The Philippines has been chosen to host the board of a global fund aimed toward serving to weak nations deal with local weather dangers.
The loss and harm fund is a worldwide finance mechanism arrange on the COP28 talks in Dubai final yr, to supply compensation for losses and damages from pure disasters attributable to local weather change. The choice on who to host the fund was introduced this week, following closed-door deliberations on the board’s second assembly held in Incheon, South Korea.
“We totally admire the extent of belief bestowed on our nation to function the host of the loss and harm fund board. We don’t take this matter evenly, and we commit to totally adjust to the enterprise and guarantees made within the bid of the Philippines,” mentioned Mark Dennis Joven, Philippines’ consultant to the loss and harm fund board, on the assembly. The archipelagic state has a seat on the board.
As host nation, the Philippines will signal authorized agreements, present diplomatic immunity for the board, and prepare for visas and different logistics required for member nations attending official conferences.
Its position as host doesn’t supply the Philippines precedence in accessing local weather funds, however will give the climate-vulnerable nation “extra alternatives to affect” the policy-setting course of for the fund,” mentioned Rosa Perez, an unbiased local weather change specialist, who advises the Philippine delegation at local weather summits. Perez added that the nation has extra expertise and experience in local weather and catastrophe risks-related points.
Mark Dennis Joven delivers a speech after the Philippines is introduced as host nation of the loss and harm board. Picture: UNFCCC
As of December 2023, rich nations most accountable for the local weather emergency have pledged a mixed whole of over US$700 million to the fund. It’s the equal of lower than 0.2 per cent of the irreversible financial and non-economic losses growing nations are dealing with from world heating yearly.
The loss and harm fund board is tasked to operationalise the fund. This consists of deciding which nations entry the funds and methods to mobilise the cash for marginalised communities.
Claire Miranda, local weather justice advocate on the Asian Peoples Motion on Debt and Improvement (APMDD), mentioned that there isn’t any “sensible” profit for the Philippines as host of the loss and harm fund board, however the choice demonstrates that the nation “stands out as a number one advocate for local weather motion”, significantly in addressing the problem of loss and harm. APMDD is a regional alliance of fifty member organisations and actions.
Miranda believes that the selection of the Philippines as host additionally considers logistical preparations. Japanese Carribean island Barbados was a robust contender within the bid however delegates attending board conferences must journey to the USA to get to the assembly venue, and visa entries is perhaps troublesome for some, she mentioned.
Aside from Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, the Bahamas, Eswatini, Kenya and Togo additionally submitted purposes to host the fund’s board.
The second board assembly for the loss and harm fund was held in Incheon, South Korea on 9 July 2024. Picture: UNFCCC
Attributable to its geographical location, the Philippines is hit on common by greater than 20 tropical storms a yr and is vulnerable to earthquakes and different pure disasters. At COP, the Philippine delegation has historically been vocal about loss and harm compensation. In 2013, after Hurricane Haiyan, the deadliest cyclone to hit the archipelago, the Philippine delegation pushed for extra motion to resolve a impasse on the local weather talks at COP19 in Warsaw, Poland.
Naderev Saño, then the Philippines lead negotiator and its local weather change commissioner, mentioned he would quick all through the two-week negotiations, till significant pledges have been made on local weather finance, and a loss and harm mechanism agreed on. Saño’s actions partly led to the institution of the Warsaw Worldwide Mechanism for Loss and Injury at COP19.
World Financial institution’s position as interim funder nonetheless a priority
Whereas the Philippines will function the board’s host, the fund’s secretariat might be hosted by World Financial institution, which is headquartered in Washington DC, for the subsequent 4 years. Its appointment as secretariat and trustee of the fund has been a level of competition with some growing nations involved that this would supply donor nations with appreciable affect over how the fund is disbursed, on condition that World Financial institution’s presidents are appointed by the USA.
That is regardless of situations already set at COP28 for governments and organisations working with weak communities to obtain funding instantly, with out having to undergo intermediaries like multilateral improvement banks or United Nations companies.
“The World Financial institution is dominated by the governments of developed nations, making it unfit to run a fund whose main monetary instrument ought to be grants, not loans, and whose mission is to serve the self-determined wants of growing nations,” mentioned Lidy Nacpil, APMDD coordinator.
For now, the International South continues to be pushing for the fund’s independence from the World Financial institution, and has cited the financial institution’s historical past for financing fossil gas tasks as one more reason for his or her rejection of the choice to have the multilateral financial institution host the loss and harm fund’s secretariat.
“The Philippines should stand agency for a loss and harm fund that’s democratic and unbiased of the World Financial institution. As interim host, the World Financial institution mustn’t compromise the integrity of the fund’s operations and decision-making,” Nacpil mentioned.
