The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday discussed at length the current status of matters at COP27 relating to funding arrangements responding to loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change and said there was a legitimate demand for an adequate funding setup for loss and damage at the earliest.
The Mitigation work program is yet to reach the desired outcome but Adaptation is still held back by procedural matters, Guterres said as he witnessed the last crucial stretch of COP27 in in Sharm el-Sheikh.
According to him, ambitious outcomes on finance have not yet materialized but on loss and damage parties are shying away from taking the difficult political decisions.
Guterres here in the last few hours as Parties strive to finalize discussions and agree on outcomes is a testament to the priority and importance he attaches to this process and to the overall global efforts to address climate change.
“I urge all parties to go the extra mile, take the necessary steps to reach the much-needed conclusions and agreements. The world is waiting for us to demonstrate the seriousness by which we tackle this matter, and as a community of nations we must live up to their expectations,” the senior UN official said.
Latest estimates show that rates of undernourishment in the Sub-Saharan African population are projected to increase by 25-90% compared to the present at a warming of around 1.5°C by 2050.
The negative impacts of climate change on nutrition are projected to increase the proportion of children severely stunted by 50% compared to a future without human-induced climate change, it said.
The need for adaptation measures to cope with these projected impacts is significant even at 1.5-2°C warming. However, the Loss and Damage in Africa report shows that under all warming scenarios and despite strong adaptation efforts in the region, considerable adverse effects of climate change will be felt in Africa, resulting in further loss and damage.
This article has been published with the support from MESHA/IDRC grant for COP-27 coverage
