COP28 GIVES CHANCE TO GET CLIMATE AID TO THOSE WHO NEED IT
▶ ICRC report says countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen can benefit from decisions at UAE climate summit
Vulnerable Middle East countries affected by conflict should be offered easier access to global finance to help mitigate the effects of climate change, humanitarian experts have said.
In a joint report focusing on Iraq, Syria and Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Norwegian Red Cross said the combined effects of climate change and conflicts were creating an alarming mix of humanitarian crises.
Despite their vulnerability, countries plagued by conflict are almost entirely excluded from meaningful financing to tackle the effects of climate change, said the report, which was published on Thursday.
A senior adviser to the UAE Cop28 team and the ICRC called for a global pact to streamline applications for climate finance to be high on the agenda at the UN climate change conference, which opens in Expo City Dubai on November 30.
“Those most vulnerable to climate change and affected by conflict receive the least of the climate finance action,” Helena de Jong told a forum in Dubai to discuss the report.
“This is a very serious problem, as it becomes a vicious cycle of conflict and climate change governments struggle to deal with. This is something we would like to see change but it is not easy.
“The advantage of focusing on this as the Cop28 presidency is that we can talk with all these climate finance profilers, to the multilateral development banks and to the humanitarian and peacebuilding actors in this space to bring all of them together to look at the solutions.”
The Climate Funds Update database – which collates information from 27 UN, World Bank and other multilateral funds – listed only 19 single-country projects in Iraq, Syria and Yemen that had been approved for funding by January 2022.
The total disbursed is just $20.6 million, said the report – less than 0.5 per cent of the money spent on climate projects worldwide.
“It won’t happen overnight and it won’t be all different after Cop28, but we want to see a big step forward,” Ms de Jong said.
“My dream outcome would be to have some global pact that all these actors will sign up to that does not include just principles that we all agree on, but would also include solutions to these issues.”
Extreme weather events, such as drought and intense rainfall, are becoming more common in the region, as are high temperatures, while access to fresh water is dwindling.
Long conflicts have undermined capacity in environmental governance and taken a toll on natural resources.
While access to clean water becomes more challenging, livelihoods are disrupted and health problems such as malnutrition, waterborne diseases and respiratory illnesses become increasingly common.
The UN ranks Iraq, still recovering from decades of conflict, as one of five countries most affected by effects of climate change – including drought.
Syria is also at heightened risk, as more than a decade of war has battered its infrastructure.
Clare Dalton, head of delegation to the UAE at the ICRC said more support for areas affected by conflict should arise from discussions during Cop28.
“Our hope is that climate financing is better directed to countries experiencing conflict in ways that they can actively apply and use it,” she said.
Ms Dalton said the UAE can be a catalyst for change.
“It should not just be addressed in formal negotiations [at Cop28] but the UAE can become a platform and provide a space for actors to come together to address the issues.”