The regional conference on loss and damage took place on the 9th day of May, 2023 at Visa Karena Hotel, Port Harcourt. The theme of the conference was “Towards a National Action Plan on Loss and Damage in Nigeria”. The conference was organized by We-The-People and Policy Alert, and funded by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation. In attendance were CSOs advocating for climate justice, members of communities affected by climate change, legal practitioners, members of Climate & Sustainable Development Network (CSDevNet) and the media. The conference aimed at shedding more light on the concept of loss and damage, seeking ways the government, private sector, communities and the civil society organization can partner in achieving the aims of the loss and damage fund.
Loss and damage refer to the negative effects and consequences that is resulted from the unavoidable risks of climate change, such as flooding, rising sea levels, prolonged heatwaves, desertification, the acidification of the sea and extreme events, such as bushfires, species extinction and crop failures. The United Nations (UN) defines Loss and damage as the negative impacts of climate change that occur despite, or in absence of mitigation and adaptation. This includes economic impacts such as damaged infrastructure and decline in agricultural output, as well as issues such as community displacement and biodiversity loss.
Brief history of loss and damage
The idea of loss and damage was first conceived by the UNFCCC in 1991, where the island nation of Vanuatu (on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States) proposed creating an insurance scheme to provide financial resources to nations impacted by sea level rise. The proposal was for each member country to contribute funds based on their relative contribution to global emissions and their share of the global gross national product. The proposal didn’t see the light of day, as it was rejected, and the issue of loss and damage was not mentioned when the text of the Framework Convention was adopted in 1992.
Loss and damage fund was an outcome of the UN climate talks in 2007 as part of the Bali Action Plan. However, in 2013 the issue gained real traction in UN climate negotiations, when parties formed the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage to avert, minimize and address loss and damage.
In 2015, developing nations successfully pressed to include in the Paris Agreement a goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) and an article on loss and damage. However, the latter, Article 8, faced limitations since the Agreement doesn’t refer to finance related to loss and damage. In fact, developed countries secured language in the accompanying COP decision explicitly stating that loss and damage “does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation”. At COP26, a coalition of climate-vulnerable countries advocated for creating a new finance facility or fund which should address loss and damage, however their plea was not considered, as thus no fruitful outcome in terms of loss and damage.
COP27 delivered a breakthrough for loss and damage as countries for the first time agreed to put loss and damage funding arrangements on the formal agenda. This was a historic breakthrough as countries decided to establish funding arrangements to address loss and damage, including a loss and damage fund. Governments also established a Transitional Committee to grapple with details for how to design the fund before it can become operational at COP28 in the UAE.
Dr. Ken Henshaw spoke on critical perceptive on loss and damage, he considered loss and damage to be a political issue as loss and damage expresses the key climate justice arguments that have dominated the civil society landscape for a few decades. Loss and damage recognize the historical role that the global north has played in contributing to climate crisis. 89% of fossil fuel infrastructure, which is a major contributor to climate serve for export purposes. He stated that in order for the loss and damage fund to be effective and achieve its aims and objectives, it is important the world leaders put an end to emissions from the extractive sector and venture into agriculture and other renewable forms of energy. Inasmuch as recognition and agreement on loss and damage is useful progress towards addressing long-standing impacts of climate change, Dr. Ken also pointed out that it does not make meaning in the face of continued extraction and pollution in a world that is on track for a catastrophic 2.8°C of warming. In the face of continued emissions, loss and damage fund that will keep increasing in tandem with emissions and its destruction. In his words, the loss and damage won’t save the planet, at best it is a “fund for the end of the world”.
Dr. Ken Henshaw analyzed and critiqued the coverage of the loss and damage fund, he pointed out that the loss and damage fund is overtly focused on measurable damages and loses, like flood devasted infrastructure and other stressors. However, there are several direct and indirect climate change impacts that may not be covered by the loss and damage spectrum, such as the impacts on mental health resulting from the loss of livelihood, incalculable toll of losing family members, the loss of cultures and ways of living, or the trauma of being forced to migrate from ancestral homes.
Does the loss and damage fund cover backlog of impacts, migration and conflicts?
How will the fund be managed differently from other global climate funds?
Will the fund be voluntary?
Should countries that extract fossils and get revenues from it not take some responsibility for loss and damage?
These questions and many more are begging answers and have generated concern across the world. It is one of the many expectations from deliberations in the forthcoming COP28 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a couple of months. It will interest the world to see a developed framework on the generation and use of the loss and damage fund to support vulnerable communities and countries across the world.
Steve Abu, an environmental activist working with the Climate & Sustainable Development Network (CSDevNet) in his presentation; “Nigeria: towards a national action plan on loss and damage” highlighted some major steps the government and private sectors can take to maximize the loss and damage fund, and how civil society organizations can push and advocate for the proper utilization of the L&D fund to reach the communities affected by the adverse impacts of climate change. He stated that the response to L&D fund must be articulated through a community-centered process which makes it possible to be understood. The deployment of the L&D fund will come with opportunities for developing countries such as agricultural transformation, poverty alleviation, sanitation, housing, energy, forest and coastal water resources, diversity and ecosystem restoration, transportation, emission reduction, good health and wellbeing, etc.
Framework for a National Action Plan on Loss and Damage (NAPLD) should include:
1. Strong and visionary leadership from the government, private sector and civil society organizations
2. The federal government of Nigeria should provide overarching policy and legislative leadership
3. State and local government should take the lead in their regions and at the grassroots through advocacy and sensitization
4. The civil society organizations play a role of catalysts at the adoption frontline
5. The NAPLD should be knowledge-based, and should include local knowledge and experience.
6. All stakeholders should create more awareness and so more sensitization on climate change
The regional conference of loss and damage ended with a presentation on Rethinking finances to avert, minimize and advance Loss and Damage by Mr. Tijah Bolton-Akpan, the Executive Director of Policy Alert. He stated that the financing solutions for climate justice must advance rapidly; world leaders should incorporate a debt strategy for indebted countries, quantification of losses to climate, invest in climate resilient infrastructure and deal with corruption. He recommended a multi stakeholders forum, whereby funds will not only be managed by the government.
The last session of the conference was a panel discussion on mitigating the effects of climate change, and loss and damage in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta region.
