The Chair of the African Group of Negotiators, Ali Mohamed, has urged the newly elected US President Donald Trump to commit to the loss and damage fund, arguing the lives of climate-hit Africans count on it.
Mohammed told the Uganda Radio Network at the sidelines of the COP 29 conference in Saturday in Baku that the loss and damage fund is a necessity for the survival of Africans whose livelihood is battered by the negative impacts of climate change.
“The US has been a great ally for many African nations, and it is regrettable that its resistance to include loss and damage in climate finance discussions does not align with the urgency of the crisis we are facing,” Mohammed said.
“We hope that Washington will revise its position on this very important issue, and we will use the means available to us, as the African Group of Negotiators, to advocate for a mutually beneficial solution.”
His concerns came after the recent re-election of Donald Trump as the United States President.
In 2019, Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement in his first term as president, saying that funding the loss and damage fund puts an “unfair economic burden” on the American citizens.
Despite that, Mohammed revealed that Africa negotiators are determined to fight for climate funding, adding that many lives of Africans are at risk due to climate crises.
Climate finance has been at the centre of discussion at this year’s COP29 which kicked off on November 11 in Baku.
Developing nations are pushing for the developed countries to adopt the New Collective Quantified Goals (NCGQ).
The NCQG succeeded the 2009 agreement in Copenhagen Climate, where developed countries agreed to “mobilise” 100 billion US dollars per year by 2020 to address climate needs of developing nations. This goal was, however, met in 2022- two years after the initial deadline.
In the Paris agreement of 2015, countries agreed that developed countries shall set a new collective quantified goal from a floor of $100bn per year before 2025, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries.
With the 2025 deadline approaching, this will be the final opportunity to settle on the new target.
Mohammed notes that loss and damage fund is a not political issue, adding that it is the moral obligation of the developed nations to support climate-hit communities in developing countries caused by their heavy carbon emissions.
Professor Isaac Kalonda, a negotiator from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, accused the developed nations of playing delaying tactics, adding that they should pay for the climate damages caused by their actions.
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