What’s the news?

• • The country’s delegates expressed a strong intervention at the ongoing climate conference in Bonn, Germany regarding Loss and damage due to climate change is now a lived reality in India that requires massive funding to prepare for disasters by building capacity and strengthening early warning, followed by recovery and reconstruction after extreme weather events.
  • Loss and damage refers to the impacts of extreme weather events like more severe cyclones and slow onset events like sea level rise or glacial retreat.

• “Averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage” is mandated in the Article 8 of the Paris Agreement.

Key highlights 

• India has sent a 10-member delegation to Bonn for the meet during June 6-16 to prepare for the next United Nations climate change conference.
• The Indian delegates demanded that the efforts in India and other developing countries that require these large investments have to be supported by wealthy nations through a loss and damage finance facility.
• Several country groupings including G77 and China, the Alliance of Small Island States, Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries pressed for a separate agenda on establishing a separate loss and damage finance facility.
• The view on having a separate financing facility was opposed by the US, Australia and the European Union, which instead pushed the importance of insurance, catastrophe bonds and bilateral assistance during the dialogue.
• India’s intervention comes at a time when the country faced one of the most prolonged and severe heat waves, particularly in northwest and central India.
• India  as a country extremely vulnerable to climate impacts also emphasized on more support to strengthen local capacity to respond to climate disasters such as loss of crops, homes and infrastructure to intensifying storms, floods and rising seas and the need for additional finance in building back better.
• Developing countries have called for compensation from developed countries, while developed countries have sought instead to treat losses and damage as a sub-component of adaptation within the UNFCCC negotiations.
• The Glasgow Climate Pact of 2021, instead of specifying how finance and compensation will be delivered for loss and damage, decided to establish a dialogue between nations, relevant organizations and stakeholders to discuss the arrangements for the funding of activities to “avert, minimize and address loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change”.

Reference:

1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-pushes-for-funding-to-mitigate-climate-crisis-risk-101655058540390.html