A senior Ugandan government official attending the ongoing United Nations Climate Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, has indicated that the government will have no choice but to find resources internally to help support its citizens in adapting to the effects of climate change.
“If climate finance fails, we will have to explore other options. We cannot depend on climate finance alone,” Dr. Barirega Akankwasah, National Environment Management Authority Executive Director, said.
Close to 200 countries are currently meeting in Azerbaijan, an oil and gas-producing country located between Europe and Asia, to find ways to raise funds to assist communities around the world in transitioning to renewable energy, adapting to climate change, and addressing loss and damage resulting from the changing climate.
A delegation from Uganda comprising the current Minister of Water and Environment, Hon. Sam Cheptoris, and other senior officials of the ministry are representing Uganda at the yearly negotiations.
The UN gathering is held once a year and helps advance the international and regional climate agenda. This year, the priority is on setting new and ambitious climate finance targets.
While most countries, particularly those joggling between limited resources and greater impacts of climate change, such as Uganda, depend largely on external funding to address climate change, many are realising that this source of financing is often unreliable and could come at the cost of extra burdens to citizens.
“Ultimately, the government of Uganda is responsible for the affairs of its citizens,” the NEMA Head told the New Vision in response to what if COP29 fails to deliver the needed money.
“Whether we get money here or not, climate action in Uganda will not stop.” To ensure the greening of national budgets, Uganda’s parliament has instituted a practice of screening national budgets presented and passed in parliament to be climate sensitive.
“Internally, in our budget, we have to mainstream climate finance,” the NEMA Head stated.
At a moment when most countries are dependent on external resources to address climate change, this was refreshingly interesting.
“Whether we get money here (about COP29) or not, climate action in Uganda will not stop. But, of course, it will go slowly because we are a developing country,” he noted.
Raising Revenue Internally to Pay for Climate
Besides mainstreaming climate considerations in national budgets in Uganda, making it one of the first countries in Sub-Sahara Africa to go in that direction, the NEMA Head also told in the New Vision that there are other avenues to raise money to pay the climate costs.
“Fines, for example, if I catch you degrading a wetland, I give you an invoice, and you pay money to the government. Therefore, the government uses the money to manage the environment.”
Operationalising the Loss and Damage Fund
After several years of wrangling, COP28, held last year in Dubai, finally adopted a fund to take care of destructions resulting from climate change. Known as the Loss and Damage Fund, this financial instrument currently has nearly $800 million for distribution to beneficiary countries. At the ongoing conference, delegates are looking to capitalise on this fund further.
“So the expectation of us, Uganda, and other countries in the Global South is that this COP should move from rhetoric to real action. We should move from mere talking to fulfilling what we say,” he said.
“We expect that countries should be able to walk the talk. They should put money in the kitty because we need the money for adaptation and mitigation,” he stated.
Akankwasha explained that Uganda needs more money for capacity building and climate proofing and for restoring ecosystems because they help us mitigate climate change impacts.
“So we need funds to climate-proof this infrastructure because if you don’t proof the infrastructure like bridges, roads, buildings, they will be washed away,” he argued.
Further Calls to Operationalise the Loss and Damage Fund
At the COP, several parties take turns to articulate their positions on various negotiation issues. One of the central negotiation blocks here is the Africa Group of Negotiators. It is chaired by Ali Mohamed, a climate envoy for President Ruto of Kenya.
Told the press, he said the most critical issue for Africa and the world is for the world to issue the new financial goal.
The New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG), an instrument expected to be adopted here in Baku, will capture the global community’s ambition as far as providing resources to developing countries is concerned.
“Well, Africa is pushing for, you know, a goal that is proportional to the challenges that we all face as a global community. Many parts of Africa are currently facing severe droughts, worst flooding, and other extreme events,” he explained.
According to Muhamed, more than a million people are displaced in Western Africa, a reason the continent is pushing for a commensurate goal, climate finance, to address the challenges faced by the global community.
“We did commit during Dubai’s conference that the world will be transitioning towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient development,” he noted, adding that it requires investment and adequate and reliable financing in trillions of dollars.
Muhamed added that Africa was pushing for USD 1.3 trillion, and they still hold their position firm.
This story was produced as part of the 2024 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.
