“Loss and damage fund” a step towards climate justice
THE Fijian Government has hailed the achievement on the “loss and damage” front as the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) concluded in Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt on November 20, 2022. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, in a tweet, thanked “our tireless Pacific negotiators for securing a loss and damage fund at COP27”.
“You represent those who stand to lose the most to this crisis, and you have fought the hardest to see climate justice delivered,” Prime Minister Bainimarama said. The Fijian delegation was ably led by Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United
Nations in New York, Ambasssador Dr Satyendra Prasad and officials from the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Economy.
The Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, told Fiji’s COP27 negotiators, “Back home, we’re ready to turn your victory on loss and damage into real wins for our most vulnerable citizens through our proven plan to deliver real protection, move communities, and support those whose livelihoods are most at-risk”.
A UN Climate statement detailed the achievements of the meeting, held from November 6-20, 2022, highlighting how “creating a specific fund for loss and damage marked an important point of progress, with the issue added to the official agenda and adopted for the first time at COP27”. “Governments also agreed to establish a ‘transitional committee’ to make recommendations on how to operationalise both the new funding arrangements and the fund at COP28 next year. The first meeting of the transitional committee is expected to take place before the end of March 2023,” the statement explained. At the meeting, serious concerns were expressed that the goal of developed countries to mobilise jointly US$100 billion per year (FJ$223.6 billion) by 2020 has not yet been met, with developed countries urged to meet the goal, and multilateral development banks and international financial institutions called on to mobilize climate finance.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres also welcomed the funding for loss and damage but cautioned that it was not “an answer if the climate crisis washes a small island state off the map – or turns an entire African country to desert”
“The red line we must not cross is the line that takes our planet over the 1.5 degree temperature limit. To have any hope of keeping to 1.5, we need to massively invest in renewables and end our addiction to fossil fuels,” Mr Guterres said.