Africa: Climate Activists Slam the West over False Claims on Climate Financing
By Henry Neondo
DOHA--African representatives at the on-going 18th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Climate Change in Doha, Qatar have lashed out at the claims made by participants at the conference from the developed countries that they have successfully delivered all the climate funds they pledged to developing countries in previous COPs.
Representatives from Australia, Canada, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, USA and EU announced at a Fast Start Finance side event held on Tuesday in Doha that that they have successfully delivered the pledged USD30 billion and even exceeded it by USD3 billion over the period 2010 to 2012.
But in a swift rejoinder, the African representatives composed of mainly members of the civil society groups coalescing under the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA said the claims were both inconsistent with the principles on which the Fast Start Finance is to be delivered and is not supported by facts on the ground.
According to Mithika Mwenda, the Coordinator of PACJA, the claims is totally unacceptable and demonstrates lack of integrity in the negotiations, thereby promoting mistrust in the already fragile multilateral negotiations. Where have the billions mentioned suddenly come from.
In 2009, at the COP15 in Copenhagen, developed countries pledged to provide new and additional resources, including forestry and investments, approaching USD 30 billion for the period 2010 to 2012 to be allocated in a balanced manner between adaptation and mitigation.
This was thereafter adopted during COP16 in Cancun the following year, making it an obligation on them to fulfil.
But tracking by agencies interested in climate financing reveal that only USD23.6 billion of the USD30 billion promised has been honoured. In addition, most of the funds are loans and not grants.
Recent research has further revealed that they include official development assistance (ODA) and that most of the funds went to mitigation and not adaptation, which is the priority for African countries.
In a press statement in Doha, PACJA demanded that an independent process be established to conduct transparent and consultative verification on the developed countries’ claims that they have successfully delivered all the fast start finance of over $30 billion to developing countries during 2010-2012.
“In the absence of independent verification to track the claims, we are worried that a bad precedence has been set in reporting on climate finance obligations and delivery by developed countries to developing countries. This will be detrimental to the millions of vulnerable communities in Africa who are in urgent need of financial resources to address the biting impacts of climate change,” said Mithika.
The groups also demanded a credible forum of representatives of the supposed beneficiary countries be established to openly and transparently scrutinise the claims of the developed countries and that there be established a clear reporting and verification mechanisms for future climate finance.