UN Funds Insufficient For Climate Disasters: Oxfam
Oxfam International released a report, which says the UN (United Nations) requires eight times more Climate Finance than 20 years ago to be able to provide humanitarian aid to Low-Income Countries during Climate-Related Disasters (Droughts, Floods or Wildfires).
- The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s sixth assessment reports made it evident that more climate-related disasters are in the offing and therefore climate change will escalate the loss and damage suffered by these marginalized communities.
Findings:
- In 2000-02, UN appealed for USD 1.6 billion as humanitarian aid. The appealed amount rose to an average of USD 15.5 billion in 2019-2021 — an unprecedented 819% increase.
- Rich countries have been able to deliver 54% of the UN’s appeals in the last five years, leaving a massive deficit of USD 28-USD 33 billion.
- People in low-income countries are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate-related disasters, be it droughts, floods or wildfires, as these disasters further exacerbate poverty and death affecting them disproportionately.
- Besides the huge financial burden, loss and damage due to climate crisis encompass health, biodiversity and loss of indigenous knowledge, among gender issues and other related factors.
- For every USD 2 needed for the UN’s humanitarian aid, rich donor countries provide USD 1.
- This is despite the fact that the richest 1% people on Earth are emitting twice as much carbon pollution as the poorest half of humanity.
- Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe are among the ten countries most in need of Climate Finance.
- Richer people are less exposed to climate risks and better able to weather disasters. They live in more secure places and have more assets to draw on. Poorer people have less protection and therefore experience greater loss and damage, which accumulates over time.
- The economic cost of loss and damage by 2030 will rise to the range of USD 290-USD 580billiont.
Oxfam International:
- Oxfam International is a group of independent non-governmental organisations formed in 1995.
- The name “Oxfam” comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in Britain in 1942.
- The group campaigned for food supplies to starving women and children in enemy-occupied Greece during the Second World War.
- It aims to maximize efficiency and achieve greater impact to reduce global poverty and injustice.
- The Oxfam International Secretariat is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
