African countries have urged developed countries to honour their pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund meant for supporting communities bearing the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change.
In a declaration after the third Africa Regional Conference on Loss and Damage held in Lilongwe, Malawi, African states said fund pledges and replenishments should be honoured without delays.
“Previous Funds have faced deliberately-schemed long, tedious bureaucratic delays in deployment,” African leaders at the meeting held from March 20-22 said.
The Lilongwe Declaration said good faith should be demonstrated by swiftly putting together structures that will ensure communities facing losses and damages are reached soonest possible.
Africa called for elaborate 2024 Workplan, including a long-term fundraising and resource mobilisation strategy for new, additional, predictable and adequate financial resources to meet the growing need of communities at the frontline.
Leaders at the Lilongwe conference called on developed nations to stop shifting goal posts.
African nations said developed countries need to be transparent and accountable in their contributions to the Fund.
They cautioned against repackaging existing climate financing and humanitarian assistance.
The conference said it was disappointed by paltry pledges of USD700 million (Sh92.3 billion) to the Loss and Damage Fund.
African nations termed the pledges as “fatally insufficient to meet the recovery responses to a single episode of climate disaster such as that caused by Cyclone Freddy in Malawi estimated at USD900 million (Sh118.709 billion).”
The Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) operates within the extensive climate financing framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The fund addresses the third essential aspect of climate action by aiding individuals and communities affected by climate-induced losses and damages.
Studies have shown developing countries are the most vulnerable on the list and bear a disproportionate burden in terms of experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels and extreme weather events such as floods and drought.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), developing countries have 15 times more victims of natural disasters than developed countries.
At the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27) in Egypt, an agreement was reached to create a LDF to help low-income developing countries offset the damage from natural disasters caused by climate change.
The financial mechanism was designed to provide crucial support to vulnerable nations facing the brunt of climate-related challenges.
The third Africa Regional Conference on Loss and Damage in Lilongwe sought to provide a platform for African stakeholders to develop strategies for accelerating access to LDF.
The Conference was hosted by the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC) and the Government of Malawi.
This was in partnership with Trocaire, Oxfam, Concern Worldwide, Save the Children, Habitat for Humanity, Give Directly, CARE International, Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), ActionAid, Pelum Association and Christian Aid.
While mitigation addresses the causes of climate change (like reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation addresses its impacts (like building sea walls to prevent flooding), loss and damage is concerned with the unavoidable and irreversible impacts of the climate crisis.