Developed countries that are big emitters of greenhouse emissions causing climate change should set up clear mechanisms to compensate developing and least-developed countries that are vulnerable to effects despite little contribution to global warming, activists and experts have reiterated.
The call is made ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) summit due to take place in Glasgow, from October 31-November 12, 2021.
The needed climate finance could help least-developed countries to build their adaptation to climate change effects.
The compensation policy debate dubbed ‘The Loss and Damage’ is founded on the fact that developed countries have contributed highly to the causes of climate change and therefore should compensate poor countries.
The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts was established at the COP19 UN climate conference in November 2013 to address losses and damage in developing countries.
The Mechanism’s role was recognized in 2015 in Article 8 of the Paris Agreement and was reviewed in 2019 at COP25, during which developing countries demanded that it be enhanced and strengthened, to include additional finance from developed countries.
However, consensus was not reached on developed countries’ obligations.
This technical issue is set to be discussed further at the COP26 conference in Glasgow, in November 2021.
"One of the issues to be negotiated at the summit is ‘loss and damage’ policy. The discussions were held in the Paris agreement but so far there is no clear mechanism to compensate climate change-affected countries that incur a lot of losses and damages. If there is a flood that happens in a certain area, there is no clear mechanism on how a country can be compensated,” said Faustin Vuningoma, the Coordinator of Rwanda Climate Change and Development organizations Network in Rwanda.
He said that Rwanda needs to be with other developing and least-developed countries for a common voice during the forthcoming summit.
"The issue of loss and damage policy should be highly discussed,” he said.
The Paris agreement adopted in 2015 also includes the provision for the US $100 billion per year of climate finance and technology transfer by developed countries to support developing nations to deal with the impacts of climate change and make the transition to a green economy.
Vuningoma argues that this is a critical issue to least-developed countries adding that COP26 should work on how the finance should be flowed to the poor countries.
Among other issues to be discussed are nature-based solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change impact.
"Parties will discuss how land, forestry and other natural resources can deal with climate change. For instance we need agro-ecology and agriculture that allows recycling agricultural waste for manure as a way of reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and waste,” he noted.
The activist said that the issue to be discussed is the carbon market mechanism that allows countries to buy carbon credits.
A carbon credit is a permit that allows the company that holds it to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases to a certain limit and that limit is reduced periodically.
The credit permits the emission of a mass equal to one ton of carbon dioxide.
However, he said that countries have not yet agreed on rules of the carbon market.
"As an eyes of civil society, the carbon market is really not profitable to poor countries, it is more profitable to big emitters that are covering their polluting activities,” he argued.
He said that during negotiations developing countries have no strength,” he said.
Why is COP26 so important?
There are many reasons why the 2021 summit is so important, experts observe.
Vuningoma said that Covid-19 has refocused priorities and caused individuals and governments alike to pay closer attention to the environment.
"The pandemic has also given a lesson why we should have a common voice and countries can rebuild economies through green recovery. The recent floods that are also hitting developed countries are another factor to raise optimism,” he said.
COP26, experts say, is being viewed as the successor to COP21 where the Paris Accord was signed, arguably the greatest success from the UNFCCC in recent years.
COP26 is seen as the summit to both address what has and hasn’t been achieved since 2015, while also setting concrete plans to reach the Paris Agreement targets.
It’s also the first COP to be held since the US left and rejoined the Paris Agreement, so it’s likely that there will be extra eyes on US contributions to the summit.
"I think the US will lead negotiations and take the climate change issue seriously,” he said.
By May this year, Major CO2 emitting nations had not yet submitted their plans to cut greenhouse gases, according to a report by UNFCCC, which added that even with increased efforts by some countries, the combined impact "falls far short” of what is needed to limit the effects of climate change
He said that some countries do not even accept scientific reports on climate change called "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” issued every four years.
"The report for 2018 was rejected by some countries during COP24 in Poland because of their own interest. It was only noted as received yet the truth about climate change is visible,” he said.
Vuningoma added that developed countries, governments, and climate funds should also channel climate finance through non-governmental organizations.
Rwanda in COP26
During last week’s Ministerial meeting to discuss the steps needed to make Glasgow summit a success, different ministers of whom Rwanda’s minister for environment-Jeanne D’arc Mujawamariya was part of- discussed adaptation, finance, loss and damage.
"Rwanda would like to see ‘Loss and Damage’ elevated in other global discussions and would welcome an international response to loss and damage in a relatively similar way the world responded to the Covid19 pandemic,” she said.
She said that adaptation to climate change effects is of high priority for Rwanda ‘due to its vulnerability to the impacts of climate change including but not limited to flooding, landslide, erosion, and drought which cause great damages and losses of human lives.’
Rwanda’s 10-year ambitious climate agenda features a reduction of GreenHouse Gas emissions equivalent to 4.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2030.
The plan which Rwanda has already submitted to The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) seeks $11 billion for its implementation.
The world countries’ climate plans dubbed "Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)” are essential tools to implement the Paris Agreement.
Minister Mujawamariya said that Rwanda created the Fund for Environment (FONERWA) that has mobilized $216 million in international environment and climate finance; and created 158,900 green jobs.
In a session on mobilizing finance, Rwanda’s Minister Mujawamariya said that to rebuild trust, the US$100 billion pledged through the Paris Agreement must be delivered before or at COP26.