The cyclone putting COP27 commitments to the test

In mid-March, Cyclone Freddy, a fierce tropical storm, returned to southern Africa. This time, it hit Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar hard, killing more than 1,000 people, displacing millions and causing widespread destruction throughout the region.

And although this cyclone - the longest in recorded history - had been identified far in advance, having started building up in early February, its arrival still resulted in the usual chaos and confusion that have characterised previous climate emergencies, putting to test the commitments made by parties at the 27th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) held in Egypt last November. 

Cyclone Highlights the Need For Loss And Damage Fund

Among the various COP27 commitments is the setting up of a Loss and Damage Fund to assist developing countries – the smallest emitters of greenhouse gases that ironically happen to bear the brunt of the effects of climate change – in their mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Malawi, one of the poorest nations in the world that is already in the throes of a severe cholera outbreak, was worst affected by Cyclone Freddy, accounting for most of the deaths caused by the storm.

The poor rescue efforts, characterised by haphazard and sluggish flow of aid from the international community, prompted climate justice activists and rights groups to demand that COP27 resolutions be turned into action.

Among the groups unimpressed with the global response to the crisis is Amnesty International. "Mozambique and Malawi are among the countries least responsible for climate change, yet they are facing the full force of storms that are intensifying due to global warming driven mostly by carbon emissions from the world’s richest nations," said  Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s east and southern Africa director. 

"The affected countries must also be compensated for loss and damage caused by the cyclone," Chagutah added.

Coordinated Reaction And Funding is Key

Julius Ng’oma, the coordinator of the Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC) in Malawi, told FairPlanet that the international community has not been proactive and well-coordinated when it comes to handling climate crises.

He said that based on the six assessment reports already released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCCC) warning of an increase in climate change-related disasters, they expected the international community to be pro-active in handling climate disasters - but this has not been the case.

"Unfortunately, the reaction of the international community in the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy, for example, was not within the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) mechanism," Ng’oma told FairPlanet.

"These are reactions happening outside the UNFCCC mechanism, so countries on their own bilateral desks are sending support, for example to Malawi, Mozambique and others, without being guided by any other climate change international framework," he said.

He added, "It is still a reaction that is helpful, but it is not coordinated. It is not obligated by any mechanism."

A Worrisome Funding Gap

Ng’oma further pointed out that the biggest gap exists in the area of funding. 

"That is the gap that we have already seen," he said. "If we don’t have very strong climate change-related financial mechanisms, we would still have challenges in terms of addressing loss and damage in a very coordinated way."

Ng’oma, whose network in early April hosted a regional symposium to map out a way forward, emphasised the urgency of the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund.

"As stakeholders, CSOs, grassroots organisations, we are not just sitting back. We have been observing these issues for years, the gaps in international legislative regimes, observing the gaps that are there in terms of financing towards loss and damage, and we have been calling for the international community, the governments, to get committed to setting up the climate change funding mechanisms."

Loss And Damage Fund

Cyclone Freddy is the latest example in a string of increasing weather-related disasters such as floods, storms and devastating droughts that have hit sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade, testimony of the debilitating impact of climate change in a region that is ill-prepared to cope with such catastrophes.

Scientists trace these disasters to human-caused climate change, with warming temperatures making cyclones like Freddy wetter, more intense and more frequent.

Richer, more industrialised nations are responsible for causing much of the greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change, while less-developed countries often bearing the full brunt of the weather changes - a reality that has triggered an emotive debate that culminated in the breakthrough loss and damage fund at last year’s COP27 summit.

'A Present-Day Crisis'

"The destruction this cyclone has wrought is a stark reminder that the climate emergency is not a future concern, but a present-day crisis that is causing huge environmental damage, exacerbating poverty and weakening food security across the region," pointed out Blue Ventures, an international organisation providing a natural climate solution through the restoration of mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes. The latter capture and store huge quantities of carbon dioxide in natural sinks known as 'blue carbon.' 

"Protecting and restoring these blue carbon habitats, a natural climate solution, is an affordable way to help avert dangerous climate breakdown. And it is available to us right now."

'Donor Aid Not A Solution'

While most countries in the Global South are hopeful that financial assistance from richer nations and other members of the international community will help them in their climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, there are others like Benny Dembitzer, the director of Grassroots Malawi, who believe the real solution lies in home-grown initiatives.

Dembitzer maintains that while climate change has indeed contributed to making Malawi the poorest English-speaking African country, "too much aid," which he argues "has been misinterpreted as development," was also another source of the country’s problems. "Aid has discouraged local agency at all levels," he said. 

Dembitzer added that this is also one of the problems affecting Malawi’s climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

"By and large the uncoordinated interventions of NGOs of all types do not help anyone," Dembitzer said in written responses to questions from FairPlanet.

"What, in a brief comment, is happening, is that NGOs are coming to do the work that governments should be doing, he wrote. "But governments are so indebted to the international financial institutions that they have to spend more on exports of tobacco (in the case of Malawi), cocoa, coffee, tea, vanilla, cotton, and so on - all unprocessed of course - than on caring for their own citizens’ most basic needs."

Image by NASA.