Dozens of ministers and senior delegates are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this week for a final meeting before the COP27 climate summit in November, where more vulnerable countries hope to push for compensation for economic losses linked to climate catastrophes. “The finance currently available is a pittance with respect to the magnitude of disasters vulnerable nations and people are facing and will face,” UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed said at the start of the three-day event. Egypt, which is hosting COP27, is working on how to include this kind of compensation for so-called loss and damage on the formal agenda — a task complicated by industrialised nations’ wariness of the liabilities they may face. The pre-summit is meant to be a forum for countries to shape the agenda for negotiations in Egypt and improve the chance of progress. DRC, like other African nations, has insisted on its right to develop its economy by exploiting its vast natural resources, pledging to minimise the potentially devastating environmental impact by using modern drilling methods and tight regulation.
SOURCE: BUSINESS DAY LIVE