While Africa is responsible for two to three percent of global emissions, the continent stands out disproportionately as the most vulnerable. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
BONN & NAIROBI, Jun 11 2024 (IPS)

As the planet groans under record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather events, Africa, which is responsible for only two to three percent of global emissions, stands out disproportionately as the most vulnerable region in the world. 

António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General’s special address on climate action titled ‘A Moment of Truth’ said 2024 was the hottest May in recorded history, and that this marks twelve straight months of the hottest months ever. For the past year, every turn of the calendar has turned up the heat.

“Our planet is trying to tell us something.  But we do not seem to be listening. Humanity is just one small blip on the radar. But like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsized impact. In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteors. We are not only in danger. We are the danger. But we are also the solution,” he said.

The speech was made during the 60th Sessions of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Bodies—also called the 2024 Bonn Climate Change Conference—to build on the many mandates of COP28 in Dubai, drive forward progress on key issues and prepare decisions for adoption at the COP29 UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024.

“We are at a moment of truth. It is a travesty of climate justice that those least responsible for the crisis are hardest hit: the poorest people, the most vulnerable countries, Indigenous Peoples, women and girls. The richest one percent emits as much as two-thirds of humanity,” Guterres observed.

Emphasizing that extreme events “turbocharged by climate chaos are piling up—destroying lives, pummeling economies, and hammering health. Wrecking sustainable development; forcing people from their homes; and rocking the foundations of peace and security—as people are displaced and vital resources depleted.”

Climate justice is an approach to climate action centered on the unequal impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations. It seeks to achieve an equitable distribution of both the burdens of climate change and the efforts to mitigate climate change, examining issues such as equality, human rights and historical responsibilities for climate change.

Activists demand that negotiators at the 2024 Bonn Climate Change Conference and COP29 stay on track with climate finance demands. Credit: UNFCCC

This approach recognizes that marginalized or vulnerable communities, especially in developing and least-developed countries, often face the worst consequences of climate change. The “triple injustice” of climate change means that they frequently experience additional disadvantage as a result of climate change responses, which exacerbates already existing inequalities.

Meena Raman from the Third World Network spoke about the poor performance and duplicity of the developed countries.

“They come to these negotiations talking about issues such as mitigation ambition while regressing and moving away from the climate finance agenda,” she said, pointing to the failure of the developed world to keep to their promises of reducing their carbon emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020.

“There are only 17.4 percent emissions reductions overall in developed countries and economies in transition…This is the height of irresponsibility.”

She also called them out on climate finance.

“The developed world has only managed to generate about USD 51.6 billion annually from 2019 to 2020, against a commitment of USD 100 billion per year. And here they come talking about achievements and being on target while they are nowhere near that target,” she said.

Sara Shaw from Friends of the Earth International stressed that developed countries have not provided the finance they owe to developing countries over the past decades to deliver a just transition and a meaningful and just phase out of fossil fuels. This has led to a dire emergency situation, with the impacts of the climate crisis becoming increasingly devastating.

“The situation is fueling, understandably, a narrative of urgency. But instead of the urgency meaning that the action is directed at tackling the root causes of the climate crisis at source, including fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emissions, we see rich countries and big polluters chasing after a range of dangerous distractions, such as the carbon market,” she said.

Raman speaks of a lack of good faith in the negotiations, of big countries minimizing and disguising their contribution to global emissions, and their financial responsibility to developing and underdeveloped countries. Saying there is a resistance to focusing on finance and a deliberate shift to focusing on other issues.

“Developed countries are saying that negotiations here are not only about finance but about the global stocktake—how parties have progressed towards achieving global climate goals—in their entirety. The negotiations are about every global stocktake outcome. But what they are attempting to do is dilute and muddy the discussions so that there will not be a total focus on finance,” Raman emphasized.

“For Baku, COP29 is a finance COP and the new collective quantified goal on finance is a very critical discussion that is going on now and that has to be decided in terms of what the quantity of the new goal is going to be.”

Civil society from Africa, under the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), is in Bonn to voice their concerns and demands on behalf of millions of Africans suffering from climate change’s impacts. To remind the Parties to the UNFCCC of their moral and legal obligations to protect their planet and people from the existential threat of global warming. To hold them accountable for their actions and inactions that have caused and exacerbated this crisis.

“Africa is on the frontlines of the climate crisis. We are experiencing the worst effects of a problem that we did not create. Our communities are facing severe water scarcity, crop failures, malnutrition, diseases, displacement, conflicts, heat waves and loss of life due to climate change. Our natural resources and ecosystems are under immense pressure from climate change and other human activities. Our development prospects and aspirations are being undermined by inadequate support and finance from the international community,” their joint statement read.

Their statement said their call was not for charity or sympathy.

“We are here to demand justice and equity; to demand that the parties, especially those from the North, stop procrastination; to call on them to listen to the voices of the people, especially those who are most vulnerable and marginalized, and to act following the best available science and the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities. We are here to call on rich countries to demonstrate leadership and courage in tackling this crisis that threatens our common future.”

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Climate Justice Fellowship. Graphic: Wilson Mgobhozi

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 2024 (IPS)

IPS Noram and its UN Bureau is offering an exceptional opportunity for two journalists to develop their understanding of climate change justice.

The fellowship will run from April to September 2024 and will include a six-module capacity-building course on understanding climate finance, using data and visuals for storytelling, using artificial intelligence (AI) for reporting, researching, and telling compelling complex stories for a broad audience.

Candidates will be expected to produce six features during the fellowship that use the lessons learned during capacity building.

Fellows who complete the course and their features will have the opportunity to attend a major climate conference, where they will be able to hone their skills and build their knowledge and contacts.

Each fellow will receive a stipend for the duration of the programme.

Preference will be given to candidates who report on rural communities and geographic areas seldom covered by the mainstream. We are also looking for candidates who haven’t had the opportunity to attend a major climate conference. Candidates should have at least two years’ experience and be proficient in English (although English doesn’t have to be their mother tongue).

Please send your CV, two samples of your work, and motivation to this email address:
ipsfellowship60@gmail.com

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Yamide Dagnet, Director of Climate Justice at the Open Society Foundations, addresses the forum Financing for Resilience: Overcoming Hurdles to Catalyse Regional Action and Locally-led Adaptation and Loss and Damage Finance at COP28 in Dubai. Credit: OSF

By Alison Kentish
SAINT LUCIA , Jan 9 2024 (IPS)

As a child on the French-Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, Yamide Dagnet dreamed of launching rockets into space.

She stuck to science, discovering her path in chemical engineering. She became a scientist focused on critical reactions to solving real-world problems like improving water quality in the United Kingdom.

Her attention to detail, observation skills, and grounding in science eventually led her to a career in climate negotiations and climate justice.

As Director of Climate Justice at the Open Society Foundations (OSF), she is committed to the organization’s cause of expediting a fair, transparent, low-carbon, and resilient transition in our societies.

Reflecting on her journey, she acknowledges that the task is daunting, but she remains optimistic for the future. Her roots as an islander fuel her drive to fight for a more just and resilient world.

“Vulnerable countries, including Islanders, have played a critical role in shaping negotiations and the outcome of climate negotiations over time by bringing both tangible experience and a moral voice to this issue while also bringing solutions. Even as small Islanders, we always felt that we were big on solutions,” she said in a sit-down with IPS.

The move from chemical engineering to climate justice director may be non-traditional, but for Dagnet, it was a transition hinged on applying her principles and skills from the lab to the policymaking table.

“I kept the spirit of problem-solving in an unexpected career move. I see negotiations and the diplomatic world not as chemical reactions among products but as chemical reactions among people—a people alchemy,” she said.

The Changing Nature of Climate Negotiations

When Dagnet entered the field of climate negotiations, the focus was predominantly technical, she told IPS. Things have changed since then. The talks have morphed into a more political sphere, increasingly shaped by geopolitical dynamics. It is a shift that Dagnet says requires an understanding of the diverse interests of countries at the negotiating table.

“When I joined the negotiations, we were just getting into the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol,” she said, adding, “Over time, everything that would affect geopolitics would affect the climate negotiations as well. That was really key to creating trust and understanding for landing the Paris Agreement itself. The Paris Agreement was no longer just a climate agreement. It had become a socio-economic and environmental agreement that had to be contextualized.”

“Now that we’re getting into the implementation phase again of a complex agreement, to reach that breakthrough, we have to understand the different interests of countries—200 countries, 200 different interests.”

The composition of the annual climate talks is also different, reflecting the change from a technical gathering to one with more glaring political hues.

“There’s been what had started to be an exercise, and a gathering of initiated diplomats and technocrats expanded to bring all hands on deck for implementation. More from the private sector, more from civil society, and more from indigenous people, women, and youth. So, there has been a progression in terms of inclusion, but also more interests and a greater risk of corporate capture over time.”

Climate Negotiations, then the Open Society Foundations

While working as a chemical engineer in the UK, Dagnet was involved in water quality. It was an opportunity to ensure that products in contact with drinking water were safe and of the highest standards. It was during that time, already working with inspectors, that she became more familiar with the nexus between climate and water, along with the safety plans that needed to be put in place to mitigate the impacts of climate change on drinking needs.

In 2007, she was then detached to France’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, in their international division, where she gained valuable experience leading delegations, establishing cooperation, and twinning programs between France and Eastern European countries. The primary goal was to enhance the capacity of countries seeking access to the European Union. It was a defining experience for her, helping her to test different means of capacity building to reflect what could be most effective and sustainable.

It made for a smooth transition to the climate arena.

“I was privileged to join the UK climate team at a time when the UK was a climate leader—enacting the first climate change bill, setting up the first climate change committee, and relying on much data and evidence emerging from the UK greenhouse gas inventory I was responsible for. Being the UK deputy focal point for the IPCC at a time when the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize. Joining the UK climate delegation under UNFCCC at the turning point of the negotiations to shape the Paris Agreement,” she said.

“While negotiating for the interests of the UK, I was in a very unique and diverse delegation that had a comprehensive outreach strategy with different countries that were also committed to coalition building outside and within the negotiations. I was keen to first have the opportunity to use my problem-solving skills and the fact that I wanted to really look into solutions and put those solutions into action, not just for the UK, not just for the EU, but for the rest of the world, including the most vulnerable countries.”

The opportunity came to join an internationally renowned, US-based think tank, the World Resources Institute, in 2012 and advance robust research, analysis, and policy recommendations for designing a new rule-based climate regime.

“It’s convening power was really interesting, and for me, making sure that you do not produce creative solutions that are put on a shelf, but how to really look at the power and interaction with different stakeholders, not just governments, but the faith community, different civil society constituencies, how to really, again, build bridges and test ideas, to really come up with something that has legitimacy.”

To do that, Dagnet organized several consortiums. The task was not easy, but it was necessary.

“I learned the power of consortiums. First, it’s more difficult to work in a consortium because it’s actually a platform of negotiations where you don’t navigate just one mindset, one view, one way of addressing an issue; but by creating the right consortium, you bring the legitimacy and credibility that represent different views from different countries, which in the end really helped us to get the traction and inference necessary to shape a meaningful agreement.”

After almost a decade, the Open Society Foundations was a natural fit for her knowledge and passions to work as a funder to empower the field, support new ideas and analysis, take grassroots and legal actions, and engage in diplomatic and advocacy efforts. Her priority has been supporting just resilient outcomes, especially in neglected areas like adaptation to climate change and politically sensitive issues like losses and damage. How you face climate impacts you cannot even adapt to—that will cost lives and livelihoods and generate irreversible economic and non-economic (e.g., cultural, social) damages. Another area of focus was the implications of a just energy and industrial transition, ensuring equitable use and deployment of critical minerals, minimizing unintended environmental adverse effects and social or labor abuse, while spurring the ability for resource-rich mineral countries to move up the manufacturing ladder. All of these are matters of justice, equity, and human rights. Ensuring accountability and inclusion within national and international processes like the COP was critical.

COP28

The former climate negotiator was in Dubai, UAE, for the 2023 climate talks.

Like many, she welcomes the landmark announcement of the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund on the first day of COP as a hard-won victory. “Two hundred countries, including a petrol state, have agreed to move away from fossil fuels and to operationalize a loss and damage fund that has taken so long to be established,” she said. “Now that we’ve got a roadmap, we have an initial capitalization, even if it only represents less than 1 percent of what is really needed.”

She, however, says that there is no place for complacency. Those breakthroughs are decades away, still little, very late, and lacking the necessary pace needed to effect the change needed.

Moreover, Dagnet says the new climate deals have shortcomings. She is particularly concerned about some of the controversial technologies mentioned in the agreements, which lack sufficient safeguards and measures to minimize unintended adverse impacts on frontline communities and the environment. For instance, “the reference to transition fuels, which, without the right accountability mechanisms, could be overused and used as a license to delay some of the radical changes that need to be done.”

Looking Forward

The next year is poised to be an interesting one on the international climate scene, with an eye on how the commitments on energy and roadmap to build resilience will be transformed into tangible actions and how ongoing campaigns to reform the global finance infrastructure will pan out.

“2024 is really shaping as being about the means of implementation to keep 1.5 alive and build resilience within that threshold. We know that the UAE, Azerbaijan, and Brazil committed to the delivery of a financial framework through their “road map to mission 1.5 C. There needs to be a strong mobilization of different stakeholders to support, inform, shape those frameworks, and make them a reality,” says Dagnet.

She took the opportunity to express her appreciation to all partners, especially frontline communities, who often risk their lives in this climate change battle. “Without them, we would not have secured these hard-won breakthroughs.”

Dagnet expressed her hopes that their efforts will be redoubled and rewarded in the future.

“We need to pull up our sleeves. There’s a lot of work to do, which can only be effective if we create and harness the synergies and intersections between climate and health, climate and nature, and climate and trade.

And as for Dagnet’s work—no matter what, “I think I will remain a climate and social justice avenger.”

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Food and Agriculture for Climate Justice action by Climate Action Network International at COP28 Credit: COP28/Neville Hopwood

By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI & SRINAGAR, INDIA, Dec 21 2023 (IPS)

Durga Das*, a 59-year-old farmer from the Indian state of Maharashtra, committed suicide last year by ingesting a poisonous substance. He was unable to repay the loan he had taken from the bank for the renovation of his single-story house.

This year, his 32-year-old son, Pradeep Das, a father of two children, is equally desperate. The family owns half an acre of cultivated land where they grow cotton. The harvest has been devastated due to intense heat waves, leaving farmers like Dass and his son Pradeep in dire straits. The loan the family had taken is yet to be paid, and the land they had mortgaged in the bank is about to be confiscated. This means no crops, no cultivation, no business, and no food.

“I would have ended my life long ago, but my kids,” sighs Pradeep.

This family is not alone in such a predicament. About 10,000 farmers in India commit suicide every year. This means 27 every day and about one every hour. Suicides in agricultural communities have been a long-standing issue in the country since the 1970s as farmers face an increasing debt crisis.

“Every day, we are inching closer to death. The summers are getting hotter, extremely hot, and there are no rains. We were hoping to repay the bank the entire amount. Our house was in dire need of repair. The monsoon rain penetrated our home and made us all ill—my kids as well as my mother. We decided to repair it and took out a loan against the land we have. But heaven had something else in store for us,” Pradeep told IPS, explaining the recent uncertain weather patterns.

Based on statistical modeling, researchers predict that if there was a 25 percent deficit in rainfall, the number of farmers dying by suicide in a year would increase to 1,188 individuals; 2023 is already confirmed to emerge as the hottest year ever. Several months this year set new temperature records. More than 80 days this year happened to be at least 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times. “Climate change is making agriculture an extremely risky, potentially dangerous, and loss-making endeavor for farmers, and it’s increasing their risk of suicide,” said Ritu Bharadwaj, a principal researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), which conducted the research.

COP 28

From November 29 to December 13 this year, world leaders, climate experts, scientists, and policymakers hailing from 200 countries congregated in Dubai to discuss, debate, and negotiate over the measures needed to be taken to bring down global temperatures and make the earth fit for human habitation.

Despite being the world’s most populous country, India is also anticipated to be the largest contributor to the increased demand for fossil fuels in the next decade. While affluent nations have reduced their emissions by approximately 16 percent since 2007, and China is expected to reach peak emissions before 2030, India’s emissions are poised to surpass those of the European Union. By 2030, India’s emissions are projected to exceed the combined pollution levels of Europe and Japan.

The COP28 climate meeting delivered some important outcomes—a first-time acknowledgment of the need to move away from fossil fuels, a first promise to reduce methane emissions, operationalization and capitalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, and an agreement on a framework for the global adaptation goals.

A lone anti-fossil fuel protestor at COP28. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

However, like all previous COPs, it remained an underachiever, unable to measure up to expectations, particularly in galvanizing more ambitious climate action in the immediate term. The main agenda at COP28 was to carry out a Global Stocktake (GST), a comprehensive assessment of where the world was in its fight against climate change and what more needed to be done to meet the climate objectives.

Meanwhile, millions of farmers like Pradeep in India seem to have no hope of any respite in the times to come. With the recently concluded COP preferring to play a proverbial ostrich in terms of taking a final call on fossil fuel reduction—the prime culprit for the global heat wave—there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for India’s crisis-torn farming community. This means more heat waves, a surge in temperatures, and the late arrival of monsoons.

“We could plant good seeds, use quality fertilizer, and make the best human efforts for a profitable harvest, but it is weather that always plays a spoilsport. We cannot escape from its wrath. A farmer would toil for the entire year, and just one single heat wave is enough to dash all his hopes. This is it,” Pradeep said.

Will the Loss and Damage Fund help farmers like Pradeep?

The COP28 climate conference in Dubai marked the official launch of a Loss and Damage Fund designed to assist vulnerable countries in dealing with the consequences of climate change. The initial funding for this initiative is approximately USD 475 million, with the UAE committing USD 100 million, the European Union pledging USD 275 million, the US contributing USD 17.5 million, and Japan offering USD 10 million.

The fund itself represents a global financial package aimed at facilitating the rescue and rehabilitation of countries grappling with the cascading impacts of climate change. Specifically, it involves compensation from wealthy nations, responsible for the industrial growth leading to global warming and the climate crisis, to less industrialized nations. These nations, despite having a low carbon footprint, bear the brunt of rising sea levels, floods, severe droughts, intense cyclones, and other climate-related challenges. The evolving climate has profoundly affected lives, livelihoods, biodiversity, cultural traditions, and identities.

Although the Fund was initially introduced during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, it wasn’t until a few weeks before COP28 that rich and poor nations were able to resolve some of their differences and reach agreements on crucial aspects of it.

Highlighting the limitations of the traditional project cycle, Dr Anand Patwardhan, Professor at the University of Maryland, asserts that it is insufficient for addressing the impacts of loss and damage.  Emphasizing the importance of recognizing that the ongoing discussion primarily focuses on nations, he underscores the critical need for funds to directly benefit individuals who have undergone loss and damage. He stresses the significance of ensuring access to delivery in this context.

Dr Benito Muller, Managing Director, Oxford Climate Policy, says he doesn’t see this as a fund that spends USD 150 billion annually. “It is very difficult to spend this annually.  What this fund should do is not only pilot new funding arrangements but also identify new ways of spending the money, for example, the new insurance schemes.”

Anita Gosh, a New Delhi-based climate activist, says there seem to be no immediate benefits for Indian farmers, even though the Loss and Damage Fund was announced.

“The farmers should be offered comprehensive insurance policies in case of drought-like situations or massive crop damages. The fund should also provide some financial help to the farming communities if they are in distress, like less harvest, marriage ceremonies, or house repairs. The entire idea should be that we must adopt a humane approach towards this community, which is at the receiving end of climate change,” Anita said.

However, she believes the plan for how the fund should be spent is yet to be devised and that she fears it could be shelved for years, as has been the procedure in the past.

“If the past recommendations had been implemented, the situation would have been different today. Now is the time to say enough is enough; we need action on the ground,” Anita told IPS News.

Postscript

During the 14-day period when COP-28 was being held in the opulent Dubai, more than 380 farmers are likely to have killed themselves in India—some for failing to repay the loans, some for failing to pay dowry for their daughter’s marriage, and some for losing hope of giving a good life to their families. But underneath this crisis lurks the prime reason for all these deaths—climate change and the havoc it has been wrecking upon the poor.

Note: The names of the suicide victim and his family have been changed.

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A peninsula separates the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea in the southwestern village of Scottshead, Dominica. Post-COP28 the region plans to create a Climate Smart Zone in the Caribbean - one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Credit: Alison Kentish/IPS

By Alison Kentish
SAINT LUCIA, Dec 19 2023 (IPS)

Buoyed by USD 800 million in pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund and an unprecedented agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, but grounded in the reality of the work ahead to meet key climate targets, the Caribbean will need to maintain its focus on sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and climate resilience.

That is according to Raquel Moses, UNFCCC Global Ambassador of Small Island Developing States and CEO of the Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator (CCSA), a partnership of 28 Caribbean governments and global companies working towards making the Caribbean a climate-smart zone.

Moses led a small but dedicated three-woman CCSA team to the climate talks in Dubai. There, the team participated and hosted events to secure financing for climate-resilient projects in the Caribbean, advocate for the Loss and Damage Fund, and present innovative, home-grown solutions to build resilience in the Caribbean.

“The first global stocktake synthesis report by the UNFCCC provides a roadmap for all parties to accelerate their climate action efforts to meet the 1.5-degree target, and the ‘Later is Too Late campaign,’ which we were proud to be a part of, created a strong push for the just phase-out of fossil fuels, the tripling of renewable energy, and the doubling of energy efficiency. While there is still much work to be done, we are especially hopeful given the leadership coming from the Caribbean, which continued to coalesce around one strong voice throughout the COP process,” Moses said.

The deals at COP28 have been tempered by the reality that what happens next will be more important than the pledges and text on paper.

“It is following through to understand how this manifests itself and what is the climate justice impact of a particular decision. When you hear things like climate finance being operationalized for particular things, looking at when the board is implemented on the Loss and Damage Fund, who is on that board and what kind of autonomy do they have? What kind of ability do they have to act with speed, for example? And that for me is a climate justice issue,” she said, noting that the Caribbean needs investment and it also needs heightened philanthropy to meet climate goals.

Among those goals is a long-term vision of creating a Climate Smart Zone in the Caribbean, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Moses says the accelerator will build on projects that promote sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and resilience-building.

“We are excited about our climate-smart agriculture that was launched in August in Anguilla, Barbados, and the Cayman Islands and are looking to see that expand next year. We are always looking for donors that are willing to help us to fortify and secure our food. That is a huge part not just of our adaptation, but it can also be a source of our mitigation because the carbon dioxide that we spend on importing food is unnecessary. As the climate crisis exacerbates, it means that there is more uncertainty in our food production,” Moses said.

As it promotes climate-resilient solutions for the Caribbean, the Accelerator is investing heavily in innovation. It observed a milestone in Dubai when officials launched a Climate Smart Map, a platform with climate action data for 26 Caribbean countries. It is a major relief for a region beset with challenges in accessing current, reliable data for development.

“It demonstrates leadership in global transformation and showcases that we are capable of homegrown, cutting-edge solutions.This data-rich tool pinpoints the main areas of progress and needs across CCSA’s 28 coalition countries, enabling project curation and entrepreneurship. This will help project developers, philanthropists, and investors take a regional view of addressing our needs. To advocate for the Loss and Damage Fund, which has now been operationalized and is beginning to be seriously capitalized,” Moses said.

While the map addresses the dearth of data in the region, the accelerator will be working hard on two other major challenges: fit-for-purpose financing and project preparation funding.

“The Caribbean boasts remarkable projects and visionary initiatives—such as the D30 biofuel by the Carbon Neutral Initiative in Jamaica and the ambitious push for 100% renewable energy in countries like Aruba, Barbados, Dominica, and Grenada—but securing fit-for-purpose financing remains a persistent hurdle,” CCSA’s Director of Public Sector Projects Kiesha Farum told IPS ahead of the climate talks.

“Many projects also require funding for due diligence, assessments, and analysis to attract investor interest and to become ‘bankable.’ Actively pursuing financing is where we see grants, philanthropy, and concessional financing playing a major role. Bringing this type of financing to the region is of great focus, particularly during major events like COP and investor forums aimed at matching projects with potential investors,” she said.

Caribbean SIDS have rallied around calls by Barbados’s Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, for an overhaul of global climate financing. She has said that this shake-up, coined the Bridgetown Initiative, would be based on climate justice, ensuring that the greatest contributors to the climate crisis help countries like those in the Caribbean access finance to respond and build resilience to a crisis they did little to create.

The initiative also promotes innovative financing for climate-related projects. Those at the heart of the mission to build a climate-smart zone in the Caribbean know that conventional financing mechanisms are no longer sufficient to address present climate realities.

“Traditional financiers often seek long-term guarantees and short-term returns, which may not align with the nature and timelines of many climate resilience projects, such as those focused on nature conservation. On a national scale, solutions like debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps, where a portion of government debt is cancelled in exchange for commitments to fund nature conservation projects, prove immensely beneficial,” the CCSA’s Finance Innovation Director, Cheryl Senhouse, told IPS.

‘A notable example is Belize, which completed the world’s largest debt refinancing through a debt-for-nature swap in 2021, directing USD 364 million for marine conservation. Similarly, Barbados executed a USD 150 million debt swap in 2022, generating USD 50 million for marine conservation. Given the significant contribution of the tourism sector to many Caribbean countries’ GDP, solutions like these have positive cascading effects.”

The CCSA officials say the road to COP29 started on December 13. It is a nod to the work ahead. For the Caribbean, it signals the need for greater solidarity and action on sustainable food systems, renewable energy projects, and innovative financing.

“We will continue to work ambitiously to expand on our climate smart map, secure fit-for-purpose financing for projects that will protect 30% of our land and ocean. We want to see the region reach 90% Renewable Energy for All by 2035 and usher in a new economy with at least 1.5% new green jobs,” said Moses.

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Celebrating the end of COP28, which ended with an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. Credit: UNFCCC

By Cecilia Russell
DUBAI, Dec 14 2023 (IPS)

While the outcomes of COP28 are being hotly debated in both the scientific and social justice arenas, the climate conference has taken an unprecedented step forward toward a just transition, says Yamide Dagnet, Director for Climate Justice at the Open Society Foundations.

Making some preliminary remarks a day after the climate conference ended, she said: “COP28 ends like it started: imperfect, yet an important and unprecedented step forward in our “course correction” for a just transition towards resilient and greener economies.”

The UN decision acknowledged the need for the decline of coal, oil, and gas for the first time in an agreement that talks about transitioning out of fossil fuels. It will also be known for operationalizing the Loss and Damages Fund, even if the funding falls far below the requirements for climate-stressed countries and communities.

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell acknowledged these contractions in his final speech.

“While we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end,” Stiell said.

He also noted that climate finance, which he said was a great enabler of climate action, fell short of the trillions needed to support developing countries with clean energy transitions and adaptation efforts.

He urged ordinary people everywhere to not relent in their demands for a climate-just world.

“In the crucial years ahead, your voices and determination will be more important than ever. I urge you never to relent. We are still in this race. We will be with you every single step of the way.”

Yamide Dagnet, Director for Climate Justice at Open Society Foundations. Credit: TJ Kirkpatrick, Open Society Foundations

Dagnet believes that COP28 is the start of a new era in climate justice.

“This is not an end; rather, just the beginning of an implementation journey that we know is hard but can be so positively transformative, and just if we manage to mobilize, in an equitable manner, all hands-on deck. A climate-just journey and outcome require vigilance, creativity, and accountability; stronger solidarity and engagement at all levels; promoting human rights; and shared prosperity for all,” she says.

This COP, Danget says, laid bare the issues with the Paris Agreement, especially with the just transition.

“More specifically, this COP exposed all the contradictions and challenges faced when implementing the promises of the Paris Agreement, especially a managed, equitable transition away from fossil fuels and the sustained mobilization, alignment, and access to financial flows domestically and internationally to decarbonize and build resilience,” Dagnet says. ”

While some signals got clearer with more substantive commitments, challenges remain, however, in how the just and equitable transition is sequenced.

“Inclusive processes matter to foster shared prosperity and benefits throughout the journey, together with adequate safeguards to minimize unintended adverse impacts of climate-related measures and technologies and to protect frontline and marginalized communities.

“Similarly, the just operationalization and continued capitalization of the Loss and Damage Fund will require vigilance, effective guidance, and mechanisms to make sure commensurate funding is actually mobilized and reaches the communities that need it the most in a timely manner. Adequate mobilization of finance for adaptation by the donor community is also essential to tackle losses and damages with dignity. We are happy that a dozen of them committed to join OSF efforts in this regard.”

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Colombian President Gustavo Petro presented his environmental plans at COP28 in Dubai and added his country to the small group of nations that support the negotiation of a binding treaty to prevent the proliferation of fossil fuels, despite his country being an oil producer. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

By Emilio Godoy
DUBAI, Dec 12 2023 (IPS)

One of the most heated debates at the annual climate summit coming to a conclusion in this United Arab Emirates city revolved around the phrasing of the final declaration, regarding the “phase-out” or “phase-down” of fossil fuels within a given time frame.

This is an essential calculation on the decommissioning of refineries, pipelines, power plants and other infrastructure that, in some cases, have been in operation for years, as discussed at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Experts who talked to IPS at the summit agreed on the magnitude of the bill, which for some Latin American nations could be unaffordable."Financial support will be needed. There must be a differentiated approach, differentiated timing, and developed countries must come up with the resources." -- Fernanda Carvalho

Fernanda Carvalho of Brazil, global leader for Energy and Climate Policy at the non-governmental World Wildlife Fund (WWF), referred to the amount without specifying a figure.

“Financial support will be needed. There must be a differentiated approach, differentiated timing, and developed countries must come up with the resources,” the expert, who was present at COP28, held at Expo City on the outskirts of Dubai, told IPS.

COP28 engaged in an acrimonious debate between phase-out and phase-down, with a definite date, of oil, gas and coal, which has already anticipated a disappointing end in Dubai, that in line with the tradition at these summits extended its negotiations one more day, to conclude on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

The “phase-down” concept has been in the climate-energy jargon for years, but it really took off at the 2021 COP26 in the Scottish city of Glasgow, whose Climate Pact alludes to the reduction of coal still being produced and the elimination of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

Throughout the climate summits since 1995, developing countries have insisted on differentiated measures for them, in accordance with their own situation, the need for financing from developed nations and the transfer of technology, especially energy alternatives.

Enrique Maurtúa of Argentina, senior diplomacy advisor to the Independent Global Stocktake (iGST) – an umbrella data and advocacy initiative – said they hoped for a political signal to determine regulations or market measures regarding a phase-down or phase-out.

“If a target date is not set, there is no signal. If you set a phase-out for 2050, that is a pathway for the transition. With a deadline, the market can react. And then each country must evaluate its specific context,” the expert told IPS in the COP28 Green Zone, which hosted civil society organizations at the summit.

Available scientific knowledge indicates that the majority of proven hydrocarbon reserves must remain unextracted by 2030 to keep the planetary temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, the threshold agreed in the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement to avoid massive disasters.

On Sunday, Dec. 10 the non-governmental Climate Action Network (CAN) delivered at COP28 a dishonorable mention to the United States for its role in Israel’s carnage in Gaza, in the traditional Fossil of the Day award for “doing the most to achieve the least” in terms of progress on climate change at the summits. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Failed attempts

In the Latin American region there are unsuccessful precedents of fossil fuel phase-outs.

In 2007, the then president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa (2007-2017), launched the Yasuní-Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini initiative, which sought the care of the Yasuní National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, in exchange for funds from governments, foundations, companies and individuals of about 3.6 billion dollars by 2024 to leave the oil in the ground.

The aim was to leave 846 million barrels of oil untouched underground. But a special fund created by Ecuador and the United Nations Environment Fund only raised 13 million dollars, according to the Ecuadorian government. So Correa decided to cancel the initiative in 2013, at a time when renewable energies had not yet really taken off.

In a referendum held in August, Ecuadorians decided to halt oil extraction in a block in Yasuní that would provide 57,000 barrels per day in 2022 – the same result sought by Correa, but without foreign funds.

The result of the referendum is to be implemented within a year, although the position of the government of the current president, banana tycoon Daniel Noboa, who took office on Nov. 23, is still unclear.

Meanwhile, in Colombia, President Gustavo Petro has put the brakes on new oil and coal exploration contracts, a promise from his 2022 election campaign.

In addition, the president announced on Dec. 2 in Dubai that his country was joining nine other nations that are promoting the formal initiation of the negotiation of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Colombia will thus become the first Latin American nation and the largest oil and coal producer to join the initiative that first emerged in 2015 when several Pacific Island leaders and NGOs raised the urgent need for an international mechanism to phase out fossil fuels.

For the undertaking of a just energy transition to cleaner fuels, Petro estimates an initial bill of 14 billion dollars, to come from governments of the developed North, multilateral organizations and international funds.

The latest summit of hope for the climate kicked off on Nov. 30 in this Arab city under the slogan “Unite. Act. Deliver” – the least successful in the history of COPs since the first one, held in Berlin in 1995.

The hopes included commitments and voluntary declarations on renewable energy and energy efficiency; agriculture, food and climate; health and climate; climate finance; refrigeration; and just transitions with a gender focus.

In addition, there were financial pledges of some 86 billion dollars, without specifying whether it is all new money, to be allocated to these issues.

Like many countries, the host of COP28, the United Arab Emirates, has had a pavilion in the so-called Green Zone, which hosts non-governmental organizations, companies and other institutions. The Emirati government bet a lot on the climate summit to deliver results, but without directly targeting the fossil fuels on which its economy depends. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Billions

Given the production and exploration plans of the main hydrocarbon producing countries in the region, the magnitude of the challenge in the medium and long term is enormous.

In October, Brazil, the largest economy in the region and the 11th largest in the world, extracted 3.543 billion barrels of oil and 152 million cubic meters (m3) of gas per day.

This represented approximately two percent of the domestic economy that month.

Mexico, the region’s second largest economy, extracted 1.64 million barrels and 4.971 billion m3 of gas per day in October, equivalent to 52 million dollars in revenues.

Meanwhile, Colombia produced 780,487 barrels of oil in the first eight months of 2023 and 1,568 cubic feet per day of gas, equivalent to 12 percent of public revenues.

“We have to think about decarbonization measures. We want Latin America to be a clean energy powerhouse,” said Carvalho.

As of September, Brazil’s state-owned oil giant Petrobras was working on obtaining 9.571 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to the Global Oil & Gas Exit List produced by the German non-governmental organization Urgewald.

This represents an excess of 94 percent above the limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s state-owned oil company Pemex is producing 1.444 billion barrels of oil equivalent, 56 percent above the threshold set by the Paris Agreement.

Finally, the public company Ecopetrol, mostly owned by the Colombian state, is working to obtain 447 million barrels, 98 percent above the Paris Agreement limit, according to Urgewald.

In addition, the cost of action against the climate crisis is far from affordable for any Latin American nation.

For example, Mexico estimated that the implementation of 35 measures, including in the power, gas and oil generation sector, would cost 137 billion dollars in 2030, but the benefits would total 295 billion dollars.

But Maurtúa says the budget question is only relative. “There is a lot of public money with which many things can be done,” complemented by international resources, he argued.

Jeffrey D. Sachs speaks at the ReWired Summit at COP28. Credit: X

By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 12 2023 (IPS)

The United State’s contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund equals nine minutes of Pentagon spending, says Jeffrey D. Sachs, a world-renowned economist, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development.

While the Loss and Damage Fund promise was made at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, this was the first major milestone announced at COP28 in Dubai. So far, pledged contributions by various countries to the World Bank-hosted Loss and Damage Fund have reached USD 700 million. While this is a major step in the right direction, there are concerns that the fund is too small and that powerful nations are not doing enough to halt the pace and rate of climate change.

“The COP process is still a formalism, not a breakthrough.  Yes, there is a new losses and damages fund, but it is tiny—USD 700 million pledged—compared to the hundreds of billions of dollars of climate-related losses each year,” Sachs says.

Estimates are that by 2030, the total estimate of loss and damage for developing countries could be between USD 290 billion and USD 580 billion; another says it is USD 400 billion per year and rising.

Africa is on the frontlines of the devastating effects of climate change, despite accounting for the smallest share of global greenhouse gas emissions—3.8 percent.

“The US pledged a measly USD 17.5 million, which equals nine minutes of Pentagon spending. All other financing remains tiny compared to the real needs.  The US and Europe are engaged in war, not in climate financing.  The wars in Ukraine and Gaza are the only things of interest to US foreign policy,” Sachs told IPS. “John Kerry is powerless in reality.  He is there to give speeches.  He has no authority to deliver any real policies.”

He says it is crucial to stop the wars; once that is done, real diplomacy could start.

“On to COP29, in a rapidly warming world of great danger.  The first priority is to stop the wars, and that requires the world community to tell the US to stop the warmongering and to force Israel to stop the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Gaza.  By stopping the wars, we could begin real climate diplomacy among the major fossil-fuel-producing countries.  The top three fossil-fuel-producing countries are China, the US, and Russia.  The three need to cooperate.  That depends on a fundamental change in US foreign policy.”

The Loss and Damage Fund refers to the economic, social, and cultural losses and damages caused by anthropogenic climate change to natural and human systems. It is a vehicle to deliver climate justice to communities disproportionately affected by climate change. The climate injustice lies in the fact that, despite a low carbon footprint, developing countries are facing the full force of climatic changes, slowly wiping out their biodiversity and destroying lives, livelihoods, and cultural heritage.

Climate change is the most serious threat facing culture today. Globally, World Heritage properties are bearing the brunt of climate change, from increasing ocean acidification, desertification, droughts, floods, and fires related to rising temperatures. Climate change is slowly eradicating the African coast and its cultural heritage; 20 percent of Africa’s heritage sites are in danger.

Communities uprooted by climate-induced disasters are losing their ways of life, including the preservation of traditions for future generations. This is the cultural cost of climate change for many vulnerable communities, particularly indigenous people, who are currently suffering greatly from severe and drastic changes in weather patterns.

Vulnerable developing nations face greater risk from climate change and lack the funds to recover from climate events that have become increasingly frequent and more severe. While some losses from climate-induced disasters are impossible to recover from, such as loss of life, the fund is expected to help build better infrastructure after a severe climatic event.

While there is wide applause for the loss and damage fund, there is also criticism that the fund’s contributions at COP28 thus far cover less than 0.2 percent of climate-induced losses in developing countries. Additionally, powerful nations are reluctant to address critical issues such as phasing out fossil fuels that could significantly slow down climate change, giving Africa and other vulnerable nations in the global South much-needed relief.

“The United States political class is not serious. China is more interested.  Only an end to the wars, followed by serious negotiations among the major fossil-fuel producers, will work. The top 10 fossil fuel producers are: China, US, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Australia, Canada, Iran, and Iraq. These 10 countries need to make serious, cooperative, and coordinated plans to phase out their production. They have not yet begun to hold such talks. In the meantime, funding for Africa is also seriously neglected,” Sachs says.

To reaffirm the 1.5°C-aligned energy transition, COP28 set out to firm up a number of ambitious goals, such as tripling global renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, doubling annual energy efficiency improvements by 2030, and an orderly decline in fossil fuel use demand by 2030, starting with no new coal plants.

The Summit further sought commitment from the oil and gas industry to align their strategies and investment portfolios with 1.5°C, with a focus on a 75 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2030. And financing mechanisms for a major scaling-up of clean energy investment in emerging and developing economies.

However, on Monday, December 11, 2023, the draft text of the agreement excluded the words “phase-out” or “phase-down” of fossil fuels, instead only promising to reduce oil and gas, and several countries, including Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, and Japan, said they would not sign what would essentially be “death certificates for many small island states.”

The first-ever global stocktake, released in October 2023 ahead of the Dubai Summit, revealed that the world is not on track to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. It is the first time that a UN climate summit has surveyed progress towards achieving the goals agreed in 2015, following the landmark Paris COP.

The stocktake report is akin to an inventory, as it looked at everything related to where the world stands on climate action and support. It provides a critical turning point. At COP28, UN member states will negotiate their response to the stocktake’s findings, looking at the state of planet Earth, and chart the best course for the survival of both planet and humankind.

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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 2^nd 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.

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Joshua Amponsem, co-director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund, believes trusting those in the frontlines of climate change with agency and decision-making is pivotal for climate justice. Credit: Cecilia Russell/IPS

By Cecilia Russell
DUBAI, Dec 12 2023 (IPS)

During his childhood, Joshua Amponsem spent a lot of time in his dry rural community collecting water from the streams. “It was normal,” the co-director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund says in an interview on the sidelines of COP28. “We didn’t talk about climate change.”

Later, as a student at a university in Ghana, it was his love of the sea—this massive expanse of water he never experienced as a child—that led him to environmental youth activism. He would walk on the beach in awe of the sea but also notice the sand mining, plastic pollution, and mangrove deforestation.

In the classroom, Amponsem had been absorbing a lot of theory about coastal zone management and ecosystem management but saw little application of these concepts outside the university.

“So, for me, this was a dilemma,” he says, commenting to his professor, ‘it seems that we have a lot of solutions. But yet, when I leave, when I look outside, the communities are really struggling, and there are all these issues’.”

The professor told me that it was his “responsibility as a tutor to give us the exposure, the insight, and the knowledge, and it is our role as students to then figure out all what to do with those insights and those pieces of information.”

For Amponsem, this was a turning point. That day, he mobilized a group of students and started the Green Africa Youth Organization.

Amponsem moved from grassroots activism to influencing policymaking in the climate change arena and acknowledges the difficulties.

“It’s difficult because, on one hand, I’m working with a population that needs jobs. They want their start-ups to thrive; they will need access to energy in abundance so they can do the things that they want to do,” he says, and again pointing to a dilemma, there is a need to get people access to energy quickly to break the cycle of poverty, yet sustainably, to not break the planet.

“If you look at the energy sector (you ask), do you go the efficient way in the short term, get people access to energy so they can run their company, their businesses get income, and get out of poverty, or do you go the sustainable route?” he says.

To take the sustainable route, he says he needs to go on the “international stage and really fight the good fight to get the funding that is needed to go to the sustainable route… I see it is trying to find that fine balance to the just transition.”

“For many communities, it is expensive to go the renewable, sustainable route. It’s expensive for some communities to even consider a solar rooftop, even when there are subsidies available. The community also may not benefit from the jobs in installing the systems; a foreign company may come in and install the systems.

“That’s not a just transition.”

Crucial Policy Conversation

“The policy conversation is really around trying to look at the long-term benefits of just transitioning. And how do we do it in a way that we can retain as much as possible benefit to our local communities, which means that it is not enough to just put solar on the roof of houses and have them have access to energy? It is not enough to just say, ‘Oh! We’ve increased our energy mix to 20 percent renewables.

“We need to go the extra mile to ask the question of who is doing those projects and who is being contracted to do this work. Who is being trained to do the maintenance? Who has been trained to really do this on the ground? And have those local people, who have been paid directly to do this, been trained to take this forward and scale it? That is super essential.”

Amponsem admits it’s a hard sell.

“You don’t necessarily have absolute control or the money to make a just transition. You have an agreement with a multilateral bank or development bank that sets conditions for how projects are supposed to roll out.”

On the other hand, as a developing country’s government, you want the money to come in, and you know that it would be better to do the development sustainably, but the money often comes with strings.

“Sometimes you hear the word ‘technical’ and the phrase ‘we need to build technical capacity,’ and they need ‘technical assistance.’ And it ends up just bringing in a bunch of people from somewhere to do the work that, actually, local people could be trained to do.”

“I think, as the youth movement, being able to constantly remind policymakers of the role of equity and justice in developments in the green transition is super important.”

Amponsem says he also works with the Climate Justice Fund. Philanthropic entities also “constantly need reminding on issues of equity and justice when providing support directly to governments.”

It shouldn’t be solely focused on reducing emissions.

“Putting money in the hands of local communities is one of the most powerful things that you can do. It builds trust and confidence and allows local companies to realize that they have the agency to actually drive their own growth. And I think that when that is not done, and when it is external entities coming in, you really disempower communities.”

Cyclone Kenneth hit the Macomia district in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, earlier in 2023. Credit: IPS/OCHA/Saviano Abreu

Weather-Resilient Housing

Amponsem refers back to remarks he made earlier in the conference during the Open Society Foundations-facilitated session on ‘Financing for Resilience: Overcoming Hurdles to Catalyze Regional Action and Locally-led Adaptation and Loss and Damage Finance,’ during which he questioned why weather-resilient housing in the Mozambican coastal region was not yet a reality.

Tropical cyclones have been battering this area with increasing ferocity, including Idai in 2019, which caused a humanitarian crisis in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi and left more than 1,500 people dead, and Cyclone Freddy more recently, which reportedly became the longest-lived tropical cyclone ever observed and made landfall three times.

He spent time interviewing people impacted by the cyclones in 2020, and the interviews were emotional.

“I was in tears. I spoke to teachers who had to take responsibility for the kids in their class. Trying to keep them keeping their energy up while their parents are lost and missing.”

There was one interviewee who built a classroom for the children after Cyclone Idai, and a year later it was destroyed again. Another person built a house, only to have it wrecked by flooding the next year. So, the question, says Amponsem, is: “How do we invest in “preparedness in a way that people do not have to suffer the losses?”

“We can’t stop the cycle (of climate change-induced weather) at the moment, but we can work on the exposure and the vulnerability that are attached to the hazard. But this is not being done!”

There are issues with accessibility—getting access to funding—and when it comes, it doesn’t flow to the grassroots level.

“That is what we try to do with the new Climate Justice Fund: work with micro-funders that can actually help those countries,” he says, explaining that in Mozambique, they’re very excited to work on adaptation projects dealing with building climate-resilient houses. The project is in its early stages, and they are consulting with architects and construction companies to ensure that once built, they can survive the storms.

Preparedness and Prevention

“We need to invest in preparedness and prevention because it does save lives,” he comments, saying that he admires the resilience of people.

“Every single year, the cyclone comes, and yet the community has hope that we can solve this crisis. They have hope that we can do this, and they are working with us to make sure that we really break those barriers of access to funding, access to decision-making spaces, and access to the required infrastructure that will allow them to be able to build the adaptive capacity and resilience towards these.”

Amponsem says he particularly admires the women in Africa.

“I always say that the real hustlers in this world are African women and mothers,” explaining the lengths his mother would go to ensure her family was fed and educated. Yet the funding for them isn’t there. Likewise with minorities and Indigenous people. He speaks about a disconnect in the climate debates and how, when we speak about climate finance, we often speak about climate indicators.

“This is where we have the challenge because we need to realize that we are living in a world where economics or social justice issues and environmental justice issues are just as important.”

Amponsem is clear; he says the climate conversation needs to include those feeling its impact.

“If we cannot trust the frontline communities with agency, with decision-making, and with resources, then I think we’ve gotten it wrong.”

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Excerpt:

On Arborek Island, Indonesia, shrubs and coral blocks are planted to prevent erosion of the beach. Credit: Alain Schroeder/Climate Visuals

By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI, Dec 11 2023 (IPS)

There is an irreparable connection between culture and the seas: loss of land due to rising sea levels and loss of livelihood due to changing fish migration patterns are having a massive impact on coastal communities.

This formed the core of discussions at an event titled Tackling Climate Change for Sustainable Livelihood in Island and Coastal Communities at COP28 in Dubai.

The panel included experts and climate advocates from across the globe, all sharing a common mission: to confront the intricate challenges faced by some of the world’s most vulnerable regions and explore sustainable solutions.

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Ocean Policy Research Institute, the Palau Conservation Society, the National Institute of Oceanography and Marine Sciences of Sri Lanka, the University of Namibia, the Maldives National University, the University of the West Indies, and the Columbian Institute for Marine and Coastal Research were all involved in organizing the event.

Together, they sought not only to dissect existing challenges but also to share successful practices and foster potential partnerships for a sustainable future.

Farhana Haque Rahman, Executive Director, IPS Noram, and Masanori Kobayashi, Senior Research Fellow, Ocean Policy Research at the Institute of Sasakawa Peace Foundation, moderate a panel on the impact of climate change on coastal communities. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

The panel discussion, co-moderated by Farhana Haque Rahman, Executive Director, IPS Noram, and Masanori Kobayashi, Senior Research Fellow, Ocean Policy Research Institute of Sasakawa Peace Foundation, included a rich tapestry of insights with diverse perspectives.

Rahman stressed the need for tailored solutions, emphasizing that the vast challenges faced by coastal communities often remain obscured in the shadows of mainstream international media. She passionately urged for a collective effort to illuminate these issues globally.

Dr Manumatavai Tupou-Roosen, Director General of the Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency, offered a scientific perspective, delving into the predicted impact of climate change on fisheries. She highlighted the dual threat posed in terms of abundance and distribution, stressing that science indicated a potential shift of biomass from exclusive economic zones to high seas, signifying a significant loss for coastal nations.

For countries heavily dependent on oceans, like those in the Pacific, fisheries were not just a source of sustenance but also a lifeline for economic development and government revenue.

An artist and environmental advocate, Uili Lousi, representing the Kingdom of Tonga, infused the discourse with cultural significance. He passionately articulated the inseparable connection between their heritage and the oceans. Lousi drew attention to the existential threat that melting ice caps and the potential migration of tuna due to rising sea temperatures pose.

“Our culture and our heritage are our ocean, and as the Arctic is melting, we are sinking.”

The event showcased voices from the frontlines of climate change impacts—Rondy Ronny, acting chief of Eco Paradise in the Republic of Palau, spoke of how fisheries were not just livelihoods but the very pulse of family well-being.

Climate change was disproportionately impacting livelihoods, particularly those of women, and there was a pressing need for solutions, Amin Abdullah, the warden in charge of marine parks and reserves in Tanzania, said while highlighting the vulnerability of coastal communities in the western Indian Ocean, where 25 percent of the population lives along the coast.

Alvin S Jueseah, chair of the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences at the University of Liberia, provided a stark portrayal of ground reality. He underlined the realness of climate change, with rising sea levels displacing residents, destroying fishing gear, houses, and, tragically, lives.

This had resulted in the necessity of building sea walls and implementing early warning systems to aid those facing climate change-related crises.

Collaboration was needed, Dr Hamady Diop, CEO of DnS Consulting, said, and he warned of the potential for transboundary conflicts arising from climate change, especially in regions where fishing is an industry. The industry was valued at USD 25 billion.

“With 38 coastal countries in Africa depending on fisheries, the implications of sea-level rise and temperature increases were dire,” he said.

The director of the Maldives Specie Research Agency, Ahmad Niyad, shed light on the critical importance of data availability.

Niyad stressed that one cannot manage what one cannot measure. The scarcity of data was a significant challenge faced by their organization, prompting a year-long focus on analyzing the situation and obtaining satellite monitoring data. He highlighted the unique economic reliance of island nations on tourism, an industry intricately linked with climate conditions.

“We island nations are together. We have one ocean, and we have to share it together,” was his message to COP28.

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African researchers want African issues to be front and center as the continent comes to grips with climate change-induced impacts. Credit: COP28/Neville Hopwood

By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 11 2023 (IPS)

African scientists and researchers are concerned that the data shows that the continent is being cornered by the spiraling effects of climate change, that the real impact of climate devastation is yet to unfold, and that the region is on the cusp of more severe and catastrophic consequences.

Given Africa’s high exposure and fragility to extreme and drastic changes in weather patterns, coupled with a low adaptative capacity, fears and concerns are rife that a failure to capture the full devastating picture on the ground could compromise Africa’s negotiating position at COP28 currently underway in Dubai.

In a session titled ‘African Science for the African Position,’ delegates heard about the mismatch between existing data and the needs on the ground and why it is critical to highlight climate change research from the continent.

“The focus of this conversation is really about data needs; the role of science from Africa but also across the global South to feed into the negotiating positions is overlooked. There is a need to improve our data and our social science in a way that provides accurate and comprehensive evidence for decision-making. Across climates—and of course here we are focusing on the UNFCCC—we are starting to look at critical inter-linkages around biodiversity, the ocean, livelihoods, justice, and equity,” said Laura Pereira, associate professor at the Global Change Institute at Wits University in Johannesburg and researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University.

Dr Odirilwe Selomane, from the Department of Agriculture Economics, Extension, and Rural Development at the University of Pretoria, reflected on progress at COP28.

“Some of the issues that stood out are that there is a lack of nature-based solutions for funding on the one hand, and on the other hand, listening to those with nature-based solutions speak about a lack of funding, especially biodiversity financing. This disconnect can be bridged through scientific baselines that show what is happening on the ground to inform decision-making while designing responsive or climate action projects for Africa.”

Further emphasizing the need to “design data collection tools that can accurately capture the continent and all its ecosystems. When we look at the global soil degradation map, for instance, is it reflective of our continent and ecosystems, and how do we then improve these maps so that they give us an accurate reading of our contexts? One of the most effective and efficient approaches is to lean on African-centered science and research to give us the data needed to make decisions that match the needs on the ground.”

An open letter by 50 African scientists to African Heads of State and Government in light of COP28 reads, in part: “African citizens are feeling the heat and experiencing the drought, the instability in food supply and prices, the boiling oceans, and the impact of dwindling forests. The world is on fire, quite literally. Climate floods, cyclones, and wildfire events are becoming less predictable and more intense, destroying lives and displacing tens of thousands as the climate crisis deepens. We are in the midst of a human-made climate crisis, one that will get much more catastrophic if we fail to act.”

Odirilwe Selomane speaks about the disconnect between needs and investments and the urgent need for Africa-centered science to close the gap. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

The letter further spoke about how alarming levels of gas emissions are increasing temperatures on the continent, compounding the multiple challenges facing the continent. Between 1900 and 2000, the continent warmed by 2 °C in some regions. Stressing that Africa’s ten hottest years since records began have all been since 2005.

At the current pace of greenhouse gas emissions, the projected annual mean temperature increase for Africa is approximately 6 °C by the end of the 21st century, the scientists warned. In the coming years, climate heat waves will occur more often, at higher intensities, and last longer as greenhouse gas emissions increase.

Climate change is already multiplying threats to life on the African continent with record-breaking food insecurity and water stress levels. Poor health indicators and economic insecurities are of particular concern.

As the end beckons for the COP28 summit, these scientists are urging African leaders and negotiators to keep their eyes firmly on the African agenda and particularly focus their attentions on key areas: phase out fossil fuels, enforce the polluter’s pay principal, protect and conserve Africa’s biodiversity, and not be distracted by fraudulent carbon markets and biodiversity credit markets.

Against this backdrop, more than USD 186 million of new financing for nature and climate towards forests, mangroves, and the ocean has already been announced during Nature, Land Use, and Ocean Day. This funding builds on the USD 2.5 billion mobilized to protect and restore nature during COP28’s World Climate Action Summit.

For African leaders, this is a step in the right direction. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, said, “The COP28 Presidency, the UAE, has demonstrated real action for nature, one that is backed by significant financial commitments. The journey to 1.5°C, as we all know, is not possible without nature, and this level of action must be expedited to achieve real progress by COP30.”

From a scientific point of view, the move is similarly welcome; reversing nature loss can provide upwards of 30 percent of the mitigation action needed to keep 1.5°C within reach by 2030. Nature has a crucial role to play in reducing climate-related hazards, such as floods and fires currently ravaging poor and vulnerable countries in Africa.

Nature preservation can also provide Africa with the answer to unemployment, as it can contribute a potential USD 10 trillion worth of new business opportunities and provide almost 400 million new jobs.
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Dr Jasdev Singh Rai brings his concepts of reforestation and diversity to COP28. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI, Dec 11 2023 (IPS)

Dr Jasdev Singh Rai, an accomplished ENT doctor who hails from London, is not just attending COP 28; he is representing an organization that brings a unique perspective to the global stage.

Rai is the face of the ‘Sikh Human Rights Group,’ an entity that holds United Nations Special Consultative status. The group, in collaboration with its associate, ‘Nishan-e Sikh Kaar Sewa Khadur Sahib,’ is advocating a pluralistic approach to the environment, rooted in the rich concepts embedded in the Sikh faith.

He sheds light on the fundamental difference in perspective, stating, “Indian civilization always had a lot of concepts, and many of them are within the Sikh faith, and we are promoting them.”

He draws attention to the Sikh belief system, emphasizing that, unlike the prevailing Judeo-Christian approach at the UNFCCC, Sikhs consider themselves one among a million species, not custodians of the world.

The narrative takes a fascinating turn as Rai introduces the visionary behind Nishan-e Sikh Kaar Sewa Khadur Sahib, a Sikh faith leader, Baba Seva Singh. The Baba embarked on a mission to transform the mindset of farmers in India’s Punjab, known for their deep attachment to their land.

Baba Seva Singh, armed with the teachings from holy Sikh scriptures, convinced farmers to see trees not as mere vegetation but as sacred entities. Rai elaborates on the strategy: “Whenever a farmer would go to a Sikh temple, Baba Sewa Singh would hand over to him a tree sapling as a sacred offering.”

Through this ingenious method, Baba Seva Singh managed to cultivate 285 small jungles in Punjab. He didn’t stop there; he approached landowners with vast expanses of unused land, convincing them to contribute to the cause. The project resulted in the creation of 500 forests across 550 villages, a remarkable achievement in reforesting a region where the green cover had drastically dwindled.

Rai, carrying this impactful project to COP 28, aims to showcase alternative approaches to community engagement. He underscores the importance of recognizing the indigenous knowledge that rural communities possess, stating: “There are places in South India where traditional farmers have a far better understanding of climate than science.”

He advocates for the recovery of traditional knowledge systems, especially in a country like India, where ancient civilizations thrived with coexistence at their core.

The outcomes of Baba Seva Singh’s efforts are not just anecdotal; they are scientifically verified. In the reforested areas of Punjab, temperatures have seen a reduction of 1.5 degrees, and carbon emissions have significantly decreased.

“We are bringing in trees from other parts of India that are efficient in absorbing carbon,” Rai says. The project has already witnessed the planting of 130,000 trees across 323 miles, with a target of establishing 550 mini-forests.

This groundbreaking initiative, which started in 1999 as a 20-year plan, successfully reached fruition in 2020.

Rai believes it’s time for COP 28 to embrace a more inclusive and realistic approach, one that doesn’t impose western ideals on diverse nations like India or China. He urges the global community to recognize the coexistence inherent in Indian traditions and advocates for letting people take ownership of climate initiatives.

As Rai attends COP28, he brings not just a story of reforestation but a narrative that challenges the hegemonic norms, offering a model that works with, rather than against, the diverse traditions and cultures that shape our world.

“We have been constantly engrossed in realizing the spiritual realms into practical ones. Our organization earnestly aims to maintain the balance of our mother nature and provide a clean and green environment to future generations. In the coming years, places adorned with enormous plants and trees will emerge as distinguished entities on earth. These places will for sure provide shelter to birds and living creatures and thus create an ideal place for meditation and spiritual enlightenment,” says Rai.

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Five fishers pray for a benevolent sea in Dublar, Bangladesh. Credit: Rodney Dekker/Climate Visuals

By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI, Dec 11 2023 (IPS)

Wealthier nations must deliver the finances so developing countries can adapt—the time for excuses is over, says Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s Special Envoy for Climate Change in the Prime Minister’s Office.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with IPS, Chowdhury said climate change was at the forefront of Bangladesh’s focus, as one in seven people faces displacement due to climate impacts. With this in mind, the country was focused on building resilience and ensuring resources were directed toward the most marginalized.

“The biggest challenge we will have is the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas because it means flooding in the short term and sea level rise in the long term. We will lose about one-third of our agriculture GDP between now and 2050, and we can lose up to 9 percent of our GDP by 2100,” Chowdhury said.

“For us, it is not just one sector of our economy; it is an existential challenge for Bangladesh.”

Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Special Envoy for Climate Change, Prime Minister’s Office Bangladesh, addresses an event on climate change at the Bangladesh Pavilion at COP28 in Dubai. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

Here are edited excerpts from the interview:

IPS: In terms of climate change and the government’s actions, where is Bangladesh?

Chowdhury: Bangladesh is giving most importance to the Global Stocktake because it has two dimensions—one is looking back and the other is looking forward. We all know how bad things are when we look back because we know we are nowhere near where we are supposed to be.

But what do we do with that knowledge? How do we move forward across the board in terms of mitigation, adaptation, funding, loss and damage, and, of course, the global goals? And one of the points we are stressing is the continual interconnectedness between mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage.

The more effective our mitigation in terms of keeping temperatures in check, the more manageable the adaptation becomes, and the more manageable the adaptation becomes, the lesser the burden that we pass on the loss and damage.  And it is meaningless to talk about adaptation without the context of mitigation. Because of the rise in temperature to 1.5°C (the threshold to which world leaders pledged to try to limit global warming), there will be a certain level of adaptation that you can do, but if the temperatures are close to 3°C, as it is now said the temperature is likely to rise to, then all adaptation will become loss and damage because there are limits to adaptation and there are limits to resilience.

IPS: What are your views on the ongoing COP 28?

Chowdhury: We got off to a great start. The fact that the Loss and Damage Fund was agreed upon on the first day. In terms of context, we only had this in the agenda last year and it was approved and within a year, the funds have started coming in.  That was a huge positive. We know that funds are nowhere near what the needs are. But it is a good start and we are hoping that the same spirit will be seen in other challenges such as mitigation, adaptation, funding, etc.

Also, I believe the presidency has tried to be very inclusive. But at the end of the day, it depends on global solidarity. If members of the conference come together, then we will have the deal we need. Let me say that this COP is a hugely important COP because we don’t have the luxury of tradeoffs.  We have to deliver across the board, and mitigation (to keep to the Paris Agreements) of 1.5°C is an absolute must, and if we go beyond that, I think we have lost the game. To what extent we can mitigate will then determine what our adaptation requirements are. The better we manage adaptation, the lesser the burden will be on loss and damage.  It is a litmus test. Bangladesh being at ground zero for climate change impact, this is a hugely important event for us.

IPS: Bangladesh is often termed a ‘victim of climate change’ across the globe. Why is that?

Chowdhury: One in seven people in Bangladesh will face displacement because of climate change, and that adds up to about 13–14 million people. We have a huge food security problem because we are losing agricultural land due to sea level rise.  The biggest challenge we will have is the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas, which means flooding in the short term and sea level rise in the long term. We will lose about one-third of our agriculture GDP between now and 2050, and we can lose up to 9 percent of our GDP by 2100. For us, it is not just one sector of our economy; it is an existential challenge for Bangladesh.

IPS: What do you believe is the responsibility of wealthier nations towards Bangladesh?

Chowdhury: Climate justice is all about wealthier nations. They must deliver the finance so that we can adapt; they must rein in the emissions. They need to act as per science and not have any excuses. It is now or never because the window of action is closing very fast. If we don’t get it right in COP 28, whatever we do in subsequent COPs may well be too little, too late. We have to reduce emissions by 43 percent by 2030. We must reduce emissions by 60 percent by 2035, then we can get to net zero. With that, you also must have tripled the amount of renewable energy and doubled your energy efficiency. So, it has to be a package of responses. It is for the wealthier nations to mitigate, to provide funds for loss and damage as well as for adaptation.

IPS: How responsive do you find these developed nations to the climate crisis?

Chowdhury: Responses must be taken at two levels: one is making pledges, and the other is delivering on pledges. There is no point saying we will do this and then, as in the past, not do it. Pledges are the first step, and therefore everybody has to realize that this is the question of global solidarity.  It is not the question of Bangladesh and the developed world. What is happening in Bangladesh today will also happen in those countries that we call developed. Greenland will become greener again because the ice is going to melt. They will also face sea level rise. So it is not the question of “if,” it is the question of when.

IPS: Bangladesh has advanced warning systems for the climate. Please tell us about it.

Chowdhury: We have what we refer to as an ‘early warning system’ If you look at the cyclone that hit Bangladesh in the early 1970s, up to a million people died because of it. But now, when the cyclone hits Bangladesh, the number of deaths is in single digits. The reason for that is that through an early warning system, we can evacuate people to cyclone shelters. That has saved lives, and Bangladesh is a model for that.

Our honorable Prime Minister has this program where we are building cyclone shelters all around the coast of Bangladesh so that people can be evacuated there. We cannot stop a storm or a hurricane from coming, but we can prepare ourselves so that the loss of lives is minimal, and that is what Bangladesh has achieved. Also, the early warning system is very basic, and it is community-based.

IPS: What is Bangladesh doing about the agrarian crisis?

Chowdhury: Bangladesh has a huge success story in terms of food production. From a deficit nation, we are now a surplus nation, but climate change threatens that.  This is something we look at in terms of food security, so all of the advances and progress that we have made over the years are now at risk because climate change is impacting this sector.

IPS: What is the role of NGOs in terms of tackling climate change and offering support to governments?

Chowdhury: NGOs need to have partnerships with governments where they can take those ideas and scale them up. That is the reason that NGOs need to have a very close relationship with the government. The whole issue is not how much money I have spent; it is what impact I have generated through spending that money.

But the message at the end of the day is that whatever money is spent must be spent on those who are most marginalized. So how do we get funds for the people who are most in need? I think that must be an overriding issue. This is a learning process, and we are all on the learning curve. When we go back to Bangladesh, we need to have a brainstorming session with NGOs and CSOs and find out what is working, how we can make their job easier, and how we can make the collaboration a win-win between various ministries, government departments, and NGOs.
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In Nahoualakaha, Côte d’Ivoire, rice productivity increased with drought-resistant seed. With the endorsement of the Food and Agriculture Declaration by 130 countries at COP28 in Dubai there is the opportunity to address the nexus between agriculture and climate change. Credit: ©IFAD/David Paqui

By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 10 2023 (IPS)

In the absence of sufficient urgency to curb greenhouse gas emissions, it is becoming too hot to farm in Africa. Confronted by extreme, intense, and frequent climate events such as record-breaking prolonged dry spells, current agriculture and farming systems are ill equipped to adapt to or alleviate climate change.

For millions of farmers, the sun’s intensity has increased, and rainfall is far and in between. Unlike their forefathers, when farmers could look at the clouds and smell the air to predict the weather, these time-honored techniques no longer work as the climate has morphed into something unforeseeable. Consequently, food basket regions are being wiped off Africa’s agricultural belts in a growing number of African countries.

Against a backdrop of agricultural and food systems that are losing the battle to climate change, there is now hope for millions of smallholder farmers to put food on the table at home and across the world.  The Food and Agriculture Declaration, which more than 130 world leaders endorsed at COP28 in Dubai, is now the key to breaking the deadlock between food and agriculture systems and climate change.

“For the first time in the history of COP summits, we have a critical declaration that captures the most pressing issues facing the world today. We have agriculture and food on one hand and climate on the other. This presents us with a two-fold solution: to build sustainable agriculture and climate-resilient food systems on the one hand, and to address agriculture’s contribution to overall emissions on the other. Agriculture is responsible for 22 to 27 percent of all global emissions, and food systems contribute one-third, or 33 percent,” says Jyotsna Puri (PhD), Associate Vice President, Strategy and Knowledge Department at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Puri leads IFAD’s strategy work in key areas targeting agriculture, climate, gender, nutrition, youth, and social inclusion, with a focus on rural populations, providing the vision for evidence-informed advice on program designs and implementation.  IFAD is both a UN organization and an International Financial Institution (IFI), and the landmark inaugural agriculture declaration is particularly critical as it aligns with every aspect of IFAD’s work to build food systems that can withstand ongoing climate change shocks.

As an international financial institution, IFAD provides financing through loans, grants, and a debt sustainability mechanism. As a UN organization, IFAD works in remote rural areas where poverty and hunger are at their deepest, so that rural populations are not left behind and are equipped to lift themselves out of poverty.

Jyotsna Puri, Associate Vice President, Strategy and Knowledge Department at IFAD, is pictured at COP28 in Dubai. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

“The Declaration is additionally critical because solutions must be just and equitable. They must be people-centered, taking on board those most burdened by the uncertainties triggered by climate change and the increasing variabilities of climate change. In Africa, for instance, 20 to 80 percent of the overall food and agriculture production would be significantly challenged by climate uncertainties if left unmitigated, extensively affecting crop production and nutrition patterns,” she emphasized.

She therefore called for a laser-focused approach to building stronger local value chains rather than global value chains, for the former has greater potential to transform food systems in line with local challenges and possible solutions.

“Bringing food and agriculture into the climate agenda is significant; 70 percent of the food is produced by smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia, and they are also the most climate-impacted constituencies. There are about 500 million small farms in the world, and this means 80 percent of the world’s farms are family-owned. The declaration is a lifeline, for it presents an opportunity to transform food and agriculture systems in a just, equitable way without leaving anyone behind,” Puri says in an exclusive interview with IPS.

Puri further spoke about the undeniable and intricate nexus between sustainable agriculture and climate-resilient food systems and climate. The effects of increasing global emissions have manifested through low production and increasing hunger, pushing the world off track from the global goal to address hunger and poverty in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

“Weather patterns are now unrecognizable from what your parents and grandparents were taught about what, when, and how to plant. These changes are radical, and we must rethink agriculture so that farmers are equipped to overcome these challenges through technology and digital options that help read the weather more accurately and make timely decisions—looking at the ground to read the weather is no longer practical,” she says.

Puri told IPS that other changes include a shift in how farmers interact with markets as the European Union food imports regulations ban agricultural produce linked to deforestation and forest degradation. Stressing that this presents new opportunities for farmers to shift to indigenous or ancient crops such as cassava that are aligned with climate goals, resilient food systems, and high nutritional value.

“In the Upper Tana River valley, for instance, IFAD realized that the Nairobi River was losing its momentum due to the growth of Eucalyptus trees in the upper regions of the Tana. We work with smallholder farmers and provide compensation—through the Water Fund—for them to transition from eucalyptus to crops that are less water-absorbing and climate-resilient without compromising the economic and nutritional value of these crops to the farmers.”

On whether the landmark Agriculture Declaration will be the silver bullet for Africa’s smallholder farmers, Puri said the magic of the declaration will be in its implementation and the amount of money that will be committed to effecting it. Stressing the importance of financing and investments in agriculture, food systems, and value chains within the context of climate change. Members states must therefore build back better to address fragilities caused by climate change through partnerships with the private sector.

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Sustainable Fashion Show at Al Wasl Dome during the COP28 at Expo City Dubai. Credit: COP28/Walaa Alshaer

By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 10 2023 (IPS)

Thousands of bales of cheap, poor-quality secondhand clothing arrive on boats and ships docking on Africa’s extensive 26,000-kilometer-long coastline, dotted with at least 100 ports and harbors. From Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Uganda, and Kenya, Africa’s ecosystems are chocking with cheap, air-polluting, and emissions-producing low-quality clothing as they often contain plastic-based fibers.

High volumes of very low-grade used clothing commonly known as fagia, Swahili for sweep, as they are often sold to fagia traders in large volumes and for very little money—to cut into tiny pieces and sell as industrial rags and thereafter be used as industrial fuels—significantly cause air pollution and emissions.

The first-ever global stocktake is set to conclude at the ongoing COP28 and is a process for countries and stakeholders to assess progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The world is not on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and the fashion industry has come under heavy criticism. Now some in the sector have expeditiously switched to sustainable fashion.

An estimated 300,000 metric tons of clothing end up in household bins every year, with around 20 percent going to landfills, polluting the environment and creating a health hazard. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Clothes made from sustainable materials were on display at Al Wasl Dome during the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 at Expo City Dubai. Credit: COP28 / Neville Hopwood

“We are a hub for climate-focused solutions derived from nature. We are helping the fashion and textile industry transform into a circular economy by developing and scaling new fibers and yarns that are made from seaweeds,” says Tessa Callaghan, co-founder and CEO of Keel Labs.

“Rather than using and mitigating the systems that we currently have, we are pairing an existing supply chain—in fiber and textile manufacturing—with new raw materials. For us, that is seaweed, which is able to negate the water, land use, and chemical usage that really make the fashion industry so polluting. We work with brands to help them transition to a better, cleaner future.”

Protein Evolution, also represented at COP28, is the U.S.’s first biological recycling company with validated technology and a clear supply-chain roadmap that enables plastic production from waste, not fossil fuels. The result is recycled plastic, which makes a low-carbon, circular plastic economy possible.

A circular economy is anchored on waste management, mitigating pollution by keeping products and materials in use for longer, and regenerating natural systems. In the fashion industry, circular fashion refers to a regenerative approach that ensures that clothing and textiles are designed, produced, and consumed with great consideration for the environment and related ecosystems, minimizing waste, pollution, and the use of natural resources.

UN research indicates that greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43 percent by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C; crossing the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts. To halt the pace and impact of the ongoing climate crisis, it can no longer be business as usual for the fashion industry.

Fast fashion—rapidly producing high volumes of clothing—causes extensive damage to the planet, exploits workers, and harms animals. An estimated 300,000 metric tons of clothing are dumped in household bins annually; approximately 80 percent of it is incinerated, while 20 percent goes to landfills.

The cost of fast fashion to the planet can no longer be ignored. The textile industry is responsible for 10% of all global CO2 emissions, which is more than all international aviation and shipping emissions combined. At the ongoing COP28 Summit, delegates heard from fashion industry players about steps being taken to reverse its negative impact on the climate, environment, and all its ecosystems and health.

“I would like to call what we do fashion farming, actually. We are trying to grow regenerative cotton and turn it into fabulous fabrics for our fashion lines. We have been working on this for the last five years, and we are trying to get farmers in our areas to try and succeed in regenerative agriculture. The idea is to build healthy, resilient, and interconnected ecosystems,” said Muzaffer Kayhan, CEO, SÖKTAŞ Tekstil.

“At SÖKTAŞ, we recognize the value and the inherent resilience of interconnected ecosystems. Through employing centuries-long regenerative practices, we seek to undo the negative environmental effects of industrial agriculture.

“We are the world’s first company to completely use plant-based fur as an alternative to animals, synthetic furs, and all sorts of fluffy materials. We work with fashion brands to provide an alternative to material that is more responsible, sustainable, and nature-derived—an ethical and green solution,” said Roni GamZon, co-founder and chief commercial officer, Biofluff.

New reports are highlighting the urgency of scaling up green solutions as greenhouse gas emissions hit new highs, temperature records tumble, and climate impacts intensify. According to the Emissions Gap Report 2023: Broken Record: Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again) finds that “the world is heading for a temperature rise far above the Paris Agreement goals unless countries deliver more than they have promised.”

The Paris Agreement inspired near-universal climate action and played a central role in catalyzing cooperative action so the world could address the climate crisis. But the global stocktake shows implementation of the Paris Agreement is lacking across all areas and not where it should be.

Governments will take a decision on the global stocktake at COP28, which can be leveraged to accelerate ambition in their next round of climate action plans due in 2025. The stocktake calls for a systems transformation that follows a whole-society and whole-economy approach that mainstreams climate resilience and development aligned with low greenhouse gas emissions, and the fashion industry is expected to scale up green solutions and significantly contribute to the global journey to net zero.

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A mask seller in an Indian food market in Kerala during a recent zoonotic disease outbreak. COP28 is the first climate negotiation where the majority of the countries have agreed to declare their commitment to prevent the worsening health impacts of climate change. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

By Stella Paul
DUBAI, Dec 9 2023 (IPS)

One Health activist, Kelly Dent, has been attending UNFCCC COPs since 2009, when it was held in Copenhagen. From there, it has been a 15-year-long journey to Dubai, but Dent is finally having a reason to feel good: for the first time, the majority of the countries have come together to formally declare their commitment to prevent the worsening health impacts of climate change.

“After 14 years of working for this (inclusion of One Health in the climate change negotiations), it is finally there in the health declaration, so we are very happy. It is mentioned clearly—says what it is and uses the exact term; there is no ambiguity,” says Dent, who is the Global Director of External Engagement at World Animal Protection, one of the 14 organizations that issued a statement of endorsement soon after the health declaration was issued in Dubai on December 3.

The Health Declaration

The three-page document called “COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health” says that the parties will facilitate collaboration on human, animal, environmental, and climate health challenges. Implementing a One Health approach would include addressing environmental determinants of health, stepping up research on the connections between environmental and climatic factors and antimicrobial resistance, and finding zoonotic spillovers early to stop, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics.

While the declaration is not legally binding, it serves as a voluntary call to action outside the formal process of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). So far, 124 countries have signed it.

According to Dent, this health declaration should be viewed alongside the “Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action,” another landmark declaration made at COP28 on December 4. This is also the first-ever leaders’ level declaration on food systems and climate at a COP, and it highlights the unique and crucial role that food systems play in either driving or mitigating climate change—as well as adapting to its impacts.

Put together, the two declarations widen the scope of addressing and tackling environmental, human, and animal health, all of which are interrelated.  “Even a couple of years ago, there was nothing on One Health or climate and health connections in the COPs. And now we have not one but two declarations on this. So, this is definitely a great start,” Dent says.

Nathalie Beasnel, a surgical nurse and health philanthropist from Chad. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

Perspective of a Developing Oil-Producing Country

Nathalie Beasnel is a surgical nurse from Chad, a nation in sub-Saharan Africa with alarmingly high levels of air pollution due to industrial emissions, such as the production of oil and gas.

According to Energy Intelligence – a global energy information company, in the first quarter of 2023, Chad’s crude oil production was 141,700 barrels per day. Of this, the country only uses a marginal portion—slightly over 2 thousand barrels; the rest is used by consumers outside of the country. The total revenue from the oil is estimated to be over USD 1.13 billion.

Ironically, Chad ranks 190 out of 191 countries on the UN Human Development Index which makes it among the poorest countries in the world. 42% of the country’s population lives below the national poverty line.

In addition, air pollution has emerged as one of the biggest health crises in Chad. The current PM2.5 concentration in Chad is 4.9 times higher than the WHO 24-hour air quality guidelines, according to live data gathered by AQI.in, the global air quality monitoring tool.

Beasnel, who provides specific and basic medical supplies to hospitals in the rural areas of Senegal, Chad, and South Africa through her charity Health4Peace, receives dozens of requests every quarter from pregnant women to help them go abroad to give birth in a “clean air environment.”

Beasnel feels that the health declaration has hopes for communities facing health challenges induced by climate change and fossil fuel burning in poorer countries like Chad; they can expect some concrete action and support, especially since the announcement of a total of 1 billion USD in financing for climate and health. The billion-dollar funding comes from an array of existing and new funders, including the Green Climate Fund, Asian Development Bank, Global Fund, and Rockefeller Foundation.

“This is a portal. We know that USD 1 billion has already been raised, specifically by the health sector. Now I want to see where this 1 billion goes. For example, we have sudden floods, droughts, farm failures, and air pollution. However, we now need to see the mechanism of the flow of this fund—whether it is through leadership, whether it is through people, or whether it is through the people who are directly affected,” she says.

Coming up Next: One Health Guidelines From the Quadripartite

Last year in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, four UN agencies (quadripartite)—WHO, UNEP, FAO, and WOAH—collectively drew a Joint Plan of Action (JPA) to advocate for and support the implementation of One Health at all levels and across sectors to tackle interconnected health risks and protect the health of all species.

Since then, the quadripartite has taken several steps to advance the adoption of the One Health approach, which include, among others, a workshop on environmental determinants of health and the One Health Assembly.

At COP28, the quadripartite has developed an implementation guide to provide the countries with step-by-step guidance on how to adopt and adapt the OH JPA at the national level. Scheduled to be launched on December 10, 2023, the guideline is expected to focus on how to adopt a multidisciplinary and inclusive principle. According to Cristina Romanelli, Programme Officer & Biodiversity, Climate and Health Focal Point, World Health Organization, this is one of the most exciting developments that we can expect during the remaining days of COP28.

“Now that we understand what a holistic, multilayered One Health framing means, how does that apply in terms of implementation? So, what will happen on December 10 is the launch of the plan for this implementation,” Romanelli says.

Some Words of Caution

Meanwhile, One Health advocates are urging people to make note of some omissions in the health declaration that could affect its successful adoption and implementation. One of these is factory farming of animals, which significantly raises the chances of trauma and sickness in animals and contributes to at least 11% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

“There is a powerful agriculture lobby that doesn’t allow any changes. We have to challenge this dominant lobby and their business model and expose the harm they are causing. The governments also need to take responsibility, rid away subsidies in industrial agriculture, and support protein diversification,” says Dent.

Dent cites the example of Germany, which, in November, allocated 38 million euros to support the production of alternative (plant-based) proteins.

The German government’s decision follows similar steps taken by the Netherlands, which has already invested 60 million euros to develop an ecosystem for cultivated meat and precision fermentation. Denmark (168 million euros) France (65 million euros) and the UK are other European countries that have announced investing in developing plant-based, alternative proteins.

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Changing the climate means getting everyone involved. Credit: Earth Child Institute

By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI, Dec 9 2023 (IPS)

In the heart of Earth Child Institute’s mission to nurture the future stewards of our planet, the story of Eric Hansel unfolds as a testament to the transformative power of educating children on environmental responsibility. Hailing from Pennsylvania, USA, Hansel’s journey took a poignant turn when his career as a respiratory therapist plunged him into the harsh realities of a trauma unit, witnessing families losing their children to various diseases. It was during these challenging moments that Hansel resolved to be part of a movement that aimed to instill eco-consciousness in the hearts of the young.

Now, at COP 28, representing the Earth Child Institute, Hansel passionately shares the impact of their initiatives. The Earth Child Institute, founded by Donno Godman at the UN two decades ago, boasts observer status at the United Nations. Their unwavering mission is to mold children into climate leaders through educational programs that span 25 countries, 15 of which are in Africa.

The organization employs a hands-on approach, sending trainers to develop curriculum and work closely with teachers in schools. The programs encompass diverse topics such as clean drinking water, sanitation, and the critical role of planting trees in safeguarding coastlines. The trainers remain on-site until the initial implementation, ensuring a seamless transition to the school system. The Earth Child Institute further supports these initiatives through a grant program, providing essential financial aid to sustain and expand the programs.

“The crux of their approach lies in recognizing the unique power children hold in driving change. When educated about environmental issues, children become advocates within their families, spreading awareness and influencing behavioral shifts,” says Hansel, emphasizing the effectiveness of teaching kids about planting trees to protect coastlines, a message that resonates differently with the young compared to adults preoccupied with immediate concerns like putting food on the table.

Eric Hansel represents Earth Child Institute at COP28. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

The organization’s reach extends far beyond urban landscapes, covering hundreds of schools in rural areas across the globe. Their ambition is to collaborate with ministries of education in various countries to streamline program implementation and amplify their impact. Through partnerships with organizations like Brazil’s Global Action Classroom program (GAC), Nigeria’s HACEY, and collaborations with local schools and ministries, Earth Child Institute tailors its approach to the unique needs of each region.

In Brazil, the GAC program facilitates connections among kids and young people to discuss environmental issues, bridging gaps between urban and rural communities. In Nigeria, a collaborative effort between HACEY, local schools, and the Ministry of Environment focuses on water, sanitation, and hygiene education. Ghana sees the Earth Child Institute working in tandem with the Ministry of Education, the Forestry Department, and local institutions to emphasize environmental education and tree planting.

Even in regions like Qatar and the Seychelles, where the challenges may be unique due to their geographical and geopolitical contexts, Earth Child Institute adapts its strategies. In Qatar, youth leaders collaborate with local schools in Doha to identify school teams for participation, while in the Seychelles, partnerships with the Ministry of Environment tackle climate change in an endangered small island state.

“However, the real magic happens when these programs resonate with the children. The lifelong relationships forged with schools and the lasting commitment to sustainability that grows over time. When children comprehend the direct impact of practices like proper handwashing on their health, they become the torchbearers of this knowledge within their families, setting in motion a ripple effect that extends far beyond the classroom. Indeed, the seeds of change are best planted in the fertile hearts and minds of the next generation,” Hansel told IPS.

According to the UNICEF report, the number of children potentially exposed to climate risks and their effects is alarming. Currently, over half a billion children are living in areas with extremely high levels of flood occurrence, and nearly 160 million live in areas of high or extremely high drought severity. Most of them live in some of the world’s poorest countries, with the least capacity to manage these environmental risks.

It adds that overlaying maps of projected temperature changes with projected child population data indicates that, under a business-as-usual scenario, by 2050, 1.45 billion children are projected to live in zones where the maximum average surface temperature will change by greater than 2ºC.

Under a moderately ambitious action scenario, this number is projected to drop to around 750 million children. Under a highly ambitious action scenario, the number would drop to 150 million children.

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ECW's Executive Director, Yasmine Sherif, addressed delegates over the urgent need to fast-track solutions for crisis-impacted children during the RewirEd Summit plenary session. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 9 2023 (IPS)

It is a global catastrophe of astounding proportions that millions of children are on the run today, forcibly displaced from their homes. As conflict and climate change increasingly become the most pressing challenges facing the world now, the number of displaced children has doubled in the last decade alone, reaching a record high of 43.3 million children.

Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), says that conflict- and climate-change-affected children are the least likely to enroll in or stay in school and are therefore the furthest left behind when it comes to fulfilling their basic human right to quality education. Many of these children are in the poorest and most vulnerable nations. ECW is the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

Stressing that the needs are enormous and responses must be immediate before the unfolding education crisis becomes irreversible, Sherif emphasized the need to build climate-resilient education systems as an adaptation measure, including climate change-proof education infrastructure that will ensure learning continuity.

“More than 62 million children—nearly one-third of the 224 million crisis-affected children worldwide in need of educational support—are also affected by grave climate-induced disasters. We have issued an urgent appeal for US$150 million in new funding to respond to the climate crisis. We must act now with speed, for in the face of human suffering and the destruction of our planet, patience is not a virtue,” she said.

Awut Deng Acuil, South Sudan’s Minister of General Education and Instruction, brought the situation there more into focus during an ECW side event on the designated day for education. It was the first time in the history of the COP Summits to have an entire day dedicated to the education agenda, reflecting the strong interconnection between the climate crisis and the global education crisis.

An estimated 70 percent of school-aged South Sudanese children have never set foot in a classroom, and only 10 percent of those who enroll complete primary education. This is one of the worst completion rates globally. As South Sudan faced multiple challenges over many years, a girl in South Sudan is more likely to die in childbirth than to complete primary education.

“There are parts of South Sudan that are completely flooded. I have never seen water that comes and never recedes. You hardly see any land. A week ago, I visited Unity State to assess the impact of climate shocks, and I saw many displaced families. At least 40 percent of schools are flooded and have remained closed since 2021. Before the pandemic, we had 2.3 million children in school; today, we have 2.1 million children out of school. For those still in school, the ratio is 120 students per teacher,” she said.

“To get to school in these areas, children and teachers walk along dikes—barriers built to hold back water—and despite the risks, they are running out of options. Some of the schools are inaccessible for rehabilitation. For those that can be rehabilitated, we use boats to transport rehabilitation material.”

But as the country was picking up its pieces through a peace agreement that has provided stability and normalcy, climate-induced disasters have exacerbated barriers between children and education, rolling back time by derailing access to education.

Sherif said ECW and South Sudan’s education ministry will not recoil from the imposing challenges and have a strong partnership to push the education agenda forward, appealing for additional donors to meet a funding gap of USD 25 million to fully implement the ECW-supported Multi-Year Resilience Programme in the country. She added that the needs are increasing as the conflict in Sudan pushes children out of their homes and into South Sudan.

“Since 2020, we have supported partners in improving access to quality, inclusive education for children and adolescents and increasing retention rates in South Sudan. ECW’s funding focuses on the most vulnerable ones, including girls, internally displaced children, and children with disabilities. Interventions range from covering school fees, reaching students remotely, training education personnel, and implementing child protection pathways in schools. This holistic education must be urgently scaled up to reach all crisis-impacted children,” Sherif emphasized.

Ole Thonke, Undersecretary for Development Policy, Government of Denmark, reiterated Denmark’s commitment to resolve the climate, conflict, and education crises, as they are all different sides of the same coin. The country has announced a new additional USD 6 million pledge to ECW to support the delivery of quality education to vulnerable children and youth at the forefront of the interconnected crises of climate change and conflict, with a particular focus on girls and adolescent girls.

In pastoral communities such as Kenya and the larger Horn of Africa belt, girls are particularly at risk. As the climate crisis threatens to paralyze pastoral economies, families who have lost their livestock are increasingly marrying off their young girls. Current education systems are not equipped to handle the spiraling effects of the climate crisis. In fact, delegates heard that education systems as they are currently structured can only harness 35 percent of the value, talent, and potential nestled within each child—the gift of undiscovered human brilliance.

The side event was held within the context of the RewirEd Summit, which focuses on rewiring learning for green skills, green jobs, and the green economy and ensuring that acquired skills match the needs of current markets and the world’s most pressing needs.

“Since the first RewirEd Summit, we have worked very hard to follow through on the commitment we made to elevate the role of education as the most powerful and valuable opportunity for human development. We needed to bring education to the heart of all these challenges and leverage its potential to offer solutions. We are here because of one of the greatest challenges of our time: if we do nothing about climate change, it will affect the entire future of our planet,” said Dr Tariq Al Gurg, CEO and Vice Chairman of Dubai Cares.

Dubai Cares hosted the second RewirEd Summit to encourage dialogue and action to put education at the forefront of the climate agenda. The one-day summit brought together ministers, high-profile speakers, and panelists from UN agencies, climate actors, international NGOs, academia, marginalized communities, indigenous populations, teachers, and youth, as well as representatives from the public and private sectors from around the world.

“It cannot be business as usual; as long as we keep education confined within outdated, unambitious, and broken systems, we will continue to be in a vicious cycle where for every step forward we take, another pandemic, climate disaster, or conflict will set us back again, if not even further away from our goals to help people as well as the planet. The only way forward is to recognize that the pathway to meaningful progress towards 2030 and beyond must be through positioning education at the core of every single Sustainable Development Goal,” said Reem Al Hashemi, UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation.

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The so-called "Green Zone" at COP28, which brings together pavilions of non-governmental organizations and companies that are not officially accredited by the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, features a clean energy area showcasing progress made on the ground, at the climate summit in Dubai. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

By Emilio Godoy
DUBAI, Dec 8 2023 (IPS)

One of the world’s largest solar power plants, the Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum Park, captures solar rays in the south of this United Arab Emirates city, with an installed capacity of 1,527 megawatts (Mw) to supply electricity to some 300,000 homes in the Arab nation’s economic capital.

However, it is difficult to find solar panels on the many buildings that populate this city of nearly three million inhabitants, host to the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – an unlikely venue for a climate summit at a site built on oil industry wealth and at the same time highly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis."Financing is the number one priority. The transition must be fully funded, with access to affordable long-term funds. Technology transfer is vital. Renewables are the most recognized and affordable solution for climate mitigation and adaptation." -- Rana Adib

But it is not unusual considering that this Gulf country, made up of seven emirates, is one of the world’s largest producers of oil and gas, which it is trying to compensate for by hosting the annual climate summit, which began on Nov. 30 and is due to conclude on Tuesday, Dec. 12, with the Dubai Declaration.

That is why the Dec. 2 launch of the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge, endorsed by 123 countries and consisting of tripling by 2030 the alternative installed capacity to 11 terawatts (11 trillion watts) and doubling the energy efficiency rate to four percent per year, along with other announcements, comes as a surprise in a scenario designed by and for crude oil.

Governments, international organizations and companies have already pledged five billion dollars for the development of renewable energy in the coming years at the Expo City Dubiai, the summit venue.

For Latin America, a region that has made progress in the transition to alternative energy, although with varying levels of success depending on the country, these voluntary goals involve financial, regulatory, social and technological challenges to make real progress in that direction.

Peri Días, communications manager for Latin America of the non-governmental organization 350.org, said the existence of a declaration on renewables at COP28 is essential for the phasing out of fossil fuels, the burning of which is the main cause of global warming.

“It is fundamental that the energy transition be fair, include affected communities and the most vulnerable. We have to ask ourselves why generate more electricity and for whom. What we see today is a complementary growth that does not replace fossil fuels, it is not what we need,” the activist told IPS in the summit’s Green Zone, which hosts civil society in its various expressions.

The Jebel Ali power plant, the world’s largest gas-fired power plant, includes a seawater desalination plant to supply water to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The plant is visible on the outskirts of the city, where the climate summit is being held in the Expo City this December. A reminder that renewable energy is still far from replacing fossil fuels, the main cause of global warming. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

In the Latin American region, Brazil has emerged as the undisputed leader, developing an installed capacity of 196,379 MW, 53 percent of which comes from hydroelectric plants, 13 percent from wind energy and 5 percent from solar power.

In Chile, solar energy contributes 24 percent of energy, wind 13 percent and hydroelectric 21 percent, although thermoelectric plants still account for 36.9 percent.

Despite the lag since 2018 due to the current government’s outright support for hydrocarbons, which has halted the transition to low-carbon energy sources, Mexico is next in line, with 7000 Mw of solar power capacity and 7312 Mw of wind power, although its energy mix still depends 70 percent on fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, in Argentina, 73 percent of renewable energy comes from wind, 15 percent from the sun, 6 percent from bioenergy and 5 percent from mini-hydroelectric plants.

The Climatescope 2023 report, produced by the private consulting firm BloombergNEF, found that Brazil, Chile and Colombia are the most attractive countries in the region for investment in renewables, while Mexico is one of the least attractive.

Limitations

While it is true that most Latin American nations have set renewable generation targets, they also face hurdles to reaching them. Around the world, this segment suffers from high interest rates for financing, a bottleneck in the manufacture of wind turbines that affects producers, and slow delivery of environmental permits.

Ricardo Baitelo, project manager of the non-governmental Brazilian Institute of Energy and Environment, said the maintenance of policies plays a central role in the evolution of renewables, which require higher generation speed, integration in the electric grid and the reduction of energy losses by moving them from one point to another.

“In recent years, Brazil has intensified the regimentation of renewables, expansion has been steady, but planning is important. And it is necessary to improve processes and build infrastructure, which costs more money,” he told IPS.

The deployment of renewable energies involves concerns about respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and communities, water use, deforestation risks and the impacts of mining for elements such as copper, tin, cobalt, graphite and lithium.

Several reports warn of both the demand for these materials and the consequences.

An electric vehicle recharges at a hotel in northeast Dubai, the second largest city in the United Arab Emirates and host of COP28. In this city built on oil wealth, the Dubai climate summit includes messages of promotion and commitment to renewable energies. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy / IPS

The demand for copper and nickel would grow by two to three times to meet the needs of electric vehicles and clean electricity grids by 2050. The extraction of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, could rise by 500 percent by 2050 to meet the requirements of energy technologies, according to the World Bank Group.

Chile and Mexico produce copper; Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, lithium; and Brazil, iron – all of which are necessary for the energy transition, which is not innocuous because it leaves environmental legacies, such as mining waste or water use and pollution.

In this regard, Rana Adib, executive secretary of the non-governmental Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), said the evolution of renewables depends on the conditions of each nation.

The declaration “must clearly include routes for implementation and for a just and equitable transition. Financing is the number one priority. The transition must be fully funded, with access to affordable long-term funds. Technology transfer is vital. Renewables are the most recognized and affordable solution for climate mitigation and adaptation,” she told IPS.

The Dubai commitment implies a greater effort than Latin American countries had in mind.

By 2031, renewables are to account for 48 percent of primary energy and 84 percent of electricity generation, which means wind and solar would double in Brazil.

Argentina, meanwhile, plans to add 2,600 gigawatts (Gw) of renewables by 2030 and Chile has set targets of 25 percent renewable generation by 2025, 80 percent by 2035 and 100 percent by 2050.

Under its 2015 Energy Transition Law, Mexico is to generate 35 percent clean energy by 2024 and 43 percent by 2030, although these goals are in doubt due to stagnant supply of renewables.

Jorge Villarreal, climate policy director of the non-governmental Mexico Climate Initiative, said Dubai’s commitment is feasible, but argued that there must be a radical change in the country’s energy policy.

“It is not oriented towards renewables. On the contrary, we have invested in gas. Permits (for renewable plants) are at a standstill. Mexico has the potential to expand the penetration of renewables. That is where new investment in energy should be directed,” he told IPS.

Mexico committed at COP27, held in Egypt a year ago, to add 30 Gw of renewable energy and hydropower by 2030, although there is still no clear pathway towards that goal.

While governments, NGOs and academia make their calculations, it is not yet certain that the commitment made on day 2 at Expo City Dubai will translate into a clear message in the final COP28 declaration.

Traders take cattle to market in winter rain along the road to Woliso, Ethiopia. Credit: Apollo Habtamu

By Huyam Salih and Appolinaire Djikeng
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 8 2023 (IPS)

Africa is contending with a climate crisis it did not create without sufficient recognition for the unique rights and needs of the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. Not only is the continent least responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, having historically produced just a tiny fraction, but it is also disproportionately impacted by the consequences of emissions generated elsewhere.

And when climate disasters such as cyclones in Mozambique and Malawi, or droughts in the Horn of Africa strike, the subsequent humanitarian response diverts vital funds that could have otherwise supported public health, education and food security.

Such extreme events take an enormous toll on Africa’s primary industries, including crop and animal agriculture, with the livestock sector alone losing $2 billion from the ongoing drought.

It would therefore be preposterous to hold any of these sectors directly to account for curbing climate change – let alone one that provides food and livelihoods for hundreds of millions amidst growing climate risks.

Yet this is precisely the scenario that unfolds when the global climate debate around the role of livestock results in calls for blanket reductions of herd numbers and wholesale dietary shifts away from meat.

Broad campaigns for a transition away from animal agriculture and towards plant-based diets without qualifying regional differences overlook the severe levels of undernutrition in parts of the world caused by inadequate intake of animal-source foods. This risks creating the impression that Africans, who consume as little as seven kilograms of meat a year, must give up vital yet underconsumed sources of protein and micronutrients to mitigate emissions mostly generated elsewhere.

It is critical that regional and even national distinctions are made when making the case for dietary and production changes. Meat consumption and production practices vary enormously around the world. Where meat is over-consumed and produced unsustainably, we recognise this needs to change – not only to bring down emissions but to improve health standards.

But applying this argument globally misses the livestock sector’s outsized and fundamental role in the development of low-income countries, including those across Africa. And this blind spot is made all the more unjust by the fact that those in the Global North have both driven up global emissions and failed to meet commitments to Africa for climate-related development finance.

Livestock keeping offers African countries a gateway to the food security and economic growth enjoyed elsewhere while also enabling the climate adaptation made necessary largely by the actions of others. Investing more climate funding to support Africans farmers and animals adapt to new extremes is an enormous opportunity for a climate-resilient economy. And it is also a matter of climate justice.

Unlike many other parts of the world, Africa is facing exponentially more mouths to feed in the decades ahead just as climate change makes farming harder and riskier than ever.

By 2050, a quarter of the global population will be African, while the region already suffers from the highest prevalence of hunger and malnutrition in the world. From 2021 to 2022, an additional 11 million Africans faced hunger, with 57 million more slipping into food insecurity since the Covid-19 outbreak began.

For many Africans, meat, milk and eggs are a precious and infrequent addition to our diets, providing a dense supply of nutrients and energy that are not as readily available from other foods or supplements.

Africa’s rising population is also an increasingly youthful population, and the majority of young people in sub-Saharan Africa already work in agriculture and in rural areas. Livestock will remain fundamental to Africa’s economic development, contributing up to 80 per cent of agricultural GDP.

As the sector adapts to new demands and circumstances, it also has the opportunity to develop differently to the livestock sector in industrialised countries. At present, half of Africa’s meat and milk is produced by pastoralists, whose animals roam and graze, providing valuable services for natural ecosystems and biodiversity.

However, changes in drought cycles are resulting in shortages of animal feed and fodder, which leads to food and economic insecurity, instability and even conflict among rural communities.

Solutions already exist in Africa that allow rural communities to continue to benefit from raising livestock in spite of climate extremes. These include more climate resilient indigenous cattle breeds and varieties of livestock forages, better climate information services, training and services for farmers and more sophisticated infrastructure and markets. Moreover, these innovations also help to make African livestock systems more efficient, meaning less loss and waste, and lower levels of emissions.

But the continent urgently needs more climate finance to help the entire livestock sector access these new developments. Africa needs to be able to realise the full potential of its livestock sector as a driver for development, and this has been recognised by the African Union in its Agenda 2063 as well as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the Livestock Development Strategy for Africa (LiDeSA).

For the most part, the continent does not contend with the same overconsumption, industrialisation and carbon footprints that drive the agenda in the Global North. Because of this, the opportunities that livestock present for Africa should be fully recognised – and fully funded.

Dr. Huyam Salih, Director of African Union – Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)
Professor Appolinaire Djikeng, Director General, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

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Activists Digo Bikas Institute at COP28 demand reparations rather than loans for loss and damage. Experts believe while the agreements on Loss and Damage Fund on the first day of the conference there is a long road ahead. Credit: COP28/Mahmoud Khaled

By Alison Kentish
DUBAI & DOMINICA, Dec 8 2023 (IPS)

An award-winning international development expert and a climate justice expert have called for a rethink of the global financial system that would bring reparatory justice to small, climate-vulnerable nations while offering concessionary development financing to the countries most in need of assistance.

Hannah Ryder, the Chief Executive Officer of international development consultancy Development Reimagined, and Yamide Dagnet, Director of Climate Justice at the Open Society Foundations, for a side event on the margins of the Dubai Climate Talks on December 7.

The discussion was part of Climate+, a conversation series organised by independent news organisation Devex, and presented a frank analysis of progress towards climate justice, the current state of the global financial system, and why the two issues are inseparable.

“We have been in the multilateral and climate finance space where we have been beating around the bush on a range of issues, and that has delivered the outcomes that we are talking about today. It has exacerbated inequalities even if there’s good intention behind it,” Ryder, a trained economist, said.

“Simple example. You are a low-income country, expecting to become a middle-income country. When you apply for World Bank financing, as soon as you get past that threshold, you suddenly have to pay more interest. You don’t have any incentive to declare that you are middle-income. It is a very odd situation. You can understand why that was logical in the past, but if you are designing it for today’s problems, that is a system that doesn’t work.”

Ryder says there are many middle-income countries with an urgent, unmet need for concessional financing.

“My country, Kenya, is just about middle-income; we have to work really hard to get USD 300 million for one project, but we need at least (USD) 4 billion a year to reach the development goals that give every citizen access to proper education and health.”

Dagnet says the most vulnerable countries, those least responsible for but disproportionately impacted by climate change, have recognised that their demands for climate justice and financial reform are more impactful in unison.

“We are here at COP, and the reason why COP matters is because the multilateral forum is really where vulnerable nations have a seat at the table, and they do that by coming together. We are invested in empowering such a coalition. One of them is the V20, a group of finance ministers that started with 20 countries and is now at 68, representing 1.5 billion of the world population. They have been pushing the boundaries and moving the discussion on financing because of that empowerment.”

A former climate negotiator, Dagnet, says the OSF has been supporting decision-makers from vulnerable countries to attend financing events and assisting in areas like understanding communication, capacity-building, and analysis for developing solutions.

“Eight years after the Paris Agreement, we need to objectively say: ‘This is where we are, but this is not where we need to be, and this is what we need to do to get there,” she said.

The development aid and climate justice experts say the landmark announcement of the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund on Day One of COP28 is a long-fought victory, but agree that there is a long road ahead.

“It’s an obvious win so early on in the climate talks,” said Ryder. “I was one of those people who worked on that USD 100 billion commitment, which was a great win in 2009/2010, and it was an innovation, but that hasn’t delivered. Since we’ve had that experiment, let’s learn from it. What we need are financial mechanisms that are predictable and are not linked to immediate or random government decisions on issues like financial transaction taxes. That’s what the work should be over the next year.”

Dagnet says a lot of questions remain.

“There is going to be a lot of discussion next year to ensure sources of funding and how systematic it will be. What will be the role of insurance companies? The polluter space principle? How are we going to make sure that windfall profits by those who are responsible for where we are, like fossil fuel companies and other intensive sectors like aviation and maritime (contribute to climate change funding)? Who is to ensure it goes to where it is needed? Transparency and accountability will also matter,” she said.

So far, pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund total over USD 400 million.

The United Nations estimates that USD 387 billion will be needed annually until 2030 to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

“At this point, we are in a mature enough world, and we are trying to look after our children and future. Let’s take responsibility. Let’s call it reparations. Let’s call it loss and damage. Let’s work with countries that need to build the capacity to speak to their domestic audiences on how to explain what reparations are. If we keep on beating around the bush, we’re not going to make much progress,” says Ryder.

For Dagnet, the goal is a financial system that acknowledges and addresses the burden placed on vulnerable countries and provides concessionary assistance to the countries that need it most.

“Call it global solidarity. Call it due reparations and debt. What matters is that we cannot hide. We need to face the fact that we need to mobilize and address historical missteps,” she says.

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has been on a global crusade to restructure the global financial architecture through the Bridgetown Initiative. Named after Barbados’ capital, it calls for an overhaul of development finance that would address issues like inequality and help climate-vulnerable nations build resilience and respond to climate change.

Many argue that it is a reform over 80 years in the making and that it is inextricably linked to justice for the world’s most vulnerable countries.

Economists like Ryder say the current system is just not designed to give the kind of scale to redistribute finance and ensure that money goes to the places where it’s necessary.

“We need to think of the global financial system not as it is but also as what it could be if designed from scratch. That is the benchmark.
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Climate-induced disasters continue to have severe economic and social impacts on vulnerable countries in Africa. The Loss and Damage Fund is expected to boost recovery efforts. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 8 2023 (IPS)

A record-breaking drought is unfolding in the Horn of Africa, where millions of people are trapped in the world’s worst acute food insecurity emergency. Food insecurity and malnutrition in West and Central Africa are on track to reach a 10-year high as coastal countries edge even closer to the debilitating effects of climate change.

“Growing up in Mombasa, Kenya, we could not imagine a time when catching fish for food in the big Indian Ocean would be a problem. But the destruction of mangroves has destroyed the fish industry. Fish hide in the roots of the mangroves to breed. The country used to have at least two major food baskets—in the Central and Rift Valley regions—but today, Kenya is queuing for food relief,” Moses Murina, a smallholder farmer in Burnt Forest town, Kenya, told IPS during the COP28 Summit.

“We are hearing of mothers boiling what we call male arrowroots, a crop that looks like an arrowroot but is really not food because it cannot be boiled or eaten, for it remains hard no matter how long you boil it in hot water. Others are boiling stones to trick their small children into thinking food is cooking on the fireplace and give desperate mothers some relief from hungry, crying children. How unfortunate that this is happening today when we have the best brains and strongest arms to put food on the table.”

COP28 has mobilized over USD83 billion in the first five days, setting the pace for a new era in climate action. The ground-breaking first ever declarations on food systems transformation are particularly crucial for Africa’s peasant farmers—134 world leaders signed up to the landmark agriculture, food, and climate action declaration, with an overall 140 countries endorsing it.

The ‘COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action’ is expected to be a lifeline for millions of smallholder farmers on the African continent, putting food on the table for households around the world.

COP28 funding as of December 7, 2023. Source: COP28; Credit: Joyce Chimbi and Cecilia Russell/IPS

All 134 signatory countries to the declaration are home to over 5.7 billion people and almost 500 million farmers, produce 70 percent of the food eaten globally, and are responsible for 76 percent of all emissions from global food systems, or 25 percent of total emissions globally.

“The Declaration addresses both global emissions and protecting the lives and livelihoods of farmers who live on the frontlines of climate change. There is no path to achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and keeping 1.5C within reach that does not urgently address the interactions between food systems, agriculture, and climate,” said Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment and COP28 Food Systems Lead.

But this is not the only big win for Africa. The Loss and Damage Fund issue was expeditiously addressed on day one of COP28; a historic agreement was reached to operationalize and capitalize funding for Loss and Damage, supporting those on the front lines of the climate crisis with USD 726 million already pledged to date.

African and global institutions, together with the governments of Germany, France, and Japan and philanthropies, have already pledged over USD 175 million to the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA). The landmark initial pledge will help to rapidly scale up financing for transformative climate-aligned infrastructure projects across the continent.

The new pledges will also advance AGIA towards the USD 500 million needed for early-stage project preparation and development blended capital—USD 40 million of the capital was provided by the African Development Bank.

Importantly, the African Development Bank Group has presented its planned USD1 billion facility to provide insurance to more than 40 million farmers across the continent against the severe impacts of climate change. An estimated 97 percent of farmers in Africa do not have agricultural insurance, as their best bet is to plant and pray.

The IFAD report shows there are an estimated 33 million smallholder farms in Africa, and the farmers that live on them contribute up to 70 percent of the food supply. In sub-Saharan Africa, growth from agriculture can be as much as 11 times more effective at reducing extreme poverty than any other sector.

The United Nations has designated 46 economies as Least Developed Countries (LDCs), entitling them to preferential market access, aid, special technical assistance, and capacity-building on technology, among other concessions. A majority, 33 of the 46 countries, are in Africa. The USD 129.3 million announced toward the Least Developed Countries Fund is expected to be life-transforming for affected African countries.

Gender, women, and climate issues are high on the COP agenda this year, with an entire day dedicated to unpacking gender and climate-related relations and other related socio-economic pressing problems such as conflict. There is progress for African women as USD 2.8 million in new money goes to gender, USD 30 million to clean cooking, USD 1.2 billion to relief, recovery, and peace, and USD $467 million to local climate action.

It is expected that this time round will be different and that these deals and pledges will help in strengthening Africa’s food systems, building resilience to climate change, reducing global emissions and therefore reducing climate-induced disasters in Africa, boosting women’s empowerment, and improving health and livelihoods in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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Faith leaders gather at COP28 to add a spiritual dimension to resolving issues related to climate change. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI , Dec 7 2023 (IPS)

For the first time at COP28, faith has a pavilion alongside science, technology, nations, and philanthropy, allowing religious leaders from all over the world to discuss the potential for using spiritual merits to protect the earth from climate change.

Syed Salman Chishty, representing India’s largest spiritual shrine, Ajmer Sharief, gave IPS the rationale for the pavilion: “As we gather at COP28, we are reminded of the importance of justice and compassion as guiding principles for transformation—this is the overarching theme of the event—the need for genuine change rooted in universal values found in diverse cultures.”

The Ajmer Sharief shrine is the tomb of Moinuddin Chishti, a 13th-century Iranian Sufi saint and philosopher who made India his final abode. People of all faiths venerate his shrine, which is often described as a symbol of India’s pluralism.

The Faith Pavilion at COP28 has also brought together heads of countries, religious leaders, scientists, and activists in a united front against the looming threat of climate change. Among the dignitaries present at its opening was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with spiritual luminaries, climate activists, and representatives of global think tanks.

The Coalition of Faith Partners and the USA both supported the initiative, which has co-hosts like the UAE’s Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence, Judge Mohamed AbdlSalaam of the Muslim Council of Elders in Abu Dhabi, and Iyad Abumoghil, Director of Faith for Earth at the UN Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi.

The Faith Pavilion at COP28 aims to tap into the power of faith communities and religious institutions to address the climate crisis. A diverse array of leaders congregated to explore the potential of spirituality in combating environmental challenges. The discussions were not merely about policies and technologies; rather, they delved into the profound realms of justice, compassion, and conscious transformation.

The Call to Consciousness event panel featured international delegates such as Audrey Kitagawa, founder and President of the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation in the USA; Ben Bowler, Executive Director of Unity Earth in Australia; Ambassador Mussie Hailu of the United Religious Initiative in Ethiopia; Surender Singh Kandhari, chair of Gurudwara Gurunanak Darbar in Dubai; and Rocky Dawuni, a musician and Global Peace Ambassador of UNEP from Ghana.

The leaders at the Faith Pavilion, says Chishty, emphasized the cultivation of three attitudes towards nature: sunlight-like grace, river-like generosity, and earth-like hospitality. These attitudes, they argued, could serve as a blueprint for individuals to integrate into their daily lives. By doing so, they believed that these principles could bridge differences and divisions in the collective service of others.

“The call for unity in diversity echoed through the discussions, inspired by the teachings of our saint, Khwaja Garib Nawaz, also known as the patron saint of the poor. It was a celebration of the interconnectedness of humanity and nature, urging everyone to look beyond borders and backgrounds in the pursuit of a shared goal: combating climate change,” Chishty said.

He added that the Faith Pavilion at COP28 became a platform not only for dialogue but also for the formulation of actionable strategies.

“The leaders recognized the urgency of the situation and committed to translating the discussions into tangible initiatives. The combination of spiritual wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the collective will of diverse faith communities generated a sense of hope and purpose,” Chishty.

According to him, the event marked a departure from conventional approaches to climate change discussions.

“It acknowledged that addressing the environmental crisis requires more than technological advancements and policy changes; it necessitates a profound shift in consciousness and values. The Faith Pavilion was a testament to the understanding that faith, when aligned with a shared vision, has the potential to drive transformative change on a global scale,” Chisty said.

According to him, once the deliberations in the Faith Pavilion were concluded, the participants left with a renewed sense of purpose and a shared commitment to take concrete actions in the fight against climate change.

“The fusion of faith, science, and activism paved the way for a new chapter in the global response to environmental challenges—a chapter written with the ink of unity, compassion, and a deep reverence for the interconnectedness of all life on Earth,” Chishty concluded.

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Three programmes were announced at COP28 including a greening and forest partnership. This picture shows an example of landscaping for urban spaces and high-rises in Singapore.

By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI, Dec 6 2023 (IPS)

In the spirit of global cooperation and environmental commitment, COP 28 launched a groundbreaking initiative aimed at transforming the building and construction sectors. Titled ‘Buildings and Construction for Sustainable Cities: New Key Partnerships for Decarbonization, Adaptation, and Resilience,’ the initiative marks a turning point in addressing the environmental challenges posed by the construction industry.

Three major frameworks were announced at the launch: Buildings Breakthrough, Cement Breakthrough, and the Forest and Climate Leader’s Partnership’s Greening Construction with Sustainable Wood initiative. These frameworks seek to catalyze collaboration between governments and stakeholders, providing a comprehensive solution for mitigating climate change, adapting to its impacts, and building resilience in the sector.

The sector accounts for nearly 40% of global energy-related CO2 emissions and 50% of extracted materials, which highlights the urgency of the initiative. Additionally, the sector generated one-third of global waste, highlighting the critical need for coordinated efforts to guide its transformation.

The global leaders and representatives, during the event, highlighted the urgency of the building and construction sector’s transformation. Their shared commitment to sustainability, resilience, and decarbonization set the stage for a new era of international collaboration, offering hope for a future where cities are built with a conscious effort to mitigate climate change and adapt to its inevitable challenges. The success of this initiative hinges on the continued dedication of nations, organizations, and communities to work together toward a sustainable and resilient future for all.

The COP28 panel at the launch of the ‘Buildings and Construction for Sustainable Cities, New Key Partnerships for Decarbonization, Adaptation, and Resilience’ commitment. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

Maimunah binti Mohd Sharif, the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, emphasized the sector’s role in greenhouse gas emissions and stressed the importance of accelerating the transition to more sustainable practices.

“The way we build our cities now will determine future emissions. Housing and buildings are also at the core of resilience. We need to accelerate the transition to regenerate the material. We need to ensure that the sector is decarbonized along with a lifecycle and increasingly resilient to natural disasters,” she said.

Stafen Wanzel, Deputy Director General of International Climate Action at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action for Germany, echoed the sentiments, focusing on the pivotal role of cement and steel in achieving net-zero and resilient buildings. “Germany pledged 20 million euros for an international climate initiative to fund advancements in building materials, showcasing their commitment to holistic approaches that consider the energy, environment, and climate nexus,” she said.

Ditte Juul-Jorgensen, Director General of the ENER European Commission, reinforced the need for action to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. She highlighted the potential to design and construct buildings more efficiently, using greener materials, and improving energy efficiency. This, she argued, aligned with the global commitment to triple renewables and double energy efficiency, essential for staying on track with the Paris Agreement’s targets.

“Today’s initiative is a necessary contribution to our work to mitigate climate change and to mitigate emissions, and it is completely aligned with the global pledge for tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency. To respect our 1.5 degrees as agreed in Paris, this initiative is really part of it,” she said.

Abdel Khalek Ibrahim, the Assistant Minister for Technical Affairs at the Ministry of Housing Utilities in Egypt, emphasized the initiative’s global scope. With over 500,000 informal areas, Egypt faces the challenge of balancing housing demand with green climate resilience.  He said that the Egyptian government established a national council for green housing and urbanism to formulate a roadmap for gradually transforming housing to be more resilient and energy efficient. “We need to think about how to strike a balance between housing demand and green climate resilience, as Egypt has more than 500,000 informal areas.”

Ali Zaidi, assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor of the USA, highlighted the transformative potential of the initiative for people’s lives. Focusing on building codes and transitioning from fossil-based to electricity-based heating, the U.S. emphasized a worker- and community-centered approach. Zaidi stressed the importance of grants, design standards, and enforcement to facilitate the sector’s transformation.

“Buildings are the places where we worship, where we live, play, and breathe. There will be a visible difference in the lives of so many people in the coming time. This is the opportunity we must deliver for our citizens. This transformation we are making here must be worker-centered and community-centered,” Zaidi said.

Jo da Silva, Global Sustainability Director for ARUP, discussed the challenges faced by her organization in driving change amid diverse jurisdictional rules. While acknowledging the success keys in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., she emphasized the unique opportunities in Africa, where 80% of the buildings needed in the next two decades are yet to be built. Da Silva urged governments to create a level playing field, facilitating collaboration rather than competition, to unlock the full potential of innovation and industrialized construction in the sector.

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School of fish and coral. Credit: UNDP Seychelles

By Midori Paxton
NEW YORK, Dec 6 2023 (IPS)

As COP28 delegates focus on the first Global Stocktake, there is no doubt that the race to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions is vital.

But while electric vehicles and solar power uptake have seen visible and welcome progress in particular, the transition to a thriving future on a healthy planet requires much more than decarbonization alone.

Don’t get me wrong. Decarbonization is a must. It has to be done. But focus on just one lane of what must be a systemic transition to a liveable planet is dangerously myopic.

Water vapor, for example, is overlooked as a highly significant greenhouse gas. It is the most abundant greenhouse gas, and responsible for about half of greenhouse heating effects. Recent research published in the International Journal of Environment and Climate change highlights that the quantities of water vapor in our atmosphere are affected by a breadth of environmentally damaging human activities, beyond fossil fuel emissions.

The oceans are the world’s biggest carbon sink and a weather and climate regulator in their own right. Harm to ocean ecosystem functions due to ocean acidification, toxic “forever chemicals” and microplastic pollution has led to reductions in phytoplankton photosynthesis by as much as 50 per cent since the 1950s. Phytoplankton photosynthesis underpins almost all marine animal life by generating most of the oxygen and food that provide other organisms with the chemical energy they need to exist.

This has knock-on implications deeply interlinked with climate action: reduced phytoplankton leads to higher concentrations of dissolved carbon dioxide in ocean surface water, further accelerating ocean acidification and allowing evaporation and atmospheric water vapor concentrations to increase, increasing humidity, precipitation and temperature as an additional climate change feedback loop.

Importantly, if we achieve net zero carbon by 2050, we could still face catastrophic climate change if ocean ecosystem health is overlooked. In addition to the consequences of global heating, ocean acidification and the collapse of the marine ecosystems could lead to the loss of most seals, birds, whales, fish, and food supply for three billion people.

Take another example: deforestation. In the past 300 years or so, 1.5 billion hectares of forest have been removed – an area roughly one and a half times the size of the US. Scientists have shown that ecosystems damaged by humans are more vulnerable to wildfires, which add to atmospheric carbon dioxide and cause excessive atmospheric heat to pass back to the ocean, releasing more water vapor and further increasing greenhouse gases.

Similarly, the increasing severity of devastating floods in recent years is not only linked to climate change but often also the result of forest and vegetation loss, land conversion, intensive land management and river straightening. Anthropogenic climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent and more severe, while human activity is also eroding the resilience of the environment to absorb these impacts.

Any narrow focus on something that is systemic is inherently problematic. Our planet’s multivarious ecosystems are deeply interconnected dynamic systems within which human activity is interwoven. We cannot silo our environmental challenges, nor our responses to them. Successful climate mitigation can be only achieved in the wider context of terrestrial and marine ecosystem health and social impact, measuring progress in lockstep with planetary health metrics and the sustainable development goals.

This is why it is beyond time to rethink our relationship with nature. Without a shift in how we value our natural environment and our relationship to it, we will always be trapped in a race against time to clean up after ourselves, treating only the symptoms of a dysfunctional relationship with our natural world, rather than the cause.

A revaluation of how humanity interacts with nature will bring the sea change we need. Protecting nature is too often falsely considered a trade-off against economic development, when the fact is that one helps the other: the collapse of ecosystem services would cost $2.7 trillion annually by 2030. The truth is that thriving, protected ecosystems are an exceptionally powerful development asset.

Not only is the protection of nature an absolute prerequisite for the success of climate action, but policies that preserve natural land could also increase global real GDP in 2030 in the order of trillions of dollars. This includes benefits through carbon sequestration, and through the multiple benefits that natural lands, waters and oceans provide.

The economic case for protecting nature by the World Bank found that restoring 350 million hectares of land could generate about $170 billion per year in net value by sequestering up to 1.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually and through watershed protection, improved crop yields and forest products.

As we race towards net zero, we must look with equal urgency at nature’s protection to ensure we decarbonize alongside progress towards ecological health and social stability on a superhighway of durable transition. Only change that accounts for humanity’s relationship with nature at a systemic level, its climate and its ecosystem health, will truly be a transition to thriving future on a liveable planet.

Midori Paxton is Director, Nature Hub, United Nations Development Programme

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Klimt: Life and Death, Wikipedia

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec 6 2023 (IPS)

A dark cloud is hovering above human existence. It is a fairly illusory cloud haunting our minds and wellbeing, but also an actual, menacing, mostly invisible cloud that covers the Earth’s entire atmosphere. Saturated by greenhouse gases, this global threat increases with every year, threatening all life on Earth, causing increased flooding, extreme heat, draught, wild fires, rising sea levels, food and water scarcity, as well as diseases and mounting economic loss. This misery, caused by human greed, thoughtlessness, and self-aggrandizement, trigger human migration and armed conflicts.

If global temperatures keep rising and reach 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, people will, worldwide and simultaneously, face the fatal and multiple impacts of climate change. A 2-degree rise in global temperatures is considered to be a critical threshold. In 2023, the average global temperature was on a third of all days at least 1.5 Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, and the year is ending up as the hottest on record and – the year 2024 is expected to be even hotter.

Climate change poses a particular threat to children and youth and may potentially derail their normal development; affecting physiological systems, cognitive abilities and emotional skills in ways that may be irreversible. The emerging problems are manifold and the effects of these looming calamities make children and young people increasingly frustrated. Many youngsters feel threatened and betrayed by the behaviour of ruthless entrepreneurs and financiers, as well as poor and often corrupt governmental response to a disastrous climate change. Rampant climate anxiety motivates some young people to take action, not only through a recent surge in marches and the emergence of various environmental movements, but also in the form of violent and occasionally misdirected protests.

One of several means to draw attention to the threat of climate change are activists’ attacks on famous artworks. Since early 2022, artworks have been attacked all over Europe and the US. Mashed potatoes have been thrown on a Manet painting, chocolate cake smeared on statues, tomato soup on Van Gogh’s magnificent depiction of sunflowers, and oil-like substances thrown on several other paintings, like Klimt’s Death and Life. That painting is found in the Leopold Museum in Vienna, which presents some works form the dispersed Lederer art collection. The Lederer was a Jewish art collecting family, who among others financially supported the now renowned artists Klimt and Schiele. In 1938, the Gestapo expropriated all of Lederer’s possessions. Some of the confiscated Klimt paintings were by Nazi authorities stored in a castle, burned down by a German army unit just before the Soviet Red Army appeared. Seventeen Klimt paintings and frescoes perished in the fire, one of the few salvaged artworks was Klimt’s Death and Life, now smeared with a black substance

The spokesperson for one of several climate activist groups, Just Stop Oil, that attacks works of art has declared: “If things need to escalate then we’re going to take inspiration from past successful movements and we’re going to do everything we can.” What he meant by “successful movements” was among other incidents when a lady in 1914 slashed a Velasquez painting with a meat cleaver, protesting the arrest of the defender of women’s rights, Emeline Pankhurst. The enraged woman explained: “I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs. Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history.”

Angry members of Just Stop Oil shouted, as they were hindered from attacking paintings at the National Gallery in London: “What is worth more, art or life?” A member of the group stated after throwing soup on a van Gogh painting: “The cost-of-living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis. Fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup.” A somewhat awkward statement by someone who demonstrated disrespect of food by throwing it on a masterpiece of world art. Another declared: “We’re not killing anyone, climate change will.”

Supporters of “climate action groups” have defended them by saying that so far, no piece of art has been “permanently destroyed”. However, it is at best a half truth. In May last year, a self-declared “environment activist” tried at the Louvre to smash the glass protecting Mona Lisa. When he was hindered from concluding his deed, he succeeded in smearing cake on the painting. Last month, two women did with hammers smash the glass protecting the same Velasquez painting that was slashed in 1914, screaming that they were intending to rip it to pieces once more.

Another member of Just Stop Oil defended the various actions of the group and warned that they could worsen: “The function of art is for people to be able to understand the world that they live in and reflect on the human condition, but big art isn’t fulfilling that function. That’s the reason for us to be in museums: to tell people that we are in the middle of an emergency, and it is the time now for you to face that emergency.”

She was right by stating one of art’s essential functions. Artistic works have existed for almost as long as humankind and is an expression of humans’ creative and imaginative abilities, involving technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, and conceptual ideas. Art helps us to perceive the beauty of the world we live in, the happiness we find among other human beings, in nature and animals, in all creation. It inspires reflection, willingness to act, imagination and innovative thinking. How can defenders of the preservation of nature and human rights imagine that the destruction and profanation of art may amend climate change? I assume that the enclosed mind of such activists, like ISIS fanatics, believe that their specific message and destructive actions take precedence over everything else, not the least other people’s feelings and intention to defend the very same values those fanatics, in their twisted minds, declare they are supporting.

I understand the frustration, but not the means. Like spoke-persons for Just Stop Oil, leaders of ISIS could declare that their destruction of World Heritage was to grab the world’s attention by assuring extensive media coverage and international condemnation from those they considered to be their opponents and antagonists.

Instead of destroying art, “climate activists” would probably benefit from supporting and using it as a means to overcome humans’ tendency to value personal experience over scientific facts, assuming that everything will be alright by not acting in time. Art can be a persuasive means to popularize and make understandable data-based representations, making them vivid and accessible. Art can engage viewers and hopefully stimulate them to make an effort to hinder the worlds’ sloping down towards Armageddon.

Artistic endeavours to depict, present and make us aware of the dangers of climate change is increasingly becoming more common and engaging. This “Climate Change Art” assumes a wide array of forms and expressions. Often with an engaging, awareness raising component of personal commitment.

Crotchet Coral Reef https://crochetcoralreef.org/exhibitions/

The Institute for Figuring (IFF), which in 2003 was founded in Los Angeles by Margaret Wertheim and her twin sister Christin, is a non-profit organization generating projects at the intersection of art, science and mathematics. One IFF project is the so-called Crochet Reef, which all around the world engages professional artists, scientists and groups of amateurs. The Crotchet Reef has become one of the largest participatory art and science endeavours in the world. By creating giant installations mimicking living coral reefs and crocheted out of yarn and re-used plastic, harvested from debris in the Pacific Ocean, the project engages associations which members are learning and applying mathematics, science, handicraft, environmentalism, and community art practice, while promoting awareness of the effects of global warming. Project creations have all around the world been successfully displayed in galleries and museums.

More modest activities, but nevertheless quite extensive, are various happenings, like those of Eve Mosher, who draw a blue “high-water” line around Manhattan and Brooklyn, indicating areas that would be underwater if climate change predictions are realized. She has since drawn high-water lines around Bristol, Philadelphia and coastal cities in Florida. In 2018, Xavier Cortada placed signs in front yards throughout Miami, indicating each property’s height above sea level to illustrate how sea level rise would flood the owner’s land.

A sophisticated, renowned and multifaceted artist is the Danish-Icelandic Olafur Eliasson, who creates large-scaled installations employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience and create an awareness of humans’ intimate connection with nature, how its changes are influencing us, both in a positive and negative manner. Eliasson has founded a “laboratory for spatial research” that engages a large team of architects, engineers, craftsmen, and assistants, working together to conceive and construct large-scale sculptures, installations and other artwork, highlighting what happens to and on our living planet.

Awareness of the dangers faced by or planet, its ecosystem and organic lifeforms, including humans, is on the rise. At all levels of human existence an ever-increasing creative power is making itself evident; in art, literature, religion and science. To vanquish the threats to our planet we have to leave destruction behind us and become more creative, more willing to cooperate with one another, more tolerant, more respectful. Destroying art, our common human cultural heritage, is an entirely wrong way towards a brighter future and just like the emissions of greenhouse gases it must immediately come to an end.

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Pro-Africa financial infrastructure could help Africa feed the world. Africa is home to an estimated 60 percent of the world's uncultivated arable land. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 6 2023 (IPS)

Although long profiled as the face of climate change, a high-risk continent with a pipeline of unbankable green projects, there are areas where Africa is leading the world. The 1987 accidental discovery of the first deposit of natural hydrogen during a water drilling campaign in Bourakebougou village, Mali, is today proving that Africa can export viable green solutions.

Naturally occurring or geological hydrogen is low-carbon and cheap and can be used for transportation, heating, and power generation. A growing number of countries, including Oman, New Caledonia, Canada, Russia, Australia, Japan, Germany, New Zealand, France, and Switzerland, have now joined the scramble for natural hydrogen, and this could trigger an energy revolution.

Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam told delegates at the ongoing COP28 Summit in Dubai, UAE, that with the right support, Africa will be the hub for green projects.

“Today, fonio is on the market in the United States, providing a stable source of income for hundreds of smallholder farmers despite the climate crisis.”

“The grain does not need much to grow and is often referred to as ‘the lazy farmer’s crop’ for whatever the weather; as long as you have put the seed in the ground, it will grow.”

Fonio is an ancient drought-tolerant, gluten-free, nutritional powerhouse that can be used like any other grain and has had its roots in the arid Sahel belt for over 5,000 years. Since 2017, Yolélé, which roughly translates to ‘let the good times roll’, is Thiam’s U.S.-based West African food company, which has been collaborating with smallholder farmers in sharing the ancient West African grain in the United States and is now expanding internationally.

With the right financial structures, Thiam says the ground is ripe for such innovative initiatives. While Africa contributes the least to climate change yet suffers the worst consequences, it also represents 20 percent of the global population, attracting less than three percent of global investments, particularly into green energy.

Despite immense green energy potential and growing political goodwill, Africa still lags other regions on many green growth dimensions. The climate finance architecture must now work for Africa, for the risks are enormous and the size of investment needed is over 200 billion dollars in energy alone by 2030.

“At the African Development Bank (AfDB), we really see the lack of climate finance as the biggest impediment towards accelerating development on the continent. Just to put it into context, the level of financing gap will be 2.8 trillion by 2030 just to implement 51 African countries Nationally Determined Contributions, representing each country’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said AfDB’s Yamadjako Audrey-Cynthia, Principal Climate Finance Officer and Africa Green Bank Initiative Coordinator.

According to AfDB, to close Africa’s climate financing gap by 2030, approximately USD 213.4 billion will need to be mobilized annually from the private sector to complement constrained public resources. Africa received USD 4.2 billion in private climate finance in 2019–2020, or 14 percent of total climate finance flows of USD 29.5 billion. It requires USD 242.4 billion a year on average until 2030—$2.7 trillion over 2020–30—to implement the climate action expressed in the latest NDCs.

Speaking during a session titled ‘Green Banking and a Renewed Climate Finance Architecture for Africa’ at the ongoing COP28 Summit, she spoke of the huge financing need on the continent, which is also an investment opportunity, for Africa is the next green investment frontier. AfDB turns these gaps into investment opportunities by looking into practical solutions at the local level to develop a bankable pipeline of green projects, as quite often, existing projects need to be better structured.

“We also need de-risking instruments such as blended financing—one of several tools to mitigate risk and facilitate financing for private sector-led projects—at the local level to make these projects attractive for the private sector to invest in. We are proactively mobilizing and scaling up climate finance for green infrastructure in Africa. Importantly, we also work at the local level to build the climate financial architecture through green investment vehicles embedded in existing commercial banks so that we do not re-invent the wheel,” she observes.

A report titled ‘Developing Green Banking Ecosystems’ authored by Jean-Paul Mvogo, a nonresident senior fellow at Africa Center, reveals that “financing mobilized to face Africa’s climate challenges represented roughly one-tenth of its needs, fueling a feeling of climate injustice and also depriving Africa of a growth capable of providing work for the hundreds of millions of young people who will enter the labor market in the next two decades.”

Stressing that “one solution to increase green financing for Africa lies in the implementation of strong and proactive policies that: address systemic constraints hindering the absorption capacity of African countries in terms of green projects and their financing; attract new categories of national and international investors; and ensure the optimal allocation of these new resources.”

Africa will also require about $1.3 trillion annually to meet its sustainable development needs by 2030—and thus to achieve green growth. Most of this finance is expected to be met through private finance. To meet these needs and given the current levels of public climate finance, private climate finance should increase by about 36 percent each year until 2030. Africa has great potential and self-interest to achieve green growth.

In a powerful signal of support during COP28, African and global institutions, together with the governments of Germany, France, and Japan and philanthropies, have already pledged over USD 175 million to the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA). The landmark initial pledge will help to rapidly scale up financing for transformative climate-aligned infrastructure projects across the continent.

The new pledges will also advance AGIA towards its first close of USD 500 million of early-stage project preparation and development blended capital. The Alliance is a partnership of the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, Africa50 and other partners. It works to unlock up to USD 10 billion in private capital for green infrastructure projects and to galvanise global action to accelerate Africa’s just and equitable transition to Net Zero.

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In Africa, the average amount of time spent collecting firewood is 2.1 hours, which robs women and girls of hundreds of hours every year. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
DUBAI, Dec 5 2023 (IPS)

Across the African continent, many first-born children in poor and vulnerable households do not go to school as they spend their school days collecting biomass fuel. The regional average of the amount of time spent collecting firewood is 2.1 hours, robbing women and girls in particular of hundreds of hours in a year and crippling their capacities to engage in learning and productive activities.

“I was one of those children that arrived to school late every day or not at all. I grew up in Limuru, Central Kenya, near the Kinare Forest. Every day, I would rush to the forest first thing in the morning to collect the firewood needed to prepare porridge and then dash to the neighbor’s house to borrow fire,” Njambi Muigai, a climate activist and COP28 delegate, told IPS.

“I would carry a dry firewood and light it up at the neighbor’s fireplace and rush back home with the burning firewood to light our cooking place. In the evening, I would repeat the same routine. Discussions around climate, clean energy, and women’s empowerment must find space in such high-level forums if there is to be any meaningful progress towards net zero.”

Muigai was speaking on the sidelines of a session dubbed ‘Electrifying Cooking: A Just Journey Toward Net Zero’ at the ongoing COP28 Summit in Dubai, UAE. As climate change increasingly becomes the most pressing issue facing humankind today, countries are urged to pursue ambitious climate actions towards net zero—the cutting of greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere by ecosystems such as oceans and forests.

Scientific evidence shows that to avert a climate catastrophe, already signaled by an increase in climate-induced disasters such as fatal floods and crippling droughts, global temperature increase needs to be limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

UN’s research shows that currently, the Earth is already about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s, and emissions continue to rise. To keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C, as called for in the Paris Agreement,  emissions need to be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

Speaking during the event, COP28 CEO Adnan Z Amin, who also served as the founding Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency, made a strong case for electrifying cooking and its place in accelerating climate action towards net zero.

“One of the major priorities for COP28 is in the broad area of energy, and within that, to increase access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030. This represents an important strategy in our efforts to reach our global net-zero goal. Evidence shows that one of the most reliable paths to reaching the goal is based on electrification without decreasing the use of renewable energy,” he said.

He stressed that despite progress made towards access to electricity over the last decade, improved access to modern cooking remains overlooked. Nearly a billion people, or 940 million, in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to clean cooking fuels and technologies. The rampant use of biomass for cooking has negative consequences for health, gender, climate, and the environment.

A clean cooking report shows that in sub-Saharan Africa, a staggering 29 countries have access to clean cooking at a rate below 20 percent, with half of the nearly one billion people without access to clean cooking concentrated in five countries such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.

Indoor air pollution from biomass is one of the top 10 risks for the global burden of diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Household air pollution is responsible for an estimated 3.8 million premature deaths globally.

“This is a problem in Asia and Latin America, but the numbers are particularly concerning in Africa. Four of the five families in Africa use primitive cooking stoves made of wood. A woman spends up to four hours a day collecting firewood, and she is robbed of her time. WHO says half a million women die prematurely due to respiratory diseases caused by primitive cooking. The women cook while pregnant, which affects health in the womb, and they cook with babies on their backs, causing lung problems for the babies,” said Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.

“Europe is a neighbor of Africa; in my culture and in many of our cultures, neighbors help each other in times of trouble. I cannot believe that these numbers are unfolding in front of our eyes. This, to me, is the most important gender issue, a big injustice that can easily be solved.”

“Not only are half a million women dying prematurely in Africa alone from biomass pollution as they walk long distances in search of firewood, but they also have to cross borders and contested territories, placing them in harm’s way.

“If half a million people were dying per year in war, we know what we would do, and this is happening every single year. For me, coming from the global south and being an African woman, it is even more depressing because it is as if the world is saying that because they are dying in Africa, it is not as important as if they were dying in another part of the world. There are all these social aspects that determine how we move forward.”

Nigeria’s Damilola Ogunbiyi, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Chief Executive Officer for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair UN-Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, said that “if half a million people were dying in a war, we would know what to do, and this is happening every single year.”

Observing that coming from the global south and being “an African woman, it is even more depressing because it is as if the world is saying that it is not as important as if they were dying in another part of the world. There are all these social aspects that determine how we move forward.”

She spoke about prevailing misconceptions about the source of harmful emissions. An analysis of Nigeria shows that despite the 45 gigawatts of diesel and petrol generated, the biggest emissions are actually from the cooking sector. Stressing that clean cooking is as important, if not more important than electrification, as it buys women time to engage productively in society, lifts people out of poverty, and accelerates the growth of a country’s GDP.

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#ActOnThe Gap, the COP28 Gender Responsive Just Transitions and Climate Action Partnership was lauched at the climate negotiations in Dubai. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
DUBAI, Dec 5 2023 (IPS)

Women bear the brunt of the climate crisis, and inclusion at both the highest level and in the community is key to mitigating its impact. Today, the announcement of the COP28 Gender Responsive Just Transitions and Climate Action Partnership put women at the centre of climate solutions—with a collective endorsement that symbolized a paradigm shift in global commitment.

Gender Equality Day at COP28 saw ministers and high-level officials convene for a high-level dialogue to advance gender-responsive just transitions to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement. During the event that Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, a UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, was leading, the COP28 Presidency announced the new partnership.

During the panel discussions on its importance, in which many distinguished world leaders participated, Dr Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment for the Republic of Rwanda, painted a poignant picture of the intersectionality between climate change and gender. She emphasized the requirement of the Paris Agreement to create high-quality jobs.

“The harsh reality is that women, constituting the majority of humanity, bear the brunt of climate change impacts. There are dire consequences of climate change being faced by my own country, Rwanda, grappling with floods and untimely rains, rendering streets impassable and schools inaccessible,” Mujawamariya told the conference.

The Minister underscored the urgent need to build a resilient future for women, urging investments in education, decision-making positions, and gender-responsive financial mechanisms.

“When a woman is a victim, the entire family suffers,” she added.

Sigrid Kaag, the Minister of Finance for the Netherlands, asserted that the catalyst for genuine change lay in anchoring climate action and gender-responsive budgeting. Kaag made it unequivocally clear that this was not merely an environmental concern but a matter of fundamental rights, underscoring the gravity of the agenda at hand.

Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, the co-chair of C40 cities, brought the municipal lens into the discourse. Speaking on behalf of nearly 100 cities, she expressed the collective engagement of mayors in the lives of their residents, over 50 percent of whom were female. Aki-Sawyer detailed the Women for Climate initiative, a testament to the proactive involvement of women in finding solutions to climate challenges. However, she acknowledged the systemic hurdles, emphasizing the need for dedicated spaces and resources to enable women to develop and implement these solutions.

Andrew Mitchell, the Minister of State in the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, injected an international development imperative into the dialogue.

“It is vital that we promote gender equality to ensure that this is a just and effective transition. We know that when women participate in the management of natural resources, it results in better governance and conservation, and when they are better represented in national parliaments, tougher climate change policies tend to be adopted. The evidence is clear, yet women are not given the chance to play their part. Women suffer disproportionately from climate change and conflict,” Andrew said. His call to endorse the gender-responsive pledge served as a rallying cry to collectively ascend the metaphorical mountain of challenges that lay ahead.

Celeste Drake, Deputy Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), took the stage, weaving a narrative around the ILO’s birth from conflict and its steadfast commitment to social justice.

Drake elucidated the profound impact of climate change on women and work, projecting statistics that forewarned of substantial job losses due to heat stress.

“ILO estimates that by 2030, more than 2 percent of the total working time will be lost because of heat stress. It is equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs. We need to create more inclusive jobs for our women and girls. The ILO estimates that effective climate policies could create, by 2035, about 12 million jobs in Nigeria and 50 million jobs in America.

But the question is, will those jobs be available to men and women equally? Will these jobs be gender responsive?” Drake asked. Drake dissected the complexities of women’s compounded inequalities in the labor market, emphasizing the need for intentional, gender-responsive transitions. She called for dismantling barriers and proactively ensuring that women had active access to training, skilling, and reskilling.

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At the COP28 Climate Talks in Dubai, Education Cannot Wait Calls on Donors to Urgently Mobilize More Resources to Scale Up Life-Saving Access to Quality Education for Crisis-Impacted Children

By Gordon Brown and Yasmine Sherif
London/New York, Dec 5 2023 (IPS)

“The one international language the world understands” wrote Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children, “is the cry of a child,” and the evidence is accumulating that children are not only the innocent victims of conflict whose pleas need to be heard, but also the most vulnerable victims of climate change.

The climate crisis is an education crisis. Right here, right now, climate change is robbing millions of children and adolescents of their right to learn, their right to play and their right to feel safe and secure.

In Pakistan deadly floods destroyed or damaged over 26,000 schools last year. This exposed over 600,000 adolescent girls to higher risks of school dropout, gender-based violence, and child marriage. In Ethiopia, girls like Mellion are going hungry and risk dropping out of school forever as a result of the ongoing drought.

While the climate crisis threatens the rights of every person on the planet, those who are enduring the brunt of its impact are the most vulnerable girls and boys already living in protracted crises settings due to armed conflicts, forced displacement and other crises. For them and their communities, climate change is already a daunting reality that can mean the difference between life and death, between war and peace, between the chance to learn or not.

Today, there are more than 224 million crisis-impacted children worldwide who urgently need education support. New analysis by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, hosted by UNICEF, has found that 62 million of these children have been impacted by climate hazards such as droughts, floods, cyclones and other extreme weather events since 2020. That’s close to the total populations of several G7 nations such as the United Kingdom, France or Italy.

While these children have contributed least to the issue of climate change, they have the most to lose. Furthermore, over the last ten years, 31 million school-aged children have been displaced by the climate crisis, with 13 million in the last three years alone.

The climate crisis poses a real and present threat to global security, economic prosperity and the very fabric of our societies. Climate impacts could cost the world economy US$7.9 trillion by 2050, according to the World Bank, and could force up to 216 million people to move within their own countries by 2050.

Cyclones, typhoons, floods and droughts are increasing in severity and intensity. The number of disasters driven, in part, by climate change has increased five-fold in the past 50 years. Climate hazards are driving displacement directly, but also driving competition over scarce resources and threatening fragile peace in many parts of the world. Over 70% of refugees and internally displaced people on the move due to conflict and violence originally came from climate change hotspots.

Taken together, these intersecting crises of climate change, displacement and conflict are having a profound effect on education opportunities for millions of children and adolescents around the world.

As we look at this year’s Climate Talks in Dubai (COP28) and the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, we must connect the dots between climate action and education action. It’s our investment in our people, our planet and our future.

To rise to this challenge, ECW is calling on donors, the private sector and other key partners to urgently mobilize US$150 million in additional resources. This is an important contribution towards ECW’s overall resource mobilization target of US$1.5 billion toward the Fund’s 2023-2026 strategic plan.

We all know that education has a sound return on investment. Long-term investments in human capital – including education, skills training and overall health and well-being – offer 10 times more return on investment than investments in physical capital. By investing in education today, we are investing in economic and social prosperity tomorrow, we are investing in an end to displacement and hunger, we are investing in a better world and children’s futures.

The climate crisis threatens to end human civilization as we know it today. Now is our time to address this issue head on, and education plays a key role. By ensuring learning continuity for the most vulnerable children – and connecting quality education with climate action – we can equip an entire generation of climate stewards with the skills to adapt to the changing environment and pave the way to a better future.

In the eye of the storm, we are calling on new and existing donors to stand with us. We are appealing to you to act: right here, right now. Will you take up this challenge?

The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown is the UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Steering Group.

Yasmine Sherif is the Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

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