Murad Khan
In his opening remarks of the 1st day of the Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP 28), in Dubai, the COP28 President Dr. Sultan al-Jaber announced the operationalization of Loss and Damage (L&D) Fund, which is considered the 1st step towards the success of the Parties of Conference (COP28), although a lot of questions are yet to be answered about the operationalization, finance, structure & Criteria, countries contribution, text of the language and so many others as well, but it is hoped that climate disaster effected countries like Pakistan will be benefited from this fund.
What is Losses & Damages (L&D) fund?
According to The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the term refers to the economic, social, and cultural losses and damages caused by anthropogenic climate change to natural and human systems, including human-induced extreme weather events and slow onset events such as sea level rise, rising temperatures, ocean acidification, glacial melting, ecosystem degradation, and desertification.
History:
The formal agreement at the 19th Conference of the Parties (COP 19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Warsaw, Poland, in 2013, led to the establishment of the L&D fund.
This fund was specifically created to provide financial and technical assistance to economically developing nations that were incurring Loss and Damage due to climate change.
Before the COP28, The L&D fund had Subsequent Developments and Challenges but at the opening day of the COP28 it has been operationalized.
Pakistan’s Stance of Loss & Damage Fund
Pakistan welcomes the establishment of a fund to address loss and damage caused by climate-induced disasters. Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwar-ul-HaqKakar said that Pakistan is the 6th country in the globe Universe which is highly vulnerable to the catastrophic climate change and early this year resulted in losses and damages of over US$ 30 billion refocused the global attention towards this critical issue.
Pakistan, as Chair of the Group of 77 and China, galvanized support for establishment of the Fund in COP 27 in Sharm el Sheikh, first by having it placed on the Agenda of the Conference, and then pushing for a consensus agreement.
Pakistan congratulates the developing countries for their exemplary solidarity and steadfastness in pushing their case for a Fund for Loss and Damage. We also appreciate the understanding and cooperation of the developed countries in recognizing the urgency to act on loss and damage.
While media briefing the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change Simon Stiell said At “Sharm el-Sheikh I said we would do things differently. So over the last year, on loss & damage, we opted for an innovative approach, a Transitional Committee – which drove forward progress much faster”.
He added “Loss and damage was a win, but we’re kidding ourselves if we think it’s a tick in the box for finance and support at this COP; more is required.”
He said that the win on Loss and Damage here in Dubai gave this COP a spring in its step. But it is just a start.
Why L&D Fund is important for Pakistan
According to the UN 2022 report, by 2030, developing countries would need more than $300bn annually to fight climate change. “Loss and damage finance needs are closely connected to our ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change,”
According to the report of PDMA (Provincial Management Authority), till June 2020 just in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 311 people has been died due to Monsoon flooding including 117 children, 43 females and 151 males and 381 people have been injured. Similarly due to the devastating flood, 91468 houses damaged, due to which 406538 people were evacuated, 674318 displaced and 69775 have been rescued. In the most affected areas of D.I Khan, Charsadda, Nowshehra and other districts of KP 6577 live stock was lost and 107220 acres of land has been baldly effected.
So this was just the story of KP, similarly the Sindh, Baluchistan and Gilgit Baltistan provinces have also been badly effected from the devastating flood, that’s why the L&D Fund is very much important for Pakistan.
Climate Change Expert and COP28 Delegate Mr. Hafiz Jawad Sohail from Pakistan says “L &D Fund is very much important for Pakistan because our country is no 7th or 8th in the list of vulnerable countries to climate change disasters, although it’s Corban emission is less than 1% but Pakistan is facing devastation loss due to flooding, glacier melting and climate migration, effecting more than 33 million people, which is a strong case of climate justice”
Mr. Hafiz Jawad added “Many people says that the success of COP28 was closely related to the operationalization of L&D Fund, but I think the L&D fund should not be in the form of debut or loan, but this should be like a climate finance or like international climate finance”
About the L&D Fund he said that the task of operationalization of this has been given to world Bank and it is hoped that it will be operationalize within 6 months, which is really a big challenge and if the world bank fails in the operationalization of the Fund, then a separate secretariat will be established for the operationalization of this fund, which will make further delay for the effected countries.
At the end he said that Pakistan has struggled a lot for the voice of helpless people from climate change in the globe in the last CO27 at Egypt and during the visit to Pakistan the UN Secretary General, António Guterres has already said that Pakistan is facing the sever devastating disaster from the flood, so it should be benefited from the L&D Fund.
International Expert’s Opinion about L&D Fund
During a Panel discussion about Loss and Damage Fund of the sideline of COP28 in UAE, MS. Elisa Sutanudjaja, the Executive Director of Rujak Center for Urban Studies explained the effected people from climate disaster by showing the drowning pictures of the people’s homes in Jakarta City due to sea level rise as a result of climate change and said that the L&D fund was need of the earth and it is hoped that the people of effected countries will be benefited from this fund, but the local community should be involved instead of giving funds to the countries.
Similarly, talking to the same event, Mr. Simon Stump, the Senior Desk officer climate finance & Advisor to the German TC Member from Ministry for Economic cooperation and Development (MBZ), said that different countries are announcing funds for L&D, but I think it will take time for full operationalization, as it’s mechanism, structure and so many things are have to decide yet. Mr. Simon said that the L&D fund should be utilized by community and Organizational level and Germany have already announced 10 billion dollars for green climate fund. Simon added that arrangements, structure, mechanism, criteria, access to the L&D fund, gap between community, organizations and govt. will be the big challenges fo the L&D Fund.
Talking to the conclusion remarks of the event, MS. Anika Schroeder, the Policy Officer for Climate change and development Misereore.v said that the L&D fund is long process and the NGO’s should translate the language of the documents, but I think the capacity of the local authorities should be increased, similarly the standards should be properly defined and the community engagements should be ensured for the success of the Loss & Damage Fund.
According to the reports 18 countries pledged to give money for L&D Fund, the UAE alone said it would commit $100 million to the fund, Other countries promising to contribute to the fund included Germany, with $100 million; Britain, with up to 60 million pounds ($75.89 million); the United States, with $17.5 million; Japan, with $10 million; and the European Union (including Germany), with at least EUR 225 million ($245.6 million), similarly the UK pledged up to 60 million pounds to the L&D Fund.
The operationalization of Loss and Damage (L&D) fund on the starting day of the COP28 is a great achievement, but the structure & mechanism, policy, allocation for the effected countries and accessibility of the community & NGO’s to the L&D fund are the main challenges, which will be decided by the time, not just promises.
Murad Khan is an environmental journalist who tweets on @Muradonline123.
