Wealthy nations wrestle over seats on Loss and Damage Board, causing delays in fully operationalizing Fund

Wealthy nations wrestle over seats on Loss and Damage Board, causing delays in fully operationalizing Fund

Subject: Environment

Section: Int conventions

Context:

• Developed countries have delayed nominating members to the Loss and Damage Board, hampering efforts to fully operationalise the fund to developing countries in time.

More on news:

• At the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) held in Egypt, Parties reached an agreement on providing loss and damage funding to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.
• At COP28, the fund was formally established.

Governance Mechanisms:

• A decision text released at COP28 stated that the fund would be governed and supervised by a board, a decision-making body. 
• It is tasked with setting up a strategic direction for the Fund as well as its governance and operational modalities, policies, frameworks and work programme, including relevant funding decisions.
• The Board will comprise 26 members, 12 members from developed countries and 14 from developing nations.

About Loss and Damage Fund:

• The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) defines ‘loss and damage’as  the economic and non-economic impacts of climate change, including extreme and slow onset events, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
• It’s destructive, irreversible, and cannot be addressed by mitigation and adaptation measures.

Genesis of the L&D fund:

• Historic pollution from Developed Countries has elevated the world’s average surface temperature by more than 1 degree Celsius and is currently inflicting damage worldwide, but especially in the poorest nations.
• CoP19 of UNFCCC- 2013: held at Warsaw, Poland.
  • Countries agreed to formally establish the L&D fund.
  • It was being created to provide financial and technical assistance to economically developing nations that were incurring L&D due to climate change.
• CoP25 of UNFCCC: held at Madrid, Spain in 2019
  • The Santiago Network for L&D was set up, but countries didn’t commit any funds.
  • The vision of the Santiago Network is to catalyze the technical assistance of relevant organizations, bodies, networks and experts, for the implementation of relevant approaches for averting, minimize and addressing L&D at the local, national and regional level, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
• CoP26 of UNFCCC:held at Glasgow, U.K. in 2021
  • The Glasgow Dialogue on finance for L&D was established to continue discussions over the next three years on the fund.
• CoP27 of UNFCCC: held at Sharm El- Sheikh, Egypt in 2022
  • Members agreed to set up the L&D fund and a Transitional Committee (TC) to figure out how the new funding mechanisms under the fund would operate.
  • The TC was also to prepare recommendations that countries would consider, deliberate on, and potentially adopt by COP 28.
• COP 28 adopted the decision on the operationalization of the new funding arrangements, including a Fund, for responding to loss and damage.
• The decision was adopted by consensus by all Parties including India.