Rich countries will have to pay more, but large polluters such as fossil fuel extraction companies must also help poor countries cope with climate change, Oxfam says, because aid agencies are unable to respond to requests for assistance from these countries.
Climate change is putting pressure on humanitarian agencies, so funding needs for UN humanitarian assistance related to extreme weather conditions are eight times higher than 20 years ago, according to a new report from Oxfam.
The charity is appealing for help because aid agencies can no longer provide certain urgent needs, such as homes, hospitals, shelter, food and emergency livelihood funds.
The report entitled Account time was published on the sidelines of the Bonn conference on climate change, which will take place from June 6 to 16.
Pollution pays off in principle
Oxfam argues that over the past five years, UN funding has needed to respond to climate disasters Only 54% is funded on average, representing an estimated funding gap of between $ 28 billion and $ 33 billion.
Because corporations, individuals and the richest countries have the greatest contribution to climate change, Oxfam calls on all governments to participate in a funding mechanism to compensate for loss and damage included annual contribution based on responsibility for the cause of climate change and ability to pay.
May be included in this mechanism a tax on international maritime emissions and a tax on the extraction of fossil fuelsbased on the polluter-pays principle.
In recent years, huge profits have been made in these industries. I’m not talking about you, it’s really about money, that’s there, that exists, that’s on the tablereasoning Virginie Gagnon, senior campaign officer at Oxfam-Québec.
Oxfam recalls that the climate crisis has mainly affected the poorest countries, which are, by contrast, those that contribute less to greenhouse gas emissions, and that those with the greatest contribution to the climate crisis must pay for the damage caused to the least responsible and hardest hit countries by climate disasters.
Africa’s current emissions are less than 4% of the global totalunderline the report that refers that between 1990 and 2015, the carbon emissions of the world’s richest 1% were more than double the emissions of the poorest half of humanity.
Drought, floods, storms, wildfires and other extreme weather events plunge millions of people into poverty, hunger and deathOxfam argues, citing the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Beginning of the Bonn Conference
The humanitarian organization is calling on governments to put such a mechanism in place at COP27, which will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt next autumn.
The Bonn conference, to be held until June 16 in Germany, is a meeting designed to prepare for COP27.
In 2009, the most developed countries pledged to provide, from 2020, assistance of 100 billion dollars per year to the countries in the South most affected by the climate crisis. But this promise, which was the subject of some debate at COP26, is still not being fulfilled.
Oxfam believes that Industrialized countries have blocked funding negotiations on the loss and damage of the climate crisis for years..
The Oxfam report highlights that Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Haiti, Kenya, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Chad and Zimbabwe are the countries making the most appeals for humanitarian aid related to the crisis in climate.
The Canadian Press
Source: Radio-Canada
