People of the World Demand Those Responsible for Climate Crisis Be Held to Account
Many small and developing countries, farmers and Indigenous
organizations at the
COP27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt spoke out for an
agenda that
actually addressed
their concerns.
Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, for
example, said the "debates and
negotiations at COP 27 should lead to substantial decisions to
avoid
the climate catastrophe
we are heading for." He added that "the contribution of
developed
countries in accordance
with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
cannot
be postponed."
Elba Rosa Perez Montoya, Cuban minister of science, technology
and
environment (CITMA)
who led the Cuban delegation said that COP27 had the
particularity of
coinciding with a
global multi-sectoral crisis: environmental, economic, with
marked
inflation, health, energy
and military. She pointed out that such particularity warrants
an
appropriate response. Cuba
pledged to support the efforts of developing countries to secure
the
financial mechanisms
required to deal with the losses and damages caused by climate
change
and to better focus the
debates on the definition of a new financial goal, based on the
needs
of the underdeveloped
countries.
Brazil, South Africa, India and China speaking as one under the
acronym
BASIC addressed
the urgent need for a fundamental transformation and
modernization of
the global financial
architecture, including a systematic reform of the multilateral
development banks to make
them fit-for-purpose in supporting sustainable development and
just and
equitable transitions.
They said "the key is to address risk aversion in investing in
developing countries, to
prioritize grant support and to dramatically lower the cost and
conditionality on borrowing
money that places multilateral support out of reach of the
majority of
the world's population,
including in BASIC countries."
BASIC called out the fraud of developed countries for making
pledges
then backtracking on
their commitments. BASIC pointed to the two-faced stance of the
likes
of the U.S. and the
EU trying to force developing countries to move away from fossil
fuels
for their energy needs
while U.S. and European consumption is on the rise. Such double
standards they said are
incompatible with climate equity and justice.
Many of the pledges to the Adaptation Fund made at COP26 remain
unfulfilled they said, citing
as an example the U.S.$100 billion per year commitment, set in
2009
that has never been
met. Developing countries on the other hand, and especially the
BASIC
countries, have had to
pay many times that amount from their domestic resources or from
commercial loans which
they can ill-afford. They added that finance to developing
countries
comes with unilateral and
onerous conditions and eligibility criteria, predominantly in
the form
of loans rather than
grants, thus aggravating the financial challenges faced by
developing
countries.
Pakistan, which spoke on behalf of the G77+China group, welcomed
the
establishment of a
fund to address loss and damage caused by climate-induced
disasters
calling it "a momentous
achievement, especially for the Group of 77 and China."
Developing
countries have been
demanding such a fund for the past 30 years according to
Pakistan
government officials.
Climate Action, a climate justice organization, assessed the
COP27
outcome this way. The
G77+China "stood united and resolutely behind the demand for the
creation of a fund at
COP27 for addressing Loss and Damage. This despite intense
pressure
from countries like the
USA who attempted to block the creation of a fund from the
onset, and
some EU nations who
attempted to derail the talks with watered-down options that
would
divide developing
countries While COP27 delivered on addressing the consequences
of the
climate crisis -- it
failed to address the root cause of the crisis: Fossil Fuels.
With no
agreement to have a fair
and equitable phase out of all fossil fuels -- coal, oil and
gas, it
has laid bare the capture of
this process by fossil fuel lobbyists and vested interests."
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 27 - April 20 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS542715.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca