... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
As the dust settles after COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, IIED’s executive director Tom Mitchell reflects on a ‘squandered opportunity’ to address the climate emergency and calls for reform of the COP process, to ensure adaptation and loss and damage finance reach those who most need it.COP29 in Baku will be remembered as a squandered opportunity to turn promises of climate action into reality. Despite being framed as the 'Finance COP', the outcomes reveal a deepening chasm between rhetoric and action. The failure of wealthier nations to provide meaningful adaptation finance or pathways to resilience for the most climate-vulnerable countries is devastating, especially when action on emissions has fallen short and the price tag of dealing with the impacts is rising steeply.
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
G20 nations have raked in nearly US$50 billion through debt repayments from the world’s poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to new analysis by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), reports NaijaAgroNet.Payments by 58 least developed countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) reached $21 billion in 2022 – up from $14 billion in 2021 and $13bn in 2020.
But despite the huge sums countries in the global South have spent on interest and capital repayments to the richest nations, G20 countries still held a total of $155 billion of bilateral LDC and SIDS debt in 2021.
The burden of debt on poorer countries has increased due to the global economic slowdown stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, COVID-19 and global price and interest rate rises. This has put many poor countries in increasingly critical positions, while forcing some to default and pushing others to the brink.
