Earth Today | SIDS want more from COP28

SMALL ISLAND developing states (SIDS) and other stakeholders have welcomed the adoption of the Loss and Damage Fund at the global climate talks (COP28) in Dubai. However, they insist it is only one of several good decisions that will need to come from the negotiations that are to close on December 12.

It has been a years-long SIDS lobby for compensation for loss and damage associated with the climate change impacts to which they are among the most vulnerable. Those impacts include extreme hurricane and other weather events, which have devastated Caribbean SIDS over recent years.

“So far, participants have celebrated the achievement of the adoption of the Loss and Damage Fund by the COP28 Plenary, with countries pledging approximately US$750 million at this point,” noted a December 6 release from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

AOSIS represents the interests of 39 small island and low-lying coastal developing states in international climate change and sustainable development negotiations and processes. Now, AOSIS said, “small islands are asking for developed countries to lead the capitalisation of this fund, with a goal of US$1 billion per annum”.

“AOSIS has emphasised that while the pledges are indeed encouraging, countries must continue to work with urgency to create processes that provide efficient, direct access to vulnerable communities. AOSIS is also calling for an inclusive Loss and Damage Fund board on which SIDS are represented,” the release added.

Eleanor Jones, a representative of the local private sector who is in Dubai as part of the Jamaican delegation to the COP, herself said it was a step in the right direction.

“The fact is that with SIDS you don’t want loss and damage, what you want is prevention of loss and damage. This development, therefore, is more relief than prevention, which is where we need the investment. But it is still a step in the right direction and gives us a sense of progress [at the COP],”she told The Gleaner.

“What remains now is for us to see how the logistics will work. In addition, for loss and damage, you need to have data. Countries need to have what they have valued so that when the time comes to claim, they have a base from which to measure, and that is a challenge. Most of the SIDS do not have that kind of data, and so you have other steps that are required. But, all in all, I think loss and damage is a success,” she added.

Indi Mclymont Lafayette, a climate justice advocate who has supported civil society actors on the frontline of several negotiations, herself welcomed the development with the fund.

“This is great news, as negotiators have been fighting for this for many years. It means that Caribbean countries will be able to access more funding when we are impacted by major hurricanes, floods or other climate impacts,” she said.

“The fund is supposed to kick in when the country is severely damaged and cannot easily recover on its own. So, if properly implemented, it will be good for small islands, which are most vulnerable to climate change. It is to be noted, though, that there are concerns about the time frame still, before countries can access funds,” Mclymont Lafayette added.

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres noted his own congratulations on “the positive start to the COP with an expeditious approval of the agenda and the landmark operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund”.

Still, he said the world has some way to go to achieve a climate-safe future – to which progress at COP28 is essential.

“Earth’s vital signs are failing: record emissions, ferocious fires, deadly droughts and the hottest year ever … . We are miles from the goals of the Paris Agreement – and minutes to midnight for the 1.5-degree limit. But it is not too late. We can, you can, prevent planetary crash and burn. We have the technologies to avoid the worst of climate chaos – if we act now,” he told the recent opening of the COP.

Noting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the premier body for the assessment of climate science, has charted a clear path to a 1.5-degree world, Guterres said what is now required is “leadership, cooperation, and political will for action”.

“It’s true; our world is unequal and divided ... . Climate chaos is fanning the flames of injustice. Global heating is busting budgets, ballooning food prices, upending energy markets, and feeding a cost-of-living crisis. But climate action can flip the switch,” he insisted.

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