The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism has expressed satisfaction with the decisions at this year’s Conference of Parties (COP27), held in Egypt this month. These included an agreement to establish a Loss and Damage Fund.
Every year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change gathers at the Conference of the Parties in order to discuss issues ranging from global reporting on national attempts to combat climate change to financing such efforts.
The conference was held in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) from 6 to 20 novembre 2022.
Romeo Muyunda was the spokesperson for the ministry. He stated that this year’s COP was geared to putting plans and execution measures into action to address climate change.
“Finally, COP has achieved a landmark agreement on establishing the first dedicated fund for loss and damage,” Muyunda said.
He stated that the fund will aid developing countries with technical and financial support to rescue and rebuild the social and economic infrastructure of countries hit by extreme weather.
“These are countries that are devastated by extreme weather events including climate-related emergencies, sea level rise, displacement, relocation, migration and the need for climate resilient reconstruction and recovery,” he added.
Muyunda says that COP27 also established a Transitional Committee on the Operationalization of the Fund, which makes recommendations for consideration and adoption by COP28.
“The next steps would be for the fund to be set up and capitalised with financial resources,” Muyunda said.
The committee is also tasked with establishing institutional arrangements, modalities and structure, governance and terms-of-reference for the fund.
COP27 also voted in favor of doubling adaptation finance.
“COP called for an urgency on developed countries to scale up and mobilise financial support to developing countries to implement their nationally determined contributions,” he said.
New pledges totalling US$230 million were made for the adaptation fund – a small sum given the scale of the needs in developing countries.
COP27 also urged the developed countries to create a clear roadmap for mobilizing US$100 million per year by 2024 or 2025.
“It also urged developed country parties to provide enhanced support, including financial resources, technology transfer and capacity-building to assist developing country parties,” he added.
The parties agreed to start the development of a framework that would allow the global goal for adaptation to be achieved through a long-term structured approach.
Source: namibian