Damage and loss funding a win for vulnerable States like Fiji

The combined voices of climate change vulnerable countries like Fiji helped to swing a deal on damage and loss financing in its favour at the COP27 summit in Sharm El-Sheik, which ended last Sunday in Egypt.

At the same time, climate change advocates however, lament the lack of passion and firm commitment to tackle the carbon emissions contributing to global warming and wild weather events battering poor countries. It has been an arduous road and tough battle to arrive at this point.

It seemed as if a compromise was reached to agree to the damage and loss finance deal at the expense of continuing the momentum set at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, last year.

From Fiji’s perspective, it’s like they say in rugby, a win is a win. It was a hard-fought win and shed some light at the end of the tunnel.

In our quest to seek funds to pay for our rehabilitation programmes, after a devastating cyclone and accompanying floods, the Egypt deal is a big relief. We know there is funding available to finance the rebuilding of infrastructure like roads, bridges, buildings and people’s lives.

In the past, the Government has had to dig deeper into its coffers, sometimes obtaining loans, to pay for the cost of repairs and rebuilding. This is in addition to the generous donations of development partners and diplomatic allies.

When we talk about our economy, we should not lose sight of the significant impact of climate change. Climate change has become an important part of the equation in the drawing up of Government’s national budget.

While some political parties have included it in their manifesto, we do not hear much discussion on the subject on the election campaign trail. It may not be an urgent issue for voters.

Nevertheless, it’s the responsibilities of the politicians contesting the election to create that public awareness by explaining to the people why climate change is critical for any Government and why people should take it seriously.

We are into the cyclone season now and we could be hit by several weather events that could disrupt many normal activities like, travel, going to work and school, doing business and tourism. We must be ready for any eventuality.

While our focus is on the aftermath of a natural disaster, we need to be looking at what we can do to cut back on the pollution of our air, land and waterways in the way we dispose of our rubbish. Apart from FijiFirst, we have not heard any detailed plans from other parties on how they will address reducing carbon emissions by cutting back on the use of fossil fuel and replacing it with alternative sources of clean, green energy.

In Sharm El-Sheik, some media agencies reported that many countries felt pressured to give up on tougher commitments for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in order for the landmark deal on the loss and damage fund to go through.

Other media, like Reuters, are calling it a diplomatic coup for small islands and other vulnerable nations in winning over the 27-nation European Union and the United States, which had long resisted the idea, for fear that such a fund could open them to legal liability for historic emissions. It will likely take several years before the fund is set up and available. One lingering concern remains. Some countries tried to roll back commitments made in Glasgow. Countries were asked last year to update their national climate targets before this year’s Egypt summit. Only a fraction of the nearly 200 parties did so. The Egypt resolution did little to preview the global meeting in Montreal, Canada, next month to discuss biodiversity and how to protect the world’s declining wildlife and degraded ecosystems.

Fiji is included, and we need to play our part. While we are happy on one hand with damage and loss finance, the battle is far from over.

NEMANI DELAIBATIKI

Feedback: nemani.delaibatiki@fijisun.com.fj