Dr.Samir Tantawi: The establishment of the Loss and Damages Fund is historical..These are the conditions for achieving success

shaban hadia -Habiba Gamal

Dr. Samir Tantawi, a climate change consultant at the United Nations, a member of the International Panel on Climate Change, confirmed that the decisions reached at the climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, especially with regard to the Loss and Damage Fund, are registered in the name of Egypt. However, there was a permanent refusal from Western countries to simply include it on the agenda, but the Egyptian presidency of the conference succeeded in including it during coordination before the conference on the official agenda of the negotiations, which was an early success for the negotiations, and the Egyptian presidency was able to reconcile all parties to reach a decision.

Tantawi explained in exclusive statements to “The Green Future” that, according to the decision, there will be a committee emerging from the conference that will begin its work to present its report at the upcoming summit in Dubai 2023, to study the criteria for the fund’s work, potential funding sources and beneficiaries from this fund, and the work of this committee may be extended. For another year in the event that it did not complete its work during the next twelve months, after which future steps are considered.

Intransigence and arrogance from the industrialised countries

Tantawi stressed that the establishment of such funds is not an easy matter, as there is intransigence and arrogance on the part of the industrialised countries to establish any financial mechanism obligating them to pay the money, citing the previous difficulties in establishing the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, both of which are currently working, but the size of their projects is small. , as a result of the great difficulty that developing countries face in accessing financing.

The climate change consultant at the United Nations confirmed that the new nascent fund will take quite a long time to negotiate in order to reach full operation to receive funds and determine the areas for their spending, and this, according to his opinion, requires that there be a role for each of the parties, beginning with the negotiators, the industrialized countries and the donor.

The role of donor countries and the industrial source of funding

Regarding the role of donor or industrial countries, according to Tantawi, funds must be from guaranteed government sources with specific goals, quantities and timings, and the mistakes of previous funds are avoided, so the ball is not thrown into the court of the private sector, as was said previously.

Tantawi stressed that a percentage of the gross domestic income should be allocated to the industrialized countries, given that this is something that can be measured and calculated, and ensures that countries do not manipulate or evade fulfilling obligations, and in the event that only 1% of the total income of each industrialized country is allocated to finance the new fund. losses and damages.”

The role of negotiators during the next two years

Tantawi added that the decision stipulated that a committee of industrialized and developing countries be formed for negotiation, and its task would be to make recommendations on the structure, ratios, and mechanisms of the fund’s work. green” for the major oil companies that use it as a pretext to search for fossil fuel explorations and complete their activities.

And he stressed the need for this fund not to turn to wash the reputation of the oil giants that rule global economies and policies, and to avoid operational errors that previous funds were exposed to, such as the difficulty of accessing financing or the difficulty of preparing studies and documents for obtaining financing.

The role of developing countries

As for the role of developing countries, Tantawi says that developing countries must be ready with clear plans and strategies based on science that explain and explain how the country is threatened by the effects of climate change, and that it has actual projects and studies that it has prepared and tested to confront these dangers in various threatened sectors.

He added that developing countries should not wait for the fund to come to light and then search for what to do. We must be one step ahead and ready for such a fund.

Do not intimidate or underestimate

Tantawi explained that what was achieved in the Climate Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, we should not underestimate this achievement, as it is an achievement that will be recorded in the name of Egypt in the history of the UN climate negotiations, but we await the position of the industrialised countries regarding the work of the committee, which will study the mechanisms and make recommendations.

Implementing the Paris Agreement and reducing emissions

In response to the comments made by the western side on the results of the conference, Tantawi explained that before the climate conference there were some issues that occupied the international community’s thinking regarding climate action, and everyone hoped that there would be progress on these issues, including reaching an agreement on reducing emissions. And maintaining the 1.5 degree Celsius limit that the Paris climate agreement talked about, as no decisions were taken regarding emissions reduction, including immediate and rapid exit from all types of fossil fuels and coal, and the issue of climate financing. Pressure or a decision with a new global goal for financing. All these issues that have not been decided on have been relegated to the Dubai Summit in the Emirates scheduled for next year.

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