COP27 finance: Will richer nations hand over the cash

 At this year’s COP27 UN climate change summit, money will feature high on the agenda and is sure to be a sticking point in negotiations.

Over the last 12 months the developing world has faced severe climate-related crises – from flooding in Pakistan to drought in East Africa.

They want developed nations like the US, UK and those of the EU to pay for the “loss and damage” they’ve suffered.

They also want help to make the switch to cleaner energy and infrastructure. So, will they get the finance?

What do countries want money for?

Money for climate action broadly falls into three buckets. The first is for mitigation – this is money to help developing nations move away from fossil fuels and other polluting activities.

Many countries still have coal power stations that are yet to reach the end of their lives. They need support to build clean energy infrastructure to replace them, such as solar farms.

The second type of funding is for adaptation. This is money that goes toward helping developing nations prepare for the worst effects of climate change.

These impacts vary depending where in the world the country is located but they may include:

• building stronger flood defences
• relocating populations at risk
• developing storm proof housing
• distributing crops that are more resilient to dry spells

All countries are agreed that funding needs to go towards mitigation and adaptation.

But the third type of finance remains highly controversial. This is known as “loss and damage” finance. This money would go towards helping developing countries recover from the impacts of climate change they are already suffering.

These nations do already receive money for disasters via humanitarian aid – but it can vary from year to year.

Developing nations want guaranteed compensation from developed countries – who they say are historically responsible for climate change.

However, developed countries consider this a red line – and say that to agree would be admitting liability for the disasters.

Will we get an agreement on reparations for loss and damage?

At last year’s COP26 conference, loss and damage did not even feature on the agenda.

Following a series of smaller negotiations this year though, it will now be discussed in Sharm el-Sheikh.

It is unlikely that there will be any agreement on a financial figure but nations could come forward with specific details, such as how the money would be paid.

Some climate activists have used the term “reparations” to describe the payments for loss and damage.

In this context, reparations generally refer to compensation paid by rich countries to poorer ones to make up for their historically greater contributions to global warming and its impacts.

Mitzi Jonelle Tan, the international spokesperson of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines, told the BBC richer countries had a moral duty to help those most affected by climate change.

“They caused the climate crisis and so they need to give reparations for the loss and damage we have already experienced and so we can adapt and mitigate,” she said.

But framing the payments as reparations has proved politically contentious, with developed countries wary of accepting liability for climate change on these terms.

Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson has said the prime minister will not be discussing climate reparations at COP27, pushing back suggestions he was open to the idea.

The spokesperson said that “neither reparations nor liability is what’s being discussed at COP27, it’s about working together to support climate-vulnerable countries”.

The UK is tripling funding for climate adaptation from £500m to £1.5bn in 2025, the spokesman said, while Mr Sunak pledged £65m to the Nature, People and Climate Investment Fund, which supports forest communities.

What money has been given so far?

In 2009, richer countries agreed to provide $100bn (£88bn) a year to developing nations for climate action by the end of 2020. By the end of that year the total had only reached $83.3bn (£73.21) but the goal is expected to be reached in 2023.

The majority, 82%, of this finance came from the public purse whilst the remainder was raised from the private sector, according to the OECD.

But analysis, commissioned by the UN, finds that the private sector could deliver 70% of total investments needed to meet climate commitments.

Following this, last year the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) was launched. Now a coalition of more than 550 private firms have committed to directing $130 trillion in assets towards this agenda.

Are developing countries receiving enough money?

Not only are the existing promises of climate finance not currently being met, but developing countries argue that these targets are too low.

At last year’s climate summit in Glasgow, the G77+ China alliance of developing countries called on richer nations to mobilise at least $1.3 trillion (£1.14 trillion) by 2030. They argued that this should be split equally between reducing emissions and preparing for climate change.

Currently, only 34% of climate finance goes towards helping developing countries adapt to climate change, according to the OECD’s latest figures.

Also the majority of the public funding, 71%, is still given in the form of loans rather than direct grants to countries – which can increase the debt burden in poorer nations.

Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam International Climate Policy lead has called this “profoundly unfair”.

He said: “Instead of supporting countries that are facing worsening droughts, cyclones and flooding, rich countries are crippling their ability to cope with the next shock and deepening their poverty.”

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World on highway to climate hell, UN chief Guterres tells COP27

 Humanity must ‘cooperate or perish’ in face of climate change effects, Antonio Guterres tells world leaders gathered in Egypt.

United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres has warned that the world is moving fast to a state of ecological disaster while urging for a pact between the world’s richest and poorest countries to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Speaking to countries gathered at the start of the COP27 summit in Egypt on Monday, November 7, Gutteres said cointris they face a stark choice: work together now to cut emissions or condemn future generations to climate catastrophe.

The speech was intended to set an urgent tone as governments sit down for two weeks of talks on how to avert the worst impacts of climate change, see despite current global challenges like Russia’s war in Ukraine, rampant consumer inflation and energy shortages.

“Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish,”  Guterres told delegates gathered in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

“The two largest economies – the United States and China – have a particular responsibility to join efforts to make this pact a reality,” he said.

Guterres asked countries to agree to phase out the use of coal, one of the most carbon-intense fuels, by 2040 globally, with members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development hitting that mark by 2030.

“Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible,” he said. “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”

Signatories to the 2015 Paris climate agreement pledged to achieve a long-term goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists have set this as the ceiling for avoiding catastrophic climate change.

“It is either a Climate Solidarity Pact – or a Collective Suicide Pact,” Gutteres concluded.

The US and the European Union have dragged their feet for years on the proposal, fearing it would create an open-ended reparations framework.

Guterres said COP27 must agree on a “clear, time-bound roadmap” for loss and damage that delivers “effective institutional arrangements for financing”.

“Getting concrete results on loss and damage is a litmus test of the commitment of governments to the success of COP27,” he said.

Rich nations will also be expected to set a timetable for the delivery of $100bn per year to help developing countries green their economies and build resilience against future climate change.

The promise is already two years past due and remains $17bn short, according to the OECD.

Security is tight at the meeting, with Human Rights Watch saying authorities have arrested dozens of people and restricted the right to demonstrate in the days leading up to COP27.

Source:NEWS AGENCIES

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Tanzania Precision Air crash: ‘I tried to save pilots but was knocked unconscious’

 A fisherman who was one of the first responders at the site of Sunday’s plane crash, which killed 19 people in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria, has described how he tried to save the pilots stuck in the cockpit and how he nearly lost his life trying to rescue them.

Interviewed from his hospital bed in the lakeside town of Bukoba, Majaliwa Jackson said he panicked as he saw the passenger plane approach from the wrong direction, before plunging into the lake.

He rushed to the scene with three fellow fishermen and helped to open the rear door by smashing it with a rowing oar which helped passengers who were seated towards the rear of the plane to be rescued.

Mr Jackson said he then moved to the front and dived into the water. He and one of the pilots then communicated with each other by making signs through the cockpit window.

“He directed me to break the window screen. I emerged from the water and asked airport security, who had arrived, if they have any tools that we can use to smash the screen.

“They gave me an axe, but I was stopped by a man with a public announcement speaker from going down and smashing the screen. He said they were already in communication with the pilots and there was no water leakage in the cockpit,” Mr Jackson said.

He added that after being stopped he “dived back and waved goodbye to the pilot”.

But the pilot then indicated that he still wanted to be rescued.

“He pointed out the cockpit emergency door to me. I swam back up and took a rope and tied it to the door and we tried to pull it with other boats, but the rope broke and hit me in the face and knocked me unconscious. The next thing I know I am here at the hospital,” Mr Jackson said.

Both pilots are among the 19 confirmed fatalities after the plane – operated by Precision Air, Tanzania’s largest private airline – crashed near the shore of the lake.

Ropes were used to pull the plane closer to the shore of Lake Victoria

Of the 43 people on board there were 24 survivors, according to Precision Air.

A funeral service for the 19 victims is to due to be held at the local football stadium later on Monday.

Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa is expected to lead the service.

He said an extensive investigation would be carried to establish the cause of the crash.

The plane left the commercial capital Dar es Salaam on Sunday and made a scheduled stop at Mwanza before it crashed at around 08.50 local time (05:50 GMT) as it was approaching Bukoba airport.

The airport has been closed until further notice

Source: BBC

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Roller hockey: Angola beat Mozambique in World Cup

 Luanda – Angola senior men's roller hockey team beat Mozambique 5-2 on Monday, in the opening match of the Group B of the 45th Roller Hockey World Cup being held in San Juan, Argentina.

 

The victory enabled the Angolan team to secure sixth place in 2019.

 

Angola face Argentina Tuesday for the second round, while Mozambique face Spain.

João Lourenço and Félix Tshisekedi discuss DRC tension

 Luanda - The President of Angola, João Lourenço, on Monday discussed by telephone with his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, the tense situation in the east of the DRC.

According to a communiqué from the Angolan President´s Press Office, to which ANGOP has had access, the conversation took place following the tripartite meeting held last Saturday (5), in Luanda, which brought together the heads of diplomacy of the DRC, Rwanda and Angola.

 

The statement adds that President João Lourenço spoke this afternoon with his DRC counterpart, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, having exchange views on the matters dealt with in the Angolan capital, both by the ministers and by security experts from the three countries.

 

The deterioration of the security climate in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo has forced an intensification of Angola´s diplomatic efforts, through President João Lourenço, as a mediator.

 

Tension in the east of the DRC has increased in recent months, following the resumption last March of fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 movement, according to the Kinshasa authorities, supported by neighbouring Rwanda.

 

Due to this fact, and since Angola chairs the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), a regional block to which the Democratic Congo belongs, the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, was mandated by the African Union to mediate the conflict, hence he has been multiplying in initiatives to achieve peace in the region.

Angolan nurses on nationwide strike

 Luanda –Angola Nurses Union (SINDEA) started a nationwide strike on Monday for an undetermined period of time, with the aim of making the government respond to their complaints.

In the complaints presented in 2021 to the Health Ministry (MINSA), the Union  demanded, among others, salary increase, improvements in working conditions, payment of a covid-19 subsidy and the conclusion of the transition process suspended since 2019.

 

The union, through a press release, states that emergency rooms, delivery rooms, operating rooms, intensive care, hemodialysis and hospitalizations will have the minimum services safeguarded, but the outpatient and consultations will be closed throughout the country.

 

Regarding the strike, the director of the MINSA human resources department , Baptista Monteiro, announced in a press conference that a working meeting with the union leadership is scheduled for Tuesday  to seek ways to end the strike.

 

Baptista Monteiro added that as regard the payment of the Covid-19 subsidies, at least 8000 professionals have already received the amount, although he was coy on the amount given to each professional.

 

"As to the others, we are waiting, from the union, for proof of service rendered by the professionals in the (Covivd-19) centers created," Monteiro said, adding that the MINSA is open to discussion, in a transparent way, but within the framework of the Law.

 

Angola has more than 60,000 professional nurses, 32, 720 of which are affiliated to the Nurses Union.

Angola’s Vice president undertakes diplomatic activity in Sharm El-Sheikh

 Luanda - Angola’s Vice President of Republic Esperança Costa Monday carried out an “intense” diplomatic activity on the sidelines of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

The activity was carried out at the end of the opening ceremony of the event, which included speeches delivered by the host President Addell Fatthah El-Sisi and the UN Secretary General António Guterres.

Esperança Costa held brief courtesy meetings with the President of Cabo Verde José Maria Neves, the minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, the President of the European Council Charles Michel.

The agenda also includes participation in a round table, promoted under the auspices of Kenya, and in the high-level meeting on “International Alliance on Drought Resilience”, at the invitation of the President of Senegal.

Among the topics to be defended by Angola at COP27, emphasis should be placed on the financing of some projects focused on the environment, aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change.

Angola will come up with the Blue Carbon projects, which are being designed by the Otchiva Association, with the support of Sonangol and Total, of Photovoltaic Power Plants, the so-called clean energies, by the Ministries of Energy and Water and Natural Resources, Oil and Gas, as well as that of Green Hydrogen.

These projects will be presented at the Congo Basin Stand, which also has the Blue Fund Project.

The sustainability of protected areas and the impact of solid waste on the environment are, among others, the burning issues to be analysed during COP27.

Angola has taken concrete steps to mitigate the effect of climate change, one of which was the Construction of the Cafu Canal, a project that aims to bring water from the Cunene River to the populations of the provinces of Cunene and Namibe, aimed to combat the effects of drought in these regions.

Angola defends strengthened fight against climate change

 Lunda – Angola’s Vice-President, Esperança da Costa, defended in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, a strengthened international cooperation for the success of the strategies to combat climate change.

The Angolan official, who was speaking on Monday at the World Climate Summit COP27 taking place since Sunday, stressed that a strengthened international cooperation should play a central role in sharing knowledge, technology transfer and financial resources from industrialized countries to less developed nations.

 

The same cooperation, the Angolan Vice-President said, should put Africa on the top, since it is one of the continents that pollutes less but suffers the most from climate change.

 

Esperança da Costa mentioned the fact that at the Extraordinary Humanitarian Summit and the African Union (AU) Donors' Conference, at least 100 million US dollars were pledged to tackle problems related to climate change and the humanitarian crisis in Africa, although there has been an almost timid attitude regarding its materialization.

 

The Angolan politician added that in relation to the African continent, there is  the urgent need for the creation of an early warning system and the operationalization of the African Humanitarian Agency to make it possible to identify  multiple dangers related to climate change.

The intention, the Angolan Vice-President clarified, is to collect and share data to respond to the different problems related to climate change, including forced displacement.

 

According to Esperança da Costa, the link between climate change and global peace and security challenges, especially in Africa, is increasingly evident.

 

Esperança da Costa  pointed out that the rising temperature of the planet's oceans, prolonged droughts, coupled with some other extreme phenomena are affecting the lives and livelihoods of communities around the world, worsening economic, social, or political conditions, leaving populations vulnerable and very prone to conflict and instability.

 

In this sense, as champion of the African Union for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa, President João Lourenço believes that the risks and threats associated with climate change require a more comprehensive international approach, which also includes a review and adaptation of continental peace and security mechanisms to make their instruments of intervention more efficient.

 

Angola recognizes that climate change has negatively impacted the achievement of different development plans, the politician said, stressing a national strategy has been  approved for this purpose.

 

The strategy, she said, establishes a vision until 2030, with the aim to  ensure  the adaptation of Angolan territory and contribute to the global effort to combat its causes.