Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism says it is pleased with the decisions taken at this year’s Conference of Parties (COP27) that took place in Egypt this month, including an agreement to establish a loss and damage fund.
Every year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meets at the Conference of the Parties to negotiate issues ranging from global reporting on national climate change efforts to how to finance such efforts.
This year, the conference took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 to 20 November 2022.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda, said this year’s COP was geared towards putting plans and implementation measures in action to tackle climate change.
“Finally, COP has achieved a landmark agreement on establishing the first dedicated fund for loss and damage,” Muyunda said.
He added that the fund will assist developing countries with financial and technical support to rescue and rebuild the physical and social infrastructure of countries devastated by extreme weather events .
“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.
According to Muyunda, COP27 also established a transitional committee on the operationalisation of the fund, which make 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 mandated to establish institutional arrangements, modalities, structure, governance and terms of reference for the fund.
COP27 also decided to double 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 developed countries to lay down a clear roadmap on mobilising US$100 billion per year by 2024 and 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 initiate the development of a framework for the global goal on adaptation to be undertaken through a long-term structured approach.
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