Countries in the Global South will seek reparations for the losses and damages they are already suffering as the climate crisis escalates — and will continue to suffer in an increasingly uncertain future. At the heart of the demand is the fact that the countries most vulnerable to climate change are the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions that have caused the problem. WATCHES | Will rich nations pay for global climate disasters?
Will rich nations pay for global climate disasters?
Vulnerable countries bear the brunt of climate change, even though they are not driving it. At COP27, leaders from the Global South will tell rich nations – the world’s highest emitters of greenhouse gases – that it is time to pay for the damage. “This is a clear injustice, because it is patently unfair that highly vulnerable countries like ours have to find our own solutions if they are basically limited to no support at all,” said Michai Robertson, chief climate finance negotiator. for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). This alliance, which began in 1990 to represent the interests of 39 vulnerable and low-income countries, is pushing to have loss and damage on the agenda this year. They want reparations negotiations to begin now and a funding mechanism to be finalized next year.
Climate injustice on the agenda
Robertson is from Antigua and Barbuda, one of the island nations most at risk of massive losses from climate change. In 2017, Hurricane Irma forced the evacuation of all 1,600 inhabitants of Barbuda and destroyed most of the buildings on the island. Climate change will make such disasters more frequent. Island countries face disasters from storms and floods and the existential threat of rising sea levels that can swallow entire communities. At the same time, island nations’ greenhouse gas emissions are tiny compared to the resource-based, highly industrialized economies of rich nations, and their budgets cannot afford all the recovery and reconstruction that future disasters will require. “In developed countries, you have your treasuries to lean on,” Robertson said. “We don’t have that safety net … We need support to build that safety net and protect ourselves when all of this happens, to deal with these things once they happen.” A view of a COP27 sign on the road leading to the conference area in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the city hosting the annual UN summit that begins on Sunday. (Sayed Sheasha/Reuters) AOSIS is calling for a “multilateral fit-for-purpose fund” under the UN climate change convention, with money going not only to vulnerable countries but also directly to communities most affected by climate change. No dollar amount has been suggested.
How can climate compensation work?
In an interview on the way to COP27, Canada’s climate change ambassador said Canada supports adding loss and damage to the conference agenda. “Much more needs to be done to prevent, minimize and address damage and loss in developing countries, and more funding will be required,” said Kathryn Stewart. Stewart said the details of loss and damage funding would have to be negotiated and could come from many different sources of money and support. Outside the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) process, Germany has proposed a program called the Global Shield, which would be run by the G7 group of industrialized countries to address some of these losses. Global Shield will help vulnerable countries and communities obtain insurance to help rebuild and recover from climate disasters. Indigenous Filipino youth, students and environmental activists participate in the Global Climate Strike in Metro Manila in this September 20, 2019 file photo. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images) But Ahmed El Droubi, Greenpeace’s director of regional campaigns in the Middle East and North Africa, says the proposals do not match the scale of support that will be needed. “There are concerns that such a system will benefit insurance company executives more than communities in the Global South,” he said. El Droubi says having COP27 in Egypt – an “African COP” – is “an opportunity for countries in the Global South to stand together and demand climate justice”.
What has been committed so far?
Canada has played a prominent role in global climate finance to help developing countries mitigate climate change by reducing their emissions and adapting to more extreme weather. In 2009, rich countries pledged to meet a climate finance target of US$100 billion by 2020. This goal has not been achieved. According to more recent estimates, rich countries took out about US$83 billion in 2020. But Canada and Germany have led a diplomatic effort to wrangle rich countries to reach $100 billion, which they estimate will happen until 2023. However, this money is not specifically earmarked for losses and damages, which include economic and non-economic losses that cannot be avoided through adjustment. “We need a system. The United Nations does not currently have a system to help countries around the world apply, get funding immediately after climate disasters,” said Eddie Perez, director of international climate diplomacy at the group advocacy Climate Action Network Canada. Young environmental activists from Uganda hold signs bearing messages about climate change addressed to the Ugandan government and other world leaders at the International University of Kampala as part of the Fridays for Future global climate strike movement on March 19 2021. (Badru Katumba/AFP via Getty Images)
Recent disasters emphasize losses
The need for such a system came into focus during the devastating floods in Pakistan caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains. A study by the World Weather Attribution Initiative found that increased precipitation was likely caused by climate change. The floods killed 33 million people and submerged a third of the entire country. Economic losses are estimated at over US$33 billion. The total annual budget of the Government of Pakistan is US$ 43 billion According to the latest report on the impacts of climate change from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, even limiting global warming to 1.5C in the short term, which is the goal of the international Paris agreement, will not eliminate all the projected loss and damage to people and ecosystems. Pakistan’s geography has changed since much of the country was hit by heavy rains and widespread flooding earlier this year. Scientific analysis has found that climate change likely helped cause the disaster. (Stephanie Jenzer/CBC) “It’s just a stark reminder that you can have today, but you can’t have tomorrow, for us,” said Inez Grace, a loss and damage activist and researcher and member of the Rwandan delegation to COP27. “And it’s really, really scary.” Grace said that while negotiating losses and damages, rich countries should let the Global South take the lead and let them propose the solutions. “What we’ve been demanding is, really from the Global North, to unlearn everything they think we need – and listen to what we know we need,” he said.
