At the UN climate summit COP28 in Dubai, countries agreed on a ‘loss and damage fund’. The media write about the “first success”.
The fund is intended to support poor countries that are already particularly affected by the consequences of climate change, KAI reports.
“The concept of loss and damage was mainly driven by small island states that have experienced the consequences of climate change from the very beginning and are particularly vulnerable in this regard,” Mirey Atallah explained in an interview with Vatican Radio.
She recalled that some of these island states have their entire territory just one meter above sea level. They began to raise concerns internationally about rising sea and ocean levels and the viability of their states and nations.
COP28 in Dubai. “Loss and damage fund”
Industrialized countries have already contributed about $400 million to the fund. – I would like to emphasize the concept of loss. It is relatively easy to understand what losses are. This includes, for example, material losses in the form of destroyed housing infrastructure, displacement and displacement of people affected by, for example, floods or droughts. However, harm is a concept that goes far beyond this framework. They also apply to the non-economic sector, Atallah said, giving an example. There are several ‘sacred forests’ in Benin that are considered sacred because of the bond that the indigenous people, local communities, have with these forest areas. They have spiritual value to them.
These “sacred groves” are characterized by the presence of a specific butterfly species associated with cultural, cultic and spiritual practices. However, insects – and therefore butterflies – are among the species most threatened by climate change. – Temperature fluctuations, which may seem very insignificant to us, can pose a deadly threat to the larvae or caterpillars of these butterflies. But with the loss of this butterfly species, the entire cultural and spiritual aspect of these forests for the indigenous people is also lost. Such examples can be found all over the world. And these damages and losses that are not of an economic nature are one of the aspects that many countries wanted to include in the concept of this fund. It is also about the loss of national identity, Atallah said.
At the beginning of October, Pope Francis wrote in his apostolic exhortation ‘Laudate Deum’: ‘The declaration that nothing is to be expected [po szczycie klimatycznym w Dubaju – przy. red.] “would amount to self-harm because it would mean exposing all humanity, especially the poorest, to the worst effects of climate change… Nothing more is required of us than a certain responsibility for the legacy we will leave behind in the future. end of our existence on earth.”
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
