Feed aggregator

Spain’s Partido Popular must immediately break its pacts with the far-right Vox in the regions and municipalities where they govern together, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and other members of the progressive government demanded on Monday after Vox leader Santiago...

Brussels 12/12/23 – Biomethane production in Europe grew by almost 20% in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to data from the new edition of the biogases industry report released last week. Meanwhile, the EU dependency on natural gas imports went from 83% in 2021 to 97% in 2022.

À l’occasion de l’Escalade à Genève et du tricentenaire de la mort du précurseur des Vaudois, n’est-il pas temps de savoir laquelle des deux figures est la plus brave? Deux spécialistes répondent.

Italy could stall ratification of the European Stability Mechanism, likely to be approved by the end of the year, as coalition partners Forza Italia and Lega remain divided on the issue ahead of this week’s crucial EU summit, where Prime...

Putting an end to the possibility of a centre government including Frans Timmermans, coalition scout Ronald Plasterk sees a right-wing cabinet “possible” if far-right PVV gives up on controversial anti-EU and anti-Islam goals during the first stage of negotiations, as...

More than a hundred senior lawmakers will send a joint letter to their counterparts in the US on 12 December, pleading for Congress to unlock further military aid to Ukraine at a time US lawmakers have struggled for a deal.

French lawmakers rejected the government’s immigration bill on Monday by 270 votes to 265, with the far-right, conservatives and left-wing coalition joining forces, marking the first time in 25 years that a motion to reject a bill has been passed....

Sweden presented a new aid package of some €144 million for Ukraine on Monday, just a few days ahead of this week’s EU summit where Swedish Prime Minister Ukraine warned of a need to find common ground amid Hungary’s continued...

Parties of the ruling majority in the Bulgarian parliament have agreed to cancel the tax on Russian gas imports transiting through Bulgarian territory, with GERB leader and former prime minister Boyko Borissov hoping it could help the country’s Schengen Area bid.

Polish parliament elected Donald Tusk as prime minister on Monday after Mateusz Morawiecki, the candidate of the previously ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, failed to obtain a vote of confidence on Monday with the new prime minister vowing to...

Norway and the UK will lead a maritime coalition to help Ukraine build up its coastal and maritime defences, the countries’ defence ministers announced after a meeting in London on Monday. Norwegian Defence Minister Bjørn Arild Gram was in London...

Pushing for a geopolitical EU bloc with a stronger alliance between Germany, France and Poland, known as the Weimar Triangle, has been presented as one of the core tenets of the new manifesto of Germany’s opposition CDU, which seeks to...

Hungary’s potential veto over financial aid to Ukraine and opening accession talks with Kyiv at the EU summit later this week will be a 'failure of the entire bloc, not only of one European leader', Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said in an interview.

À vingt-quatre heures du verdict, la Coupole est en ébullition. Stratégies secrètes, coups fourrés ou calme plat: voici notre scénario pour le jour J.

Hungary's potential veto on Ukraine accession talks threatens to cast a shadow of collective failure over the EU summit, Ukraine's deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna has warned.

Oncle AGBAYA

On vous l'avait bien dit, mon Neveu Patou dirige un pays de pagailleurs avec des pagailleurs partout ! Sinon que mon petit Neveu Romy Le Tontinier a paru quelque peu amer, que mes Neveux députés YAYI, aient voté contre son budget, malgré tous les gages qu'il leur a donné en commission, en acceptant tous leurs amendements, même les moins pertinents. C'est quand même curieux qu'il n'y ait, depuis vendredi, personne pour demander à Romy si en plus des gages il a donné le" djèkè " à ses cousins Democrtes, comme cela se faisait du temps de YAYI …
En tout cas, au-delà de tout, le courage et l'assurance du Manitou qui a organisé l'indisponibilité simultanée du Président Vlavonou et de son vice Kassa, pour que ce soit mon Cousin Basile Ahossi, deuxième vice-président qui préside cette plénière, la plus importante et statutaire d'une année parlementaire, doivent peut-être inquiéter le Président des Démocrates…
Mais vous mes Neveux et Nièces, qui ricanez que YAYI devrait déjà commencer à penser à un autre nom de parti, un autre logo et composer une autre hymne sur sa guitare, vous êtes tous des pagailleurs !
VOTRE ONCLE AGBAYA

Americas Collins Aerospace won a $34.7 million modification for B-52 aircraft wheels and brakes. The performance completion date is August 31, 2028. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2023 through 2028 Air Force working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. […]

B-52H: flyin’ low, dyin’ slow… (click to view full) Officially, it’s the B-52H Stratofortress. Unofficially, it’s the BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F–cker). Either way, this subsonic heavy bomber remains the mainstay of the U.S. strategic fleet after more than 50 years of service. A total of 102 B-52H bombers were delivered from FY 1961-1963, and […]

Liane Schalatek joins demonstrators at COP28. After the initial euphoria that accompanied the announcement, questions are being asked about how it will operate and how money will be disbursed. Credit: X

By Stella Paul
DUBAI, Dec 12 2023 (IPS)

On November 30, the first day of COP28, the much-awaited Loss and Damage Fund—a landmark decision to compensate the world’s most climate-affected and climate-vulnerable people—was declared operational. Announcing the decision, COP28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber said, ‘the fact that we have been able to achieve such a significant milestone on the first day of this COP is unprecedented. This is historic.”

Formed first at the 27th Conference of the Parties held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022, the Loss and Damage Fund has been demanded for several years by climate action advocates and countries seeking financial compensation for people who are most adversely affected by climate change. Different contributors have so far pledged about $700 million to the fund.

The announcement by Al Jaber on November 30 was, as expected, overwhelmingly welcomed by parties and delegates. However, as the conference nears its conclusion, the focus has now shifted towards its implementation, and many participants are expressing their general lack of clarity on the exact next steps.

“We know that the World Bank is going to manage it, and there will be a board for basic assessment. But the money that has come in so far is very small. How this money then goes to small CSOs (civil society organizations) and women-led organizations is anyone’s guess,” says Dilruba Haider, who leads the Women’s Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Humanitarian Portfolio in Bangladesh, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world.

The Loss and Damage Fund: A Brief History

Loss and damage refer to the negative consequences that arise from the unavoidable risks of climate change, like rising sea levels, prolonged heatwaves, desertification, the acidification of the sea, and extreme events such as bushfires, species extinctions, and crop failures. As the climate crisis unfolds, these events will happen more and more frequently, and the consequences will become more severe.

For example, in 2022, Pakistan witnessed severe flooding, now known as the ‘super flood,’ which caused damage amounting to US$30 billion. But as a nation, Pakistan only emits less than 1 percent of global emissions. Combined with Bangladesh, another highly impacted country in South Asia, in 2022 alone, climate change caused losses worth approximately USD 36 billion and the displacement of about 50 million individuals.

The core thought behind the Loss and Damage Fund is that it is necessary to tackle the gaps that current climate finance institutions such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) do not fill. The combined adaptation and mitigation finance flows in 2020 were USD 17 billion short of the total USD 100 billion pledged to developing countries. Despite the US’s current pledge of USD 1 billion, the need has since multiplied due to the rise in losses and damages brought on by numerous disasters, making USD 100 billion woefully insufficient.

Access Mechanism: What’s Clear, What’s Not

Liane Schalatek is the Associate Director of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Washington, DC, where she spearheads the foundation’s work on climate finance. Schalatek has been tracking the flow of finance into the GCF for years and is also actively following the developments at the Loss and Damage Fund since its inception.

Schalatek, who has created an infographic to explain the basic facts and characteristics of the fund, says that, like the Green Climate Fund, contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund are also voluntary and without a strict timeline for fulfilling the pledges. The World Bank will be the main facilitator of the fund, but a 26-member board will be constituted to govern it. Of them, 14 members will be from developing countries, and the members will have a rotational tenure. The remaining 12 members will be from developed countries.

The first meeting of the board, according to the COP28 document, is expected to be held in January 2024, while three meetings of the board are expected to be held before the next COP.

It is also known that the Loss and Damage Fund will have multiple modalities, meaning that the funding will be given in different ways. For example, some money may be going through the organizations that are already accredited for managing climate finance; some money may be going to the national governments; and others, like NGOs, may also receive some. So far, the developing countries are demanding that the money be given to their governments, Schalatek says.

What Most-Affected Countries Want

Mirza Shawkat Ali is one of the most senior and experienced members of the Bangladesh delegation and has represented his country at multiple COPs. Ali says that while the concept of giving communities direct access to the fund is noble, from an operational perspective, it would be far easier if the funding was channeled through the national government. The reason, explains Ali, is that it could be extremely difficult to track the flow of the fund and also coordinate with various organizations in a timely manner unless detailed information is not shared in a timely manner.

“The biggest problem we could face is while reporting to the UN on the progress achieved with the fund that has been received. How can we do that if we don’t know the details of how and how much of the fund is coming and to whom it is coming?” Ali asks.

“For us, it would be both easier and more realistic if the government received the fund. We have the infrastructure that is needed to receive, disburse, and utilize the fund. We can also track and report back to the funder,” Ali says.

Haider of UN Women appears to agree with Ali: “I think the government could take some initiatives. If the government could access the funding, it could provide some budgeted support. And if the government then comes with some policies, some directives, selection criteria, and prioritization to support women-led initiatives, then that might be one way.”

María Elena Hermelinda Lezama Espinosa, Governor of Quintana Roo Province, Mexico, also supports the channeling of loss and damage funding through the government.

“We have already been implementing so many programs to help local communities overcome climate change impacts, especially in the areas of water and land. We will be happy to receive this fund to advance our work further,” she says.

From a different perspective, many civil society leaders are strongly advocating for direct access to the fund for extremely vulnerable and highly affected communities.

Anika Schroeder, Climate Policy Officer at Germany-based environmental organization Miseroer, who works with climate-affected communities globally, including Indonesia and Nepal, says that climate vulnerabilities are also about human rights, and giving climate-vulnerable groups and communities access to the Loss and Damage Fund is important to ensure their basic human rights.

A complex and time-consuming mechanism of accessing the fund could result in the already vulnerable people suffering more, which would then mean greater violations of their human rights, Schroeder argues.

“People think that giving one-time aid support to a disaster-hit community is enough, but that is not right; the same community will keep facing more disasters. And every time they are hit, they cannot go to school, they do not have a house, and they do not have water, so it’s about meeting their basic human rights. If this is not integrated while designing the funding access, then it will not be taken seriously,” Schroeder says.

The Devil Lies in the Details

However, Schalatek reminds us that although the fund mentions direct access for affected communities (such as neighborhood non-governmental organizations), the board will likely only approve a small portion of it. In fact, at present, the money that has been contributed is for the setting up of access mechanisms such as the formation of the board, the selection of the board members, deciding the location of the fund, and other infrastructural details.

“In the jubilations of the approval of the Loss and Damage Fund, people are forgetting that the contributions that have come so far are meant for operationalizing the fund, meaning getting the system and infrastructure in place, and not really for providing to the countries right away. For that, we need more pledges to be made and fulfilled,” Schalatek says. “Will the Loss and Damage Fund go directly to small community organizations? No, we don’t have those commitments right now because none of the windows and the substructures are set up yet; the board will decide on that,” she adds.

Developments on the Green Climate Fund

The first replenishment of the fund—$100 billion—is almost complete, except for the USD 1 billion from the United States that is yet to come. The 2nd replenishment has so far seen pledges of 12.8 billion, of which USD 3.3 billion was announced since the COP28 started, according to a press statement from the Green Climate Fund.

However, there is no fixed timeframe for these pledges to be fulfilled, and contributing countries can give their shares of the money anytime between January 2024 and the end of 2027. “A pledge is as good as a fulfilled commitment, so we will know more about the status of the new pledges once we see the signed contribution agreements from those who are pledging them,” Schalatek says.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• It’s Time To Align Climate Finance and Social Justice, Says Youth Climate Activist
• Farm to Fork: COP28 Provides RoadMap to Fix Africa’s Broken Food Systems – IFAD
• Renewable Commitments at COP28 Pose Stiffer Energy Challenges for Latin America

La stabilité des taux de change est un indicateur crucial pour l’économie d’un pays. En Algérie, les fluctuations significatives sur les marchés des devises dévoilent […]

L’article Cotations Banque d’Algérie et marché informel : stagnation des devises ce 12 décembre ! est apparu en premier sur .