Deliver climate justice for vulnerable countries
Vulnerable countries such as Kenya affected by the adverse impacts of climate change are optimistic of relief as the UN Climate Summit (COP27) negotiations enter the penultimate stage.
After a long-running war of words and strongly putting their case at the COP27 talks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, vulnerable countries have finally got the developed world to listen to the demand for compensation for climate disasters.
Developed countries must deliver climate justice in the form of finance for people in developing nations most affected by climate change. The most climate-vulnerable State — often also the poorest — want their rich, high-emission counterparts to pay compensation for climate damages.
Intense pressure from developing regions has forced the issue of “loss and damage”, adaptation, climate finance, and limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius to be inducted onto the COP27 formal agenda. The topic of how to make rich historically high-emitting nations foot the bill for climate-related loss and damage inflicted on poor vulnerable communities was left unresolved at last year’s COP26 Glasgow climate summit.
Discussing climate compensation was once considered taboo, due to concerns from rich countries that they might be on the hook for vast sums of money.
As negotiators at the ministerial level begin the hard part of the agenda, they need to strike a deal to create a fund to meet the genuine demands of vulnerable nations. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week warned world leaders that Planet Earth was in distress and that the world was losing its fight against climate change.
Global temperatures have risen by 1.15 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times in the 19th Century due to human activity. The past eight years are the warmest on record and the world’s 20 wealthiest countries are failing to do enough to stop the planet from overheating. Alarmingly, rising emissions of global-warming greenhouse gases have led to devastating drought in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, in addition to ravaging floods and deforestation in other parts of the continent.
Scientific reports show the annual per capita carbon footprint in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 at 0.1 tons, as opposed to up to 17 tons in Australia Canada and the US. These statistics have amplified the calls for climate justice.
Horn of Africa nations including Kenya are together are responsible for only 0.1 percent of global emissions, yet climate impacts in the region, including a long and crippling drought, have proven catastrophic for millions of inhabitants.
Climate-vulnerable nations suffering from extreme weather say adaptation is only part of the problem and are demanding money for the damage already caused. But the highest emitters, including the US, are refusing to admit liability or commit to a loss and damage finance mechanism.
This week’s negotiations on climate action must demonstrate a recognition of the magnitude of the challenges facing nature and humanity and commit to overcoming them. Scientists and economists are warning that rising inequality in the world risks regional collapse and climate catastrophe. We need to build a world that is genuinely equitable and accelerate the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the next decade.
The world can still stabilize global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius and approach an end to poverty by 2030 through reform of the international financial system, addressing gross inequality empowering women, transforming the food system and transitioning to clean energy to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
— The writer comments on political and environmental affairs
