The host country for the 28th United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28) UAE, and Germany have individually pledged $100 million as inputs for loss and damage fund. The decision for the loss and damage fund was unanimously agreed and followed by a standing ovation.
This L & D fund purse which has been on the conversation table since the 1990’s finally reached a significant milestone on the first day of COP. The development sets a positive tone to kickstart the conference as well as allows for more pressing issues to be discussed particularly conversations on global stocktake.
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The United States on the other hand made a pledge of $17.5million, while the UK made a total pledge of 60 million pounds split into 40 million pounds earmarked for loss and damage, while 20 million pounds would be for “other funding arrangements”. Japan also made a pledge of $10million, while European Union pledged at least 225 million euros (inclusive of Germany).
This fund which is planned to be launched by 2024 would be housed temporarily by the world bank for the next four years. The aggressive rise of the impact of climate change globally, which has led to loss of lives, biodiversity, and properties, caused by flood, landslides, severe drought and heavy rainfall to list a few cannot be over emphasised. The availability and seamless disbursement of these funds to victims of climate change will cushion the immediate and future impact of the destruction caused during such incidence.In Africa, despite contributing less than 4% to carbon emission globally, 9 out of the 10 worst hit countries by the impact of climate change are in Africa and Nigeria is no exemption.
According to National Council on Climate Change(NCCC), Nigeria’s six priority areas for COP28 includes Mitigation, Global Stocktake, Article 6, Climate Finance, Loss and Damage, Adaptation and Transparency. Recall that in 2022, Nigeria experienced it worst flood which destroyed about 600,000 hectares of farmland.
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The recent Agora Policy report showed that Nigeria may lose $460 billion due to climate change. In the wake of this statistics, it is expedient Nigeria is also positioned to gain access to this funding.
