South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, has lauded the decision to establish a fund on loss and damage to address the impacts of climate change.
Loss and damage refer to a new funding arrangement for assisting developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
Speaking at a virtual press conference for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regarding the conclusions of the most recent Conference of Parties held in Sharm el-Sheikh (COP 27), Creecy explained that a Transitional Committee to work on the modalities had also been established.
“The COP27 outcomes reflect the urgency of the climate crisis, and the need to keep the 1.5-degree (Celsius) temperature target alive during what the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calls the ‘Critical Decade’, including by providing a clear programme to advance the mitigation agenda from now to 2026,”she said during the conference.
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She explained that the agreement on a four-year work programme consists of at least two global dialogues and a review at the end of the four years on whether to continue the programme (after 2026).
She noted that the call for multilateral consensus on making financial flows consistent with pathways towards low emissions and climate-resilient development could open new investment opportunities in Africa for clean energy investments, critical for addressing energy poverty on the continent.
COP27 also saw the opening of the sixth South African Pavilion, a collaboration between the National Industry Initiative and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment that highlighted business and government cooperation in the battle against global warming.
Story was adapted from SA News.
