Providing financial support to developing countries to address loss and damage caused by climate change was one of the main topics of the climate conference held in Bonn, Germany, from 6 to 16 June 2022.
Extreme weather events have affected more than 4 billion people and caused the loss of $2.9 trillion since 2000, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI), an American NGO based in Washington.
Most of this damage has been produced in poor countries that do not emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases.
“While this should not discourage action or prevent from hoping, it clearly shows that any climate action package is incomplete without serious action and funding to address the losses and damage that have already been triggered,” said WRI experts Preety Bhandari, Nataniel Warszawski and Chikondi Thangata.
The average annual global funding available to combat such disasters – only $632 billion between 2019 and 2020 – falls far short of addressing the full scale and severity of the problem.
This is one of the key topics that experts from more than 200 countries gathered in Germany to discuss. The agenda also included the global goal on adaptation, a work programme to strengthen action for the reduction of emissions by 2030, and a process to collectively take stock and mobilize climate action.
Mitigation and adaptation
According to the WRI, of the above amount, about 90.3% was made available for mitigation and 7.2% for adaptation, while the remaining 2.4% covered both activities.
Adaptation to climate change refers to strategies, initiatives and measures to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems to the effects of climate change. Mitigation, on the other hand, is an intervention to reduce sources or increase sinks of greenhouse gases.
“Climate change is not an agenda we can afford to push back on our global agenda. We need decisions and actions now and it is up to all nations to make progress in Bonn, « said Patricia Espinosa, UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change, shortly before the conference, which serves as a preparatory platform for COP 27 in November in Egypt.
Adapted and Translated from French into English by:
Albéric Djomaki,
CEO at LMS (www.lmsgroupafrica.com)
American Translators Association (ATA) Associate Member
References:
https://leconomistebenin.com/2022/06/17/secteur-agricole-au-benin-operationnalisation-du-conseil-national-dorientation-et-de-suivi/
Conférence de Bonn 2022 : Le financement du climat au cœur des discussions
