PARIS: Countries at the forefront of climate change are urgently demanding long-awaited aid to recover from devastating floods and hurricanes, stressing that delays in accessing funds are no longer acceptable.
The plea emerged during a meeting of the “loss and damage” fund, which concluded Friday amid concerns that approvals for climate aid may not occur until 2025.
“We cannot afford to wait until the end of 2025 for the first funds to be disbursed,” said Adao Soares Barbosa, a board member from East Timor and a veteran negotiator for the world’s poorest nations, in remarks to AFP. “Loss and damage are happening now.”
Nearly 200 countries agreed at the UN COP28 summit last November to establish a fund aimed at providing aid to developing countries for rebuilding after climate-related disasters.
However, the process has been slow-moving, with ongoing negotiations to finalize the fund’s structure, prompting fears that it may not effectively meet the urgent needs of vulnerable nations facing frequent extreme weather events.
“The urgent needs of vulnerable countries and communities cannot be put on hold until every detail of this fund is perfected,” Barbosa said.
The costs of climate disasters can amount to billions of dollars, and current funding allocated for loss and damage is insufficient to cover even a single major event, experts warn.
