A “western gift” to the Caribbean at COP27, but is it worth it?

A watershed moment has been reached at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP27. COP27 has made the decision to create a Loss and Damage fund to compensate poor nations that are victims of extreme climate issues and it is being hailed as a historic deal.

The deal can be seen as a victory for poorer nations, particularly the Caribbean nations, who have been leading a pushback against rich nations that are large contributors to carbon emissions. But, is this a real win that calls for celebration?

El Sheikh, saw polarized debates on responsibility and accountability among the global North and South. In the aftermath of this, a decision to create a Loss and Damage fund has been reached, which will provide support to developing countries in efforts to avert, minimize and address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change in the light of continued global warming.

Victory for the Caribbean

This is a major victory at the COP27 for the Caribbean nations as it is these nations that are the worst victims of climate change and are extremely vulnerable to it. There’s no denying that this is a much-needed and long-awaited response, however, is this really enough?

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 Why it is not enough?

 “COP27 has taken an important step towards justice. I welcome the decision to establish a loss and damage fund and to operationalize it in the coming period. Clearly this will not be enough, but it is a much-needed political signal to rebuild broken trust.” Antonio Guterres tweeted.

At COP27, Barbados led the charge for climate disaster financing. Many leaders of developing nations repeatedly said that it’s not fair to expect them to cover the costs of rebuilding from devastating weather events in a warming world, plus invest in cleaner industry while they also pay much higher interest rates on loans than rich nations. 

The issue of rising debt from climate change was strongly raised by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. PM Mottley also exposed the West’s partiality in groupings such as the G7 and G-20 where African and Caribbean countries aren’t represented at all in the functioning and policy making.

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When most wealthy countries borrow money, they pay 1 to 4% in interest, while countries in the so-called Global South face rates of 12-14%, Mottley told reporters.

Later, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominican Republic and many more joined the league.

However, now that the West is celebrating their move as a victory, the Caribbean nations should stop and rethink it. Is the creation of a “fund” really the solution they needed? The answer to this is hidden in their own angry statements.

Mia Mottley herself has pointed out several times how these funds are created but the money never gets to the vulnerable nations. A similar issue has been raised by St. Vincent PM Gonsalves when he supported Antigua and Barbuda PM in his suggestion to move to the International Court of Justice(ICJ) for holding countries responsible for their promises.

Much before all this, CARICOM nations themselves agreed in a meeting ahead of this COP27 that how the Western nations never deliver on their promises of funding them and always find a way to cut back on these funds.

Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr. Carla Barnett lamented how sums of money had been promised to help smaller countries to protect themselves against the harsh impact of climate change but much of those funds had not been provided.

Therefore, it can be concluded here, that although the announcement of the decision to create a Loss and Damage fund to compensate poor nations is certainly welcome, it is also too soon to celebrate. There are high chances that just like before it also won’t be followed up with real action. 

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The Caribbean nations need to understand that their real victory lies in being independent of the West. If they want to show these uptight nations their place, they need to get a hold of their resources and never let them get over-exploited by the global superpowers. Also, they should never shy away from utilising their own resources. In this endeavour, African nations, Latin American countries and other Southern nations can be their support. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NgcScyA0dQ