Amazon nations fail to agree on deforestation goal at summit
9/8/2023: Eight South American nations have agreed on a list of joint actions to protect the Amazon rainforest, but failed to mention a long-awaited target to halt deforestation. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had been pushing for the region to unite behind a common policy of ending deforestation by 2030.
Source: Climate Home News
Amazon deforestation continues to fall under Lula
5/8/2023: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon detected by satellite through 2023 is down 42% on the same period last year, marking a sharp reversal of performance under the Bolsonaro administration. Since retaking the presidency, Lula has worked to restore protections for the Amazon and rally international support for the ecosystem.
Source: Mongabay
Carbon offsets will not save the Amazon rainforest
1/8/2023: The deal set up between the Norwegian government and Guyana demonstrates how the carbon offset market is plagued with problems. It routinely inflates its climate impact, diverts money to middlemen who cream off profits, and exploits Indigenous communities.
Source: Climate Home News
Bridgetown Agenda author rejects idea of climate reparations
24/7/2023: A working and financed climate loss and damage fund is seen by many experts as essential to clinching a global agreement at COP 28 later this year. Complex negotiations to set up the fund are off track as many high-income countries are sensitive to the blurry line between reparations and funding loss and damage.
Source: Devex
Water – a weapon of war or a tool for peace?
11/7/2023: The recent Kakhovka dam disaster in Ukraine is a painful reminder of how destruction of water infrastructure can cause enormous suffering in times of war. Researchers who have studied Yemen, Libya, and Syria say that attacks on civilian and environmental infrastructure have become more common in the past decade.
Source: Inter Press Service
Developing nations decry threat to UK climate finance
6/7/2023: A leaked memo suggests that the UK's promise to deliver £11.6 billion in international climate finance by 2026 is being dropped. A broken pledge is likely to sow further divisions between developed and developing nations at climate talks.
Source: Climate Home News
10% increase in primary tropical forest loss in 2022
27/6/2023: During the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, heads of 145 countries pledged to reduce global deforestation by 10% each year, targeting zero deforestation by 2030. In the first year after the Glasgow pledge, tropical forest loss increased by 10%.
Source: Mongabay
Bonn climate talks avoid break down on adaptation goals
16/6/2023: Talks on global efforts to adjust to the effects of climate change were rescued at the very last minute during climate talks in Bonn, following bitter divisions between developing and developed countries. Progress was essential to prospects of agreement on adaptation goals at the forthcoming COP28 summit in Dubai.
Source: Climate Home News
Rich countries fail to honour $100 billion climate finance
5/6/2023: Rich polluting countries are now three years overdue on their promise to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance for low- and middle-income countries. Oxfam's latest report shows that while donors claim to have mobilized $83.3 billion in 2020, the real value of their spending was at most $24.5 billion.
Source: Oxfam International
Nigeria’s Happy City close to being swallowed by the sea
6/6/2023: A 0.5-meter rise in sea level could force 27-53 million Nigerians to relocate by the end of the century. Developed economies have agreed to set up a loss and damage fund but questions remain over its implementation. Meanwhile the city of Ayetoro is disappearing in rising ocean surges.
Source: African Arguments