UN climate body gets mandate to assist developing countries

Good news from the COP-19, UN Climate Change Conference 2013, which concluded in Warsaw, Poland on November 23. All clouds surrounding climate-induced loss and damage are now over! After decades of debate, emotional and heated arguments, an international mechanism on climate-induced loss and damage has been set up. This will help developing countries affected by disasters and calamities like hurricane Sidr, Aila, Mahasen in Bangladesh.
The new global deal named as 'Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage' is a milestone in the entire 21-year history of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to support tens of millions of victims of cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons, floods, drought and other adverse impacts of runaway climate change across the world.
The long-waited epic decision was taken in the evening of November 23, after 30-hours of the scheduled closing of the conference. A new vista of global cooperation is unfolding to help the most vulnerable countries battered by extreme weather events as well as slow onslaught events defined by the climate convention.
However, it's not a perfect deal, but what we call in Economics, the second best. It has a number of loopholes in its crafting, had a number of tricky phrases and also limitations. Climate-induced loss and damage is beyond adaptation crosses boundaries of economic and non-economic losses and damages to the socio-cultural fronts.
At the closing plenary when Polish minister Korolec Marcin, president of the conference, put the draft prepared by two co-facilitator ministers from Bomo Edna Molewa of South Africa and Lena Ek of Sweden, the entire 134-country Group of 77 roared.
This writer appreciated the enormous amount of flexibility shown by the US, UK, EU, Switzerland and G-77 but objected to place this landmark mechanism under adaptation for the whole concept of loss and damage is beyond adaptive capacities. It is disappointing that the new executive committee was not elected at Warsaw and it will take three years to unfold this new mechanism. Also unsatisfactory was the interim nature of the mechanism, committee and review approach.
During the plenary intervention, this writer mentioned the flexibilities shown by US climate envoy Todd Stern, UK lead negotiator Ben Lyon and Switzerland's Franz Paris. He also thanked the two co-facilitator ministers for accepting the suggestion he made during ministerial negotiations and series of consultations to name the agreement as 'Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage'.
The stage was perfectly set to adopt this decision as IPCC AR 5 report of galaxy of scientists this September warned us of the grave consequences of runaway climate change. More than 5,000 deaths and devastation in the Philippines, Palau and Vietnam caused by Typhoon Haiyan were a tragic backdrop that helped spur the ministers and delegates from 194 countries as we worked to create the mechanism to deal with loss and damage, in the parlance of the UN negotiation.
The Warsaw International Mechanism is tasked to provide countries with technical support, facilitate actions and improve coordination of work inside the UN Climate Convention as well as with other organisations. More importantly, it will also mobilise and secure funds, technology and capacity building activities to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts and slow onset events. Funds have to be raised when these events take place and that takes time and are not enough. Countries that are hit are often too devastated or poor to respond quickly.
It took many days before the victims of Bangladesh Sidr, Aila and Mahasen and the Philippines typhoon could be reached or helped with emergency rescue and life-saving services, besides food, health care and shelter. We have seen from our experience in Bangladesh and other LDC countries that it takes years, if ever, for shattered communities and rural livelihood to recoup and houses, cities and farmlands to be rebuilt.
With the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage in place, the organisational and financial gaps within the UN Climate Convention will hopefully be met. The UNFCCC currently mobilises funds for reduction of emissions and some adaptation but it did not have, until the adoption of the Warsaw International Mechanism, a clear mandate to assist developing countries recover from climate-induced loss and damage. We have to now concentrate on implementation of this landmark decision.
What Sir Nicolas Stern shared at Warsaw during the First Annual Adaptation Forum was also quite striking. According to him, damage caused by natural disasters has risen from about US$200 billion a year a decade ago to around $300-400 billion annually in recent years.
The writer is a lead climate
negotiator of 49-Least Developed Countries, a member of the UN Adaptation Committee, a member
of Bangladesh Delegation,
chairman of FEJB and APFEJ.
[email protected]