LOSS
AND DAMAGE FUNDS - ENVIRONMENT
News: ‘Loss and damage’ fund talks leave
developing nations at new disadvantage
What's
in the news?
●
As the climate crisis intensifies, two
terms are in sharp focus: adaptation and ‘loss and damage’ (L&D).
Key
takeaways:
●
The unwillingness of wealthy nations to
fulfil their commitments undermines faith in global climate negotiations.
Loss
and Damage Funds:
●
It refers to costs the rich and developed countries, who are majorly responsible for
industrial emissions that pollute the environment, should pay to poorer
nations that have made negligible contribution to pollution but are more
vulnerable to extreme climate events.
●
The expected monetary compensation from
the L&D fund is estimated to be nearly
$500 billion and rising by $200 billion annually.
Solutions
in COP28, 2023:
●
Crucial questions such as who will manage
this fund, whether contributions are expected from large developing countries
and what the fair share of contributors will be — have been left to a
“transitional committee” that will make recommendations for the adoption of the
fund at the next Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN’s Framework
Convention for Climate Change, to be held in the UAE in 2023.
UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC):
●
The UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), the 1994 international agreement that lays down the broad
principles of the global effort to fight climate change, acknowledges the
differentiated responsibility of nations.
●
It makes it clear that rich countries must
provide both the finance and the technology to developing nations to help
tackle climate change.
●
However, the UNFCCC does not mention loss and damage.
●
In
2009, developed countries agreed to provide US$ 100 billion every year from
2020 to help developing nations fight climate change.
Warsaw
International Mechanism (WIM):
●
The Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM)
for Loss and Damages, set up in 2013, was the first formal acknowledgment of the need to compensate developing
countries struck by climate disasters.