DISAGGREGATING LOSS AND DAMAGE FINANCING AS NIGERIA PREPARES FOR COP28

DISAGGREGATING LOSS AND DAMAGE FINANCING AS NIGERIA PREPARES FOR COP28

The absence of any concrete plan regarding the greatest global Agreement on climate change: the Paris Agreement make loss and damage financing an interesting case for analysis. In the present context, loss and damage and climate financing seem to mean different things. That is why the clarification that Conference of Parties should be making continuously is in these respects. As I have canvassed, the energy expended on making the case for loss and damage financing should better be devoted to the nitty gritty of restoring the global environment as we move to COP28.

This is because, Nigeria environmental protection is going through a broken process from oil spillage to soil pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

For instance, since oil spillage first occurred in Ondo state in 1979, between 110 – 160 million gallons of crude oil has been spilled. Despite these huge environmental issues, the funding for protecting the environment is shrinking yearly due to neglect by the government and other organisations that have relationship with managing the environment. Additionally, international funding is also declining as most international obligations are not met.

 Loss and damage financing pronouncements at COP27 is yet to be realised after several meetings to accelerate its procedures and processes including that of 20 medium economies plus China. Loss and damage financing was rated as a revolutionary deal to addressing climate change crisis in the global South indeed and in deed. It is a great surprise therefore that a few days to COP28, we can all look back to great disappointment because the specific role of loss and damage financing was exaggerated. Hope were raised unduly by the international community. The poor and vulnerable countries were finding it increasingly difficult coping with global warming, flooding and carbon emission reduction which are the effect that climate change has on the environment.

If the trend continues, the number of vulnerable nations will be on the rise from the flooding in Libya, Kenya, California and hurricane Otis in Acapulco in Mexico. Loss and damage financing was meant to address the upper limit of such climate change crisis in poor and vulnerable countries.

 Climate change crisis and loss and damage financing is coming to the fore because the industrialized economies are reluctant to take responsibilities. The promise of 100 billion dollars annually is now freely used to make calm and fulfilling engagement with developing countries. The wide reaching of possible gaps and errors in addressing loss and damage make special precautions to safeguard the principles of a healthy and sustainable environment. Given the way poor countries make magisterial pronouncements on the advanced economies regarding loss and damage financing funding, you will think that the entire problem of the global South is completely dependent on loss and damage financing. This to me is a mistaken view of loss and damage financing because the fundamental issues are Nationally Determined Contributions NDC reduction. This is because, the activities that take place in vulnerable areas are the strongest proofs of devastation and degradation of the environment.

Consequently, I feel that in COP 28, developing countries must pay attention to forest restoration, transition energy, scaling up the use of renewable energy sources rather than banking on loss and damage financing.

Climate efficiency among vulnerable countries in ensuring improvement in NDC are crucial to the restoration of the environment. Also are the aggressive planting of trees.

While I may agree that some part of environmental restoration may be aided by loss and damage financing, it does not address the fundamental issues.

Therefore, I am advocating disaggregating climate change in order to know the limits of application of loss and damage financing before COP28.

I believe that in philosophical terms, it may not be out of place to imagine that the loss and damage financing cannot replace completely the human factors in the destruction of the environment.( for more conversation go to iyamuclimatechangeresearchdev.com and follow me on Twitter X @iyamuclimatech1 and Instagram iyamuclimatechange)