BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

FINANCING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS: BROKEN PROMISES AND THE LOSS AND DAMAGE FUND CONUNDRUM

Author: Segufta Hossain

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2023v44n4a3

ABSTRACT

In spite of having several financial mechanisms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for providing financial supports to the climate vulnerable developing countries, the loss and damage (L&D) issue received less priority in climate negotiations. The demand of the vulnerable developing countries to establish a separate mechanism to address climate change induced L&D got momentum in Conference of Parties (COP)27 with the decision of establishing a separate L&D Fund. Although the decision of establishing a separate L&D Fund was taken, the operational modalities of the fund are still not finalised and a transitional committee has been formed for recommending the functionalities of the proposed fund before upcoming COP28. Hence, the present paper aims to find out the reasons of the failure of existing financial mechanisms in supporting L&D which instigated the L&D issue to come forefront and identify the challenges that exist with the proposed L&D Fund which could hinder the functions of the fund. Climate vulnerability of Bangladesh has made her aspirant for getting the benefits of the L&D Fund. The paper provides some recommendations on how to overcome the challenges for ensuring the smooth functioning of the Fund as well as how Bangladesh can get the best benefits from the L&D Fund.