Progress made in creating fund for climate damage, loss: Shauna

Maldives environment minister Aiminath Shauna said on Saturday that progress has been made in negotiations to set up a fund to compensate small and poor countries for the losses caused by the hazardous gases released into Earth’s atmosphere by rich and developed countries.

At the COP27 summit, the climate talk symposium in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh, one of the most heated debates was about the creation of a fund for compensating poor nations that are victims of extreme weather worsened by rich nations’ carbon pollution. The debate, which has not made much headway so far, has not received much attention from bigger countries.

However, speaking to the Associated Press, Shauna said on Saturday that an agreement has now been reached on "loss and damage". She, however, said the deal would be fully finalised by a unanimous vote from all countries.

“That means for countries like ours we will have the mosaic of solutions that we have been advocating for," Shauna said.

According to the draft compensation, rich countries and financial institutions will be encouraged to join the fund. Smaller countries that are not very involved in the release of hazardous gases are pushing for larger countries to set up such a fund.

COP27 is nearing its end and some countries have expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of progress in the lengthy debate and have threatened to leave the seminar.