‘Loss and damage’ key for global South at COP27

Commitments on loss and damage financing will be crucial for countries vulnerable to climate change after civil society pressure finally put the issue on the agenda at COP27, the UN climate summit in Egypt.

Some 400 organisations jointly pushed for the inclusion of loss and damage, which refers to the cost of recovering from climate impacts, on this year’s summit agenda, a SciDev.Net readers’ conference call heard on 1 November.

“For the first time loss and damage financing is going to be on the agenda,” said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International and global director for engagement and partnerships at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.

Singh said the network had been invited by the Egyptian presidency to speak to COP27 delegation heads who met in Cairo in September.

“This I must tell you is unprecedented,” Singh said. “We have not seen heads of delegations flying to the capital of the incoming presidency and talking only about loss and damage.”

Doom and gloom scenario

COP27 is happening in the context of the war in Ukraine, the global food crisis, and devastating weather events in Pakistan and Eastern Africa, impacting the momentum for climate action — and making the issue of loss and damage all the more urgent, according to the experts.

“We have seen backsliding in the wake of the war in Ukraine. There’s been a shift from climate action to more energy security… this has resulted in investment in renewable energy but equally more exploration and expansion of fossil fuels particularly in Africa, which is deeply worrying,” Singh said.

Global commitments to achieve the US$100 billion climate finance target for vulnerable countries remains off track, while the climate crisis is becoming ever more real for global South countries. Most finance pledges are also in the form of loans, not grants, placing extra strain on vulnerable nations.

“Overall, it’s a doom and gloom scenario compared to where we were just a couple of months ago, where we did see some positive progress in terms of climate action, but we’ve seen some backsliding in the last few months,” Singh told the conference.

Adaptation transparency

Nisha Krishnan, director for climate resilience, Africa, at the World Resources Institute, said action on loss and damage, and adaptation finance, would be crucial for Africa at what has been dubbed the “Africa COP”, taking place in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh.

Recent reports show that Africa is receiving less than US$7 per capita for climate adaptation, falling far short of the continent’s needs, according to Krishnan.

The African continent is rallying around COP27 as one of the ways to raise the profile of its experiences on the ground, according to the expert.

“Pledges on adaptation funds from developed countries is a critical aspect for the continent. We need to take the loss and damage issue head on, with focus that larger progress still needs to be realised,” she said.

According to a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, even if vulnerable countries adapt at the scale and urgency needed, they will face irreversible losses and damages.

“So clearly, the spotlight on loss and damage doesn’t take away from the need to invest in adaptation in a much larger scale,” Krishnan told the conference.

“We are also going into headwinds around debt and fiscal issues and countries on the continent don’t have the means to invest in their own resilience, so transparency on where adaptation resources are going is also key.”

Mainstreaming adaptation

Mainstreaming investment in adaptation and how this is dispersed also needs to be tabled at COP27, says Krishnan. She says the continent does not need loans, but concessions and grants to invest in adaptation.

“The challenge we’re facing is not just lack of financing, but the quality thereof. We need coherent policy structures and I think one of the most important things still lacking is whether resources reach communities.”

“Often times it can get stuck between intermediaries and national governments and not actually reach local governments and the people on the frontline of climate change,” she said.

The Middle East and North Africa region is a hotspot for climate change, according to the latest IPCC report.

Climate change is putting pressure on rain-fed agriculture in the region, with less precipitation and rising biodiversity degradation, according to Maha Al-Zu’bi, researcher in agriculture water solutions at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

“As we head to COP27 issues of climate adaptation and mitigation are becoming more and more pronounced in the region, especially on policy issues,” she said.

Millions still vulnerable

Al-Zu’bi notes, however, that some hope is the horizon as more countries update their climate commitments as well as significant investments in renewable energy sources.

“Egypt and United Arab Emirates have recently updated their climate targets and this is encouraging,” Al-Zu’bi said.

“Furthermore, Saudi Arabia has invested US$1.5billion in solar energy while UAE pumped some US$9 billion in green technology. These are encouraging trends,” she said.

However, she said the widening gap between the rich and poor was driving millions into poverty in the region, exposing growing populations to climate vulnerability.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Global desk.