AMID their approval of the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) Board’s decision to choose the Philippines as its host country, climate campaigners have urged the government leaders to demand more from the global fund.
“The Philippines, as a country that is extremely vulnerable to loss and damage, should demonstrate political leadership in demanding the governments of developed countries to fulfill their historical, legal, and moral obligation to provide reparations for climate devastation,” said Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD).
“Developed countries should deliver trillions of grants-based finance, not the shameful millions they have pledged thus far,” added Nacpil, as they welcomed the LDF Board’s decision to select the Philippines.
Aside from the Philippines, the countries that submitted proposals to host the Board were Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Barbados, Eswatini, Kenya, and Togo.
According to Nacpil, the Philippine government “must stand firm for an LDF that is democratic and independent of the World Bank.”
“As interim host, the World Bank should not compromise the integrity of the Fund’s operations and decision-making,” she added.
Nacpil maintained that the participation of civil society organizations at the Fund’s board meetings “is crucial.”
“We call on the Board to encourage and facilitate a mechanism that ensures the active and meaningful engagement of civil society organizations in all Loss and Damage Fund processes and decisions,” Nacpil said in a statement to the media.
While the country will become the Board’s host country, the Fund’s secretariat will be housed at the World Bank, its interim host for the next four years.
“In response to the World Bank’s role, climate justice movements in the Global South are pushing for the Fund’s independence from its host, citing the Bank’s history of financing fossil fuel projects, supplying billions in trade finance to oil and gas projects as recently as 2022, and preference for loans with conditions,” Nacpil said.
Meanwhile, Nacpil said that “it’s unacceptable that the Fund has received only 661.39 million USD in pledges when loss and damage will cost 447 to 894 billion USD a year by 2030.”
“It’s particularly shameful that the United States has pledged only 17.5 million USD when they’re the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gasses and therefore most responsible for the climate crisis. The Philippines should join the rest of the Global South in demanding trillions, not millions, in climate finance from the developed countries who’ve pushed us to the brink of climate chaos,” she added.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier announced that the county is also “honored to have a seat on the Board itself, ensuring that the Philippines will be a formidable voice in promoting and advancing global climate action -- an issue of critical interest to the country.”
“Hosting the Loss and Damage Fund Board reinforces our dedication to inclusivity and our leadership role in ensuring that the voices of those most affected by climate change shape the future of international climate policies,” the president said.
The Loss and Damage Fund Board, comprising 26 members from Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement, is tasked to assist developing countries on its economic non-economic loss and damage amid its vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change. (Ronald O. Reyes/VoxPop Philippines)
