Pledges to Green Climate Fund reach bare minimum
Pledges to Green Climate Fund reach bare minimum
The announcement of $9.5 billion in pledges to the Green Climate Fund is welcome but the amount represents only the bare minimum of what is needed, says Oxfam. The pledges were made by donor countries at a high-level pledging conference hosted by Germany yesterday to pave the way for the Climate Change Conference (COP) in Lima next month.
Countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium and Ireland have still not made any pledge.
Oxfam Canada welcomes the Government of Canada's announced contribution of $300 million to the Green Climate Fund. These funds are essential to help people who are poor and marginalized adapt to the havoc wreacked by climate chaos that threatens to further erode food security and increase inequality.
“Women farmers living in developing countries contribute little to greenhouse gas emissions, but are disproportionally affected by climate change,” said Lauren Ravon, Oxfam Canada’s Senior Policy Advisor. “Canada must ensure that rural women are able to access adaptation funds, to design projects that build on their wealth of knowledge about seeds, crops, water and land to increase community resilience in the face of climate change.”
Unfortunately, Canada’s contribution falls short of its fair share of the estimated $10 billion needed to capitalize the Fund before the next round of United Nations climate negotiations in Lima in December, which would amount to $419 million.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is intended to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for the unavoidable impacts of a changing climate and develop in a sustainable way. Developed countries promised $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020, a large portion of which is expected to be channeled through the Green Climate Fund.
Getting the GCF off to a good start and delivering on the $100 billion commitment is a crucial piece of the international talks. Negotiators in Lima will seek to make progress on several critical areas related to climate finance including how those pledges will be assessed for their adequacy. Some pledges still lack crucial details including whether they are from loans, are reallocated from existing aid or have unknown strings attached.
It is absolutely crucial that Canada disburse its funds as grants, not loans. Canada should also allocate at least half of its announced funding contribution to adaptation projects, and prioritize funding to support agricultural resilience and women’s organizations.
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Katia Gianneschi