The poorest countries want compensation for the damage caused by global warming to be high on the agenda of the next United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) which is due to start on November 7, 2022 in Egypt.
A few days after the catastrophic floods in Pakistan, experts from the Group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), some 45 mainly African and Asian countries, met this week in Dakar, Senegal, to adopt a common position for the COP27.
Various speakers insisted on the minimal contribution made by their countries to global greenhouse gas emissions and on the disproportionate price they pay. “Events such as floods, coastal erosion, unseasonable rains… when these events occur unpredictably with sometimes extremely high intensities, countries are left to their own devices”said Senegalese Environment Minister Abdou Karim Sall.
“It has become imperative that a fund be put in place to cover loss and damage, especially in the least developed countries.”
Abdou Karim Sall, Senegalese Minister of the EnvironmentAFP
The American special envoy for the climate John Kerry recalled it in Dakar: African countries produce very little greenhouse gas but they are paying a high price for the impacts of the climate crisis. “20 countries represent 80% of emissions. And 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa represent 0.55% of these emissions”he recalled, before acknowledging that “developed countries must do more“. “But we also need you around the table”he added.
On the other hand, several African countries have stated that they do not want to give up the exploitation of their oil and gas resources. The Senegalese Minister for the Environment and his Congolese counterpart Eve Bazaiba Masudi refuse that the industrialized countries ask them to give up the exploitation of their hydrocarbons in the name of the fight against global warming.
Senegal plans to start exploiting its gas and oil reserves in the Atlantic in 2023. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) launched calls for tenders at the end of July for the exploitation of 27 oil and three gas blocks, arousing the excitement of environmental activists, worried about the impact on biodiversity and the climate.
Minister Eve Bazaiba Masudi judged on her side “inconceivable” that the West, which “built its industry on fossil fuels”asks the DRC to give it up while it continues to represent the overwhelming majority of emissions. “We must also fight against poverty, we must link the issue of environmental protection to the economy to achieve sustainable development”, did she say. “We do not accept that they come and tell us to give up the leverage we have”added the Senegalese minister.
Twenty states, including the United States and France, had committed at COP26 to putting an end by the end of 2022 to the foreign financing of fossil energy projects without carbon capture techniques. . John Kerry recalled in Dakar “the need for Africa to be involved in decision-making and action, and to participate in adapting to climate realities.” US senator detailed the action of his country in favor of Africa and against global warming, such as the granting in 2021 of 8.2 billion dollars in humanitarian aid and support for adaptation to climate change.
The final declaration of the meeting urges rich countries to honor financial commitments made in the past. An envelope of 100 billion dollars per year had been promised to poor countries during the Paris agreement.