At COP27, climate 'loss and damage' funding makes it on the table

Chadians pose for a photograph at the entrance of the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AFP)
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Updated 07 November 2022
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At COP27, climate 'loss and damage' funding makes it on the table

  • UN climate chief says concrete action to tackle emissions and climate risks can no longer wait
  • Richer states expected to offer finance for insurance, early warning systems for poor countries

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Warned that mounting economic crises should not delay action on increasingly obvious global warming threats, climate negotiators agreed at U.N. talks on Sunday to start discussions on a funding plan to help climate-hit countries cope with surging losses. 

As the COP27 climate summit opened in Egypt, U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell said concrete action to tackle emissions and climate risks, delayed over decades, could no longer wait as dangerous effects worsen. 

"There is no one single crisis as critical, as impactful, as climate change," he said. 

"Wars will end, inflation, the cost of living, energy crises, these will come to an end. But what we are seeing... all around the world (is that) climate change is ever present and will get worse.” 

The agreement to put funding to address "loss and damage" on the negotiating agenda came amid sustained pressure from small island states and other vulnerable nations, including Pakistan, hit by summer floods that covered a third of the country. 

Richer governments, whose large historic emissions have been the main driver of climate impacts, are expected to offer finance to back a "Global Shield" at COP27 that would boost insurance coverage and early warning systems for poor countries. 

Some rich nations - including the United States, European Union countries and Australia - have so far resisted the creation of a loss and damage fund, fearing they could face trillions of dollars in liability for damages. 

But between liability payments and simple government contributions to boost insurance and early warning systems lies fertile ground for other potential sources of loss and damage funding, said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy for Climate Action Network, an international coalition of green groups. 

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, for instance, has called for nations around the world to impose a tax on the windfall profits of fossil-fuel energy firms, which have reported record quarterly profits as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has spurred soaring oil and gas prices. 

The money raised could go both to pay for climate loss and damage and to help people struggling with rising food and energy prices, Guterres said, insisting "polluters must pay" for the damage they cause. 

Singh said that "taxes are the operating space" for finding politically acceptable loss and damage finance - but putting levies on fossil fuel profits would be difficult because "the nexus between companies and politicians is so strong". 

Other types of taxes - such as on financial transactions or airlines - might also offer opportunities, said Singh, who has followed loss and damage discussions for more than a decade. 

What is clear, he said, is that whatever mechanism is set up to help poorer countries recover from losses needs to be based on legal obligation rather than voluntary charity, with surging humanitarian needs already unmet as climate-fuelled crises expand around the world. 

'Concrete action' needed 

After tough discussions ahead of COP27, government negotiators agreed at the opening session to launch talks on funding arrangements to tackle loss and damage "with a view to adopting a conclusive decision no later than 2024". 

Conrod Hunte, deputy chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), told negotiators that his members "do not want to be treated as though you are doing us a favour". 

Instead, he called for a "Loss and Damage Response Fund" to be set up at COP27 that would be put into operation by 2024. 

"We are here so that we can go back to our own homes, and not become climate-displaced people in yours," he said. 

On Monday and Tuesday, about 110 leaders are expected to gather at COP27 for a two-day leaders' summit, which COP27 organisers hope will help drive new ambition to cut emissions and boost finance for green energy and climate resilience. 

But key leaders of some of the biggest emitters - including China and India - will be missing, organisers said. U.S. President Joe Biden will attend at the end of the first week, after U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday. 

Stiell, of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, emphasised that with the G20 group of major nations responsible for 80% of global emissions and 85% of global GDP, it was evident who needed to step up at COP27 and take the lead on climate action. 

"The wealth, the tech, the means to address what needs to be done resides there," he noted. 

Alok Sharma, the British president of last year's COP26 in Glasgow, also insisted that this year's negotiations "must be about concrete action" rather than delays and promises. 

With climate losses and threats growing globally, "how many more wake-up calls does the world actually need?" he asked during the opening plenary. 


Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces second charge under national security law

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Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces second charge under national security law

HONG KONG: Hong Kong authorities once again arrested prominent activist Joshua Wong on Friday and charged him with conspiracy to collude with a foreign country under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
Wong, 28, was originally set to be released in January 2027 from a 56-month jail sentence he is serving under the same law for conspiracy to commit subversion after he participated in an unofficial primary election.
Taken to the West Kowloon magistrates’ courts, Wong faced a new charge of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.
The former student pro-democracy activist, who wore a blue shirt and appeared noticeably thinner than before, replied, “Understand,” when the clerk read out the charge and details of the offense.
Wong did not apply for bail, and the case was adjourned to August 8. Before returning to custody, he waved, shrugged, and shook his head in the direction of the public gallery.
In a statement, Hong Kong’s national security police said they had arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of the offense, as well as for “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offense.”
A charge sheet seen by Reuters accuses Wong of having conspired with exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations, or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades.
Such actions against Hong Kong or China, along with other hostile activities targeting them, took place in 2020, between July 1 and November 23, it added.
The National Security Law, which punishes offenses such as acts of subversion, collusion with foreign forces, and terrorism, with terms of up to life in jail, was imposed by Beijing on the former British colony in 2020.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the law is necessary to restore stability following anti-government protests in 2019.
But some Western governments have criticized it as being used to suppress free speech and dissent.

Economic hardships subdue the mood for Eid Al-Adha this year

Updated 36 min 28 sec ago
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Economic hardships subdue the mood for Eid Al-Adha this year

  • While sales increased ahead of Eid, Indonesian sellers say their businesses have lost customers in recent years
  • In New Delhi, sellers were busy tending to their animals while potential buyers negotiated prices with them

JAKARTA: Less spending, higher prices and fewer animal sacrifices subdued the usual festive mood as the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha was celebrated in many parts of the world.

In Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, Muslim worshippers were shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets and the Istiqlal Grand Mosque was filled for morning prayers Friday.

Eid Al-Adha, known as the “Feast of Sacrifice,” coincides with the final rites of the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia. It’s a joyous occasion, for which food is a hallmark with devout Muslims buying and slaughtering animals and sharing two-thirds of the meat with the poor.

Outside Jakarta, the Jonggol Cattle Market bustled with hundreds of cattle traders hoping to sell to buyers looking for sacrificial animals. While sales increased ahead of Eid, sellers said their businesses have lost customers in recent years due to economic hardship following the COVID-19 pandemic.

A foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2022 to 2023 also significantly dampened the typically booming holiday trade in goats, cows and sheep, though Indonesia’s government has worked to overcome that outbreak.

Rahmat Debleng, one of the sellers in the market, said before the pandemic and the FMD outbreak, he could sell more than 100 cows two weeks ahead of Eid Al-Adha. But on the eve of the celebration this year, only 43 of his livestock were sold, and six cows are still left in his stall.

“Though the foot-and-mouth outbreak threats remain loom large, but the declining in sales mostly because of economic hardship,” Debleng said.

Jakarta city administration data recorded the number of sacrificial animals available this year at 35,133, a decline of 57 percent compared to the previous year.

The government has made next Monday an additional holiday after Friday’s festival to allow people more time with their families. Eid momentum is expected to support economic growth in Indonesia, where household consumption helps drive GDP. It contributed over 50 percent to the economy last year, though analysts expect more subdued consumer spending in 2025.

Eid expected to come Saturday in South Asia

Eid Al-Adha commemorates the Qur’anic tale of Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice Ismail as an act of obedience to God. Before he could carry out the sacrifice, God provided a ram as an offering. In the Christian and Jewish telling, Abraham is ordered to kill another son, Isaac.

South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh will celebrate Eid Al-Adha on Saturday. Ahead of the festival, many Muslims in the region were turning to livestock markets to buy and sell millions of animals for sacrifice.

In New Delhi, sellers were busy tending to their animals at these markets, while potential buyers negotiated prices with them.

Mohammad Ali Qureshi, one of the sellers, said this year his goats were fetching as high as $640, some $60 more than the last year.

“Earlier, the sale of goats was slow, but now the market is good. Prices are on the higher side,” Ali said.

Preparations for the festival were also peaking in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where many Muslims dye sheep and goats in henna before they are sacrificed.

“We are following the tradition of Prophet Ibrahim,” said Riyaz Wani, a resident in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, as his family applied henna on a sheep they plan to sacrifice.


UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win

Updated 42 min 6 sec ago
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UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win

LONDON: Labour scored a surprise win in a Scottish Parliament by-election on Friday, giving UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government a rare moment of celebration.
Labour won with 8,559 votes, overturning the comfortable majority of 4,582 earned by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2021.
The SNP were favorites going into the election, but saw their vote collapse by almost 17 percent, netting them 7,957 votes and delivering a heavy blow to the party that runs Scotland.
“People in Scotland have once again voted for change,” Starmer wrote on X.
“Next year there is a chance to turbo charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border,” he added.
Starmer and his government have seen their popularity plunge since coming to power last July.
Labour secured 31.6 percent of the vote, slightly down on the 2021 election.
But they capitalized on a fractured opposition, with the anti-immigration Reform UK party making inroads into Scottish politics for the first time with 26.1 percent of the vote.
The Conservative party continued its dismal recent electoral record, gaining just six percent of the vote.
The ballot was held following the death of SNP lawmaker and government minister Christina McKelvie in March.


Students in rebel-held eastern Congo brave insecurity to take exams

Updated 56 min 22 sec ago
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Students in rebel-held eastern Congo brave insecurity to take exams

  • The Rwanda backed insurgents seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities in an offensive earlier this year

BUKAVU: Tens of thousands of secondary school students sat for state exams in rebel-held eastern Congo this week, a complicated logistical feat requiring rare cooperation between the government and M23 rebels.
The Rwanda-backed insurgents seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities in an offensive earlier this year and are now trying to show they can govern. African leaders along with Washington and Doha are meanwhile trying to broker a peace deal that would put an end to a conflict with roots in the Rwandan genocide more than three decades ago.
The state exams, administered across the sprawling central African country for students hoping to go to university, began on Monday and will continue through mid-June.
Administering them throughout the east of Democratic Republic of Congo required having education officials personally escort documents and other materials from the capital Kinshasa into M23-held cities and towns.
“We were among those who went to Kinshasa to collect the items,” said Jean-Marie Mwayesi, an education official in South Kivu province, where M23 claims considerable territory.
“Thanks to the combined efforts of our teams and partners, all 111 centers we cover have been served.”
President Felix Tshisekedi’s government announced last month it was waiving exam fees — which normally exceed $40 — for students in North and South Kivu provinces, citing insecurity.
While M23 has previously said it seeks the ouster of Tshisekedi’s government, the group’s leader Bertrand Bisimwa told Reuters that it still recognized Kinshasa as the administrator of national exams.
“Our presence in the eastern part of our country does not make this a separate country,” Bisimwa said.
“The education of our children is apolitical. It must be protected against any political divergence because we all work for the interest and well-being of our children.”
Human rights groups have repeatedly accused M23 of executing civilians including children — allegations the group has denied.
Exauce Katete was among the students who sat for exams at a school in the South Kivu regional capital Bukavu, which fell under M23 control in February and where insecurity including vigilante violence has increased since then.
“Yes, security is there. I can still see a few people outside, responsible for keeping us safe. There are no disturbances, no noise, everything is going well,” Katete said, referring to plainclothes officers positioned by M23 outside the school.
Mwayesi, the local education official, said that of 44,000 students who registered in his zone, nearly 42,000 showed up, speculating that the remainder may have been displaced by fighting.


Modi inaugurates ambitious rail project connecting Kashmir to Indian plains

Updated 15 min 44 sec ago
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Modi inaugurates ambitious rail project connecting Kashmir to Indian plains

  • The railway project is considered crucial to boosting tourism and bringing development to a region that has been marred by militancy and protests over the years

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated one of the most ambitious railway projects ever built in India, which will connect the Kashmir Valley to the vast Indian plains by train for the first time.

Dubbed by government-operated Indian Railways as one of the most challenging tracks in the world, the 272-kilometer line begins in the garrison city of Udhampur in Jammu region and runs through Indian-controlled Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar. The line ends in Baramulla, a town near the highly militarized Line of Control dividing the Himalayan region between India and Pakistan.

The line travels through 36 tunnels and over 943 bridges. The Indian government pegged the total project cost at around $5 billion.

Modi traveled to Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday for the first time since a military conflict between India and Pakistan brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region last month, when the countries fired missiles and drones at each other.

The conflict began with a gun massacre in late April that left 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers, a charge Islamabad denied.

The railway project is considered crucial to boosting tourism and bringing development to a region that has been marred by militancy and protests over the years. The line is expected to ease the movement of Indian troops and the public to the disputed region, which is currently connected by flights and mountain roads that are prone to landslides.

India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a charge Islamabad denies. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.