Pacific Island nations are calling for a new fund to help offset the cost of climate-related losses and damages for countries that have been unable to access other sources of funding and are now suffering the consequences.
What's happening?
According to a report by Inter Press Service, the collective small island developing states in the Pacific Ocean, also known as SIDS, called on attendees at the COP29 conference in Azerbaijan to create a climate loss and damage fund, allowing them access to crucial resources to help rebuild in the wake of an increase in catastrophic weather events that disproportionately impact these island nations.
"Access to funding is very limited to date," said Coral Pasisi, the Pacific Community's director of climate change and sustainability in Niue. "There are structural impediments to why international funds are not financing adaptation and mitigation in the Pacific at the rate they need. Most global funds do not take account of the special circumstances of SIDS — including their extreme exposure to disasters, remoteness, lack of capacity and small population sizes. And there is a direct correlation between the lack of access to climate finance for resilience and adaptation measures and the mounting costs of loss and damage for the Pacific region."
Why is this climate fund important?
The island nations called their lack of access to previous funding a "gross injustice," as they are disproportionately impacted by the severe weather events that have been unleashed by our steadily warming climate.
Because these countries are small and isolated from the rest of the world, they often struggle to find the means necessary to rebuild in both economic and non-economic ways after a typhoon or volcanic eruption.
Despite the clear-cut need for funds, those resources have historically been tough to come by for Pacific Island nations because of the bureaucracy a country must navigate to access them. Because of their size and isolation, their governments often lack the necessary resources, technical acumen, or time to jump through the required hoops to obtain the money they need.
What's being done about the fund?
While the fund was agreed to during COP27, in 2022, progress on actually building it has been incredibly slow.
"The biggest challenge is the time it takes to access funding. Time is not on our side," said Michelle DeFreese, SPC loss and damage project coordinator. "Countries have urged for the development of the Fund for decades, but the impact of climate-related loss and damage is already taking a tremendous toll on countries in the Pacific."
While SIDS have been encouraged by the framework presented by more developed nations, there are also concerns about the amount of funding being promised. While estimates say $100 billion per year is needed to help stem the impact of our warming planet on these small countries, only $700 million has been promised.
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There is hope, however, that soon the money will be fully available and the funds will be obtainable for these vulnerable countries.
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