlocks and hours of negotiations, nearly 200 countries have reached an agreement to establish a damage and injury fund to assist affected countries. hardest hit by climate change – a requirement considered non-negotiable by developing countries.
COP27 has been extended by a day after negotiators were unable to agree on funds – leading to UN Secretary-General António Guterres saying on Friday, November 18, 2022, that it was time to talk about financial losses and damages have been exhausted. He alluded to the growing trust rift between developing and developed countries.
Guterres, early Sunday morning, November 20, 2022, welcomed the fund and said: “I welcome the decision to establish a loss and damage fund and to bring it into operation in the coming period. Obviously, this won’t be enough, but it’s a much-needed political signal to rebuild broken trust.”
He added that the voices of those on the front lines of the climate crisis must be heard.
During the previous global climate summit, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland last year, the parties agreed on the path by which developing countries, which are less likely to cause the climate crisis, to come to a decision. to win pledges from rich nations to compensate them for their losses. this damage.
In several instances during the negotiations, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is also the President of COP27, has stated that climate finance remains key for Africa as the continent contributes 4%. to global emissions and is adversely affected to a much greater extent by events related to global warming.
In terms of loss and damage, some climate finance experts believe the ongoing climate finance negotiations at COP27 are one of the most painful examples of the African adage that when elephants strike each other, the grass will be trampled.
Sophia Murphy, Executive Director of the US-based Institute of Agricultural and Trade Policy (IATP), told IPS: “The ongoing negotiations over loss and damage are a recent iteration. of this long war.
IATP is a consulting organization that analyzes the links between agriculture, trade and climate in developing countries.
Since 2015. The effects of climate change in developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
Murphy points out that the G77 is comprised of many different countries and interests, and that the climate crisis is not being felt equally across the South.
“Developing countries now at COP27 can show that everyone is responsible for the negative reality of climate change and that the negotiations on loss and damage are,” she said. the most recent iteration of this long war.”
While many negotiators in Sharm El Sheikh believe that rich countries are lagging in measures to allocate loss and damage funding, there is a consensus that the current negotiations on climate finance have Not going well, especially with regard to expectations for COP27.
Dr Somorin Olufunso, Principal Regional Director, Climate Change and Green Growth (East Africa) at the African Development Bank, told IPS that financial negotiations are primarily “trust” negotiations.
“Unfortunately, if trust is broken, it could affect other issues being negotiated and ultimately affect our collective action on combating climate change,” said the finance expert. said senior officials.
The bank released its Africa Economic Outlook 2022 report on African countries’ demand for losses and damages for the period 2022-2030 at between $289.2 and $440.5 billion. The estimated adaptation financing needs are of the same magnitude.
For many Africans, according to Olufunso, the negotiations were not drastic enough to find the necessary solutions in terms of both scale and speed.
Until the end of the summit, the loss and damage fund remains a major sticking point.
“Negotiations are going well in some commodities and not so well in others (…) Rwanda and other vulnerable countries have high hopes for a decision to be passed. the establishment of a loss and damage fund,” Faustin Munyazikwiye, Deputy Director General of the Rwanda Environmental Management Agency (REMA) and Chief Negotiator of Rwanda, told IPS in an interview.
According to him, this performance did not go well.
African negotiators at COP27 have made it a priority to fill the gap between current risks related to climate change and financing for adaptation.
However, most developing countries want to ensure that the financing of losses and damages is channeled through the private sector and not necessarily the responsibility of rich countries.
But other experts believe that the cost of repairing this damage is staggering and that it is the countries that must pay to contribute to climate change in the first place.
While some climate finance experts find that the pledge of rich nations to pay the developing world $100 billion cannot even cover Africa’s needs, others point out. that COP27 must provide a bold financial basis to pay for the loss and damage to communities already affected by climate change on the continent.
Kelly Dent, the UK-based World Animal Welfare’s Global Director for External Cooperation, told IPS that the most vulnerable countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, are treating the climate emergency as a matter of life.
“Without a coherent and financially meaningful agreement, COP27 will not achieve its mission and put millions of lives at risk,” she said.
In Dent’s view, a roadmap to track and deliver double-digit adaptive financing is critical.
UNEP’s 2022 Adaptation Gap Report, published on the sidelines of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, indicates that the continent needs between US$7 and US$15 billion annually to strengthen adaptation to climate change outside in addition to the nearly $3 trillion investment required to implement national decisions. contribution (NDC) and emission limits in line with the Paris climate agreement.
Report of the UN IPS Office
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© Inter Press Service (2022) — All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
