Although the United Nations’ climate conference in Marrakech made it clear that the Paris Agreement is here to stay, it did little to fix the Agreement’s biggest flaws that leave poor and climate-vulnerable countries in danger, according to global development organization Oxfam.
“This was billed as a conference for action and implementation of the Paris Agreement. Instead, we saw a stubborn refusal from developed country ministers and negotiators to fill the adaptation finance gap and face the fact that the Agreement doesn’t fully protect lives that will suffer the most from climate change,” said Isabel Kreisler, Oxfam International’s climate change policy lead.
Last year’s Agreement failed to specify just how much of climate finance for developing countries should go towards adaptation efforts, simply saying it should be in “balance” with funds for helping them cut their greenhouse gas emissions. As Oxfam and others have showed, the reality is much different.
The Marrakech negotiations welcomed the “submission” of the Roadmap that donor countries produced, which projects that by 2020, a mere 20% of the climate finance pot would come from public funds towards adaptation.
By pushing this outcome, ministers from donor countries have showed that they were comfortable with this huge imbalance.
“Adaptation finance is not just an abstract numbers game. It’s about providing women farmers in Africa with seeds to plant drought-resistant crops and feed their families; it’s about building seawalls so millions who live in coastal areas survive rising sea levels,” said Kreisler.
“Developing countries are doing their fair share. The Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of forty-seven countries most at risk, announced their commitment to 100 percent renewable energy. We need developed countries to live up to their end of the bargain.”
Source PANA
