The United Nations climate talks have entered their second week, with negotiators who are heavily focused on how to mitigate climate change facing something else on their plates: how to adapt to the warming that is already occurring.
The Global Adaptation Goal
Discussions about what is known as the global adaptation goal – a commitment made in the Paris Agreement in 2015 to enhance the world’s ability to cope with extreme weather caused by climate change – are being overshadowed by negotiations on how the world will reduce fossil fuel use, leading to frustration among some climate advocates in the most vulnerable nations.
The Need for More Funding
Officials and activists from the most climate-vulnerable countries are seeking more money to help them cope with extreme temperatures, severe droughts, flooding, and intensifying storms caused by global warming. Major fossil fuel exporting countries should compensate vulnerable developing nations exposed to these events, experts and officials say, to help them avoid catastrophic human and economic losses.
Challenges and Expectations
Some believe that the adaptation goal is likely to be defined at the summit, but as it stands now, it is limited to only a small portion of what some countries are demanding.
In his remarks during the general session on Wednesday, COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber said that adaptation “is a key element of climate action” and urged countries to “consider how to make real progress in addressing the adaptation finance gap” between what has been done and what is needed.
However, Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute, expressed that he is “worried” about what will happen to adaptation goals at COP28. “There is not a lot on the table,” he said. Dasgupta mentioned that he expected some discussions on adaptation to be ongoing at this stage of the climate talks.
Mary Friel, Climate Policy Lead at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, stated that “failure to advance on adaptation would be a major failure.”
Funding Needed
A United Nations report found that developing countries need nearly $400 billion annually to prepare for climate change, but only $21 billion was provided in 2021. The report also stated that between $194 billion and $366 billion more must be raised each passing year.
The longer the provision of funding for adaptation is delayed, the higher the costs will be in the future, according to Thorpe from Power Shift Africa.
The negotiations on climate adaptation have been “very frustrating,” according to Teresa Anderson, Global Lead on Climate Justice at Action Aid International, who is present in Dubai, UAE for the climate talks. “The negotiations have not matched the ambition, speed, and the kind of ambitious commitments that we need to see.”
The problem is that funding for adaptation does not give donors a return on investment, according to Anderson. “Rich countries see taking mitigation action as in their own interest. Wherever it happens in the world, everybody will benefit, even in the Global North. Adaptation efforts and funding will only benefit people in the Global South,” Anderson said. “The only reason rich countries seem willing to provide climate finance is if it helps them.”
Rishikesh Ram Bhandari, who tracks climate finance at the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University, added that money allocated for adaptation is not being disbursed quickly enough.
This affects the lives of those living on the front lines of climate change.
Tiyungi Gondwe, a smallholder farmer growing peanuts, squash, maize, and other crops in Malawi, which is suffering from drought and food insecurity, stated that the land is becoming less fertile each year due to global warming.
She said:
“I have not received any funding from my government says this is the mechanism to adapt to climate change”. “We have no food, and this increases hunger and poverty in my country. We need leaders to take action now”.
Journalists Malak Harb and Seth Borenstein contributed to the Associated Press.
Follow Sibi Arasu on X, formerly known as Twitter, @sibi123.
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