缅北禁地

4 November 2021, Glasgow - 2020 was another record-setting year for human and economic devastation by natural disasters. 

The number of disasters from 2000-2019, such as floods and storms have about doubled compared to 1980-2000 and much of the cause is climate change. At the same time, desertification, salination, sea-level rise and other so called slow-onset events are threatening livelihoods as well as natural and cultural heritage.

Among the nations that are increasingly and disproportionately impacted by climate change, besides the unprecedented impacts of COVID-19, are small island developing States (SIDS). The perfect storm of pandemic, climate change and other persistent challenges to SIDS are severely straining government finances and increasing ever more burdensome external debt. Many island nations face liquidity or solvency issues that in turn severely hampers their resilience, recovery and adaptive capacity.

Loss and damage, a major climate-related issue for SIDS, refers to impacts of climate change that occur despite adaptation and mitigation. This means, the more global mitigation and adaptation efforts fail, the more support and financing is needed to address loss and damage. Currently, the world is not on track to achieve the targets set out in the Paris Agreement. Even if Nationally Determined Contributions as of 2019 were met, the critical 1.5° C target would not be met, and likewise a hypothetical 3° C degree target would also be missed.

Vulnerable countries hit by climate-fueled disasters can find themselves in a downward spiral as debt increases after a disaster, leading to higher debt servicing costs. With each new disaster, and continuous exposure to slow-onset events, financial vulnerability grows and the capacity to respond to future disasters weakens.

At COP26 OHRLLS, in collaboration with the Government of Jamaica and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), brought together experts to discuss action on financing and support to address loss and damage in SIDS.

Among the high-level speakers were Mr. Courtenay Rattray High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, Mr. Molwyn Joseph, Minister of Health, Wellness and Environment of Antigua and Barbuda, and Ms. UnaMay Gordon of the Jamaica Ministry of Environment.

Island nations at COP26 stressed the need for a financing facility to address loss and damage in SIDS and explored ways to measure loss and damage, addressing risk through inter-regional cooperation as well as insurance mechanisms and institutional developments in the Warsaw International Mechanism.

The provision of finance for climate-related loss and damage is a demand that island negotiators will continue to put forth in the remaining days of COP26. In the meantime, OHRLLS is committed to continue working with AOSIS to carry loss and damage forward to COP27 in Egypt to make concrete progress on financing action and support for loss and damage.