Perhaps no country in the world is more deserving of climate finance than Somalia, the ground zero for the extremes of climate change.
Also in today’s edition: Israel wants to replace the U.N.’s top humanitarian official for the Palestinian territories, ex-USAID mission directors sound off about Gaza, and COP 28 announcements galore.
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A case study in climate hell
This big news out of COP 28 last week was the breakthrough announcement that kicked off the climate talks’ proceedings: a formal deal on a loss and damage fund that’s been decades in the making. It even came with financial pledges — including $100 million from the likes of France and the United Arab Emirates — though the United States came under fire for its rather miserly contribution of $17.5 million.
Regardless, if past is prologue, it will take ages before any money starts flowing to countries in need. Even then, there will be a scramble over who gets what.
At the top of the list, though, should probably be Somalia.
My colleague Colum Lynch offers a case study of how the Horn of African nation is set to become a petri dish for the worst climate change can throw at us.
An unrelenting cycle of historic droughts and torrential floods has pushed hundreds of thousands into camps for the displaced. And while the country averted a famine this year, Colum writes that the specter of mass hunger stalks Somalia, which, despite having the largest stretch of coastline of any African country, is actually running out of water.
“There needs to be a quantum leap in climate financing to Somalia to mitigate and adapt to impacts of climate change. In the long run, famine in the country can only be prevented by including genuinely transformative climate action,” according to an internal U.N. report, marked strictly confidential.
Looking at it from an equity prism, the country is certainly deserving of financial help: Somalia has contributed less than 0.03% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, but is the world’s second most vulnerable country to the impact of climate change.
Scoop: Somalia beats famine for now, but confronts dire climate reckoning
ICYMI: How a climate 'loss and damage' fund can truly deliver on its promise
From the archives: Inside Somalia’s mission to rebrand itself as a partner on climate change
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A message from MSD for Mothers
Redefining women's health: A holistic call to action
Building on the voices and demands of 1.3 million diverse women, the women's health and well-being campaign has released a new, pivotal report which challenges the fragmented approach to women's health and urges policymakers to prioritize a comprehensive, inclusive, and person-centered approach for improved women's health care.
Read the report “Beyond the Sum of our (Body) Parts: A Call to Action from Women and Girls.”
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The internal strife at the United Nations over Gaza continues to boil over. In an exclusive, Colum reports that Israel wants to kick out the U.N.’s top humanitarian official for the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli government informed the U.N. that it will not renew the visa for Lynn Hastings when it expires this month and has urged the intergovernmental organization to appoint a replacement that can earn the government’s trust.
The U.N. appears likely to yield to Israel’s demand and has already begun a search for Hastings’ replacement, according to two well-placed sources familiar with the situation.
Israel has accused her of failing to sufficiently draw attention to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which 1,200 people were killed in Israel or its kidnapping of more than 200 hostages, while casting most of the blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — the bombardment has killed over 15,000, including more than 100 U.N. workers — on the Israeli government.
But that’s not the impression many U.N.-based diplomats and officials have of Hastings. Rather, they view her as a straight shooter who has provided a balanced account of the harrowing conditions in Gaza, while drawing attention to the need for Hamas to release hostages.
Exclusive: Israel to boot UN aid coordinator for Palestinian territories
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Gaza has also caused consternation and reflection among staff members at USAID — both present and past. We previously reported on an anonymous letter signed by over 1,000 USAID staff members calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to support a cease-fire in the Hamas-Israel conflict.
Now seven former USAID mission directors to Gaza and the West Bank have penned their letter based on their firsthand experiences in the region.
But unlike other letters from U.S. government officials, the former mission directors’ missive was not intended as a criticism of the Biden administration; It was in part aimed at counterbalancing those messages, my colleague Michael Igoe writes.
“I think we were a little bit frustrated about some of what we saw as the simplistic way the dissent letters were framed,” says Larry Garber, who served as mission director from 1999 to 2004.
The former mission directors outlined key issues they believe the agency should address, including Israel’s “legal and moral right” to remove Hamas’ capabilities to commit attacks and Israel’s obligations to international law, among others.
Read: Ex-USAID mission directors to Gaza offer advice on Hamas-Israel conflict
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Opinion: How to advance cancer prevention and care through UHC
Cancer causes nearly 1 in 6 deaths. To address this toll, leaders and experts met in Marrakech during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings for a roundtable discussion on leveraging UHC as a framework to improve cancer prevention and care.
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Back to COP 28, because all roads lead to it this week: On Friday, 134 signatories committed their countries “to expedite the integration of agriculture and food systems into our climate action.” To put that into perspective, those signatories are home to 5.7 billion people and almost 500 million farmers producing some 70% of all food produced worldwide.
While the nexus between the food we eat and climate change is well-established, it took this COP for food and land use to finally get a seat at the table for the first time since the annual conference began in 1995.
“There is no path to achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and keeping 1.5C within reach, that does not urgently address the interactions between food systems, agriculture, and climate,” said Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, the UAE’s minister of climate change and environment.
Those weren’t the only announcements as participants raced to prove their COP bonafides.
Organizations committed at least $1 billion for climate and health on Saturday, ahead of the first Health Day at COP 28. While welcome, it’s still a drop in the ocean of need for mitigation and adaptation, which requires trillions of dollars. Donors also committed over $777 million to control and eventually eliminate neglected tropical diseases at the Reaching the Last Mile Forum on Sunday.
A total of 124 countries also endorsed the first COP 28 political declaration for climate and health, and Turkey said it will also adopt it. The declaration serves as an acknowledgment by countries of the health impacts of climate change.
In another big announcement, the World Bank declared that it will devote 45% of its annual financing to climate-related projects by 2025, up from the previous 35% marker.
“This increased ambition is more than just a laudable percentage—it’s putting to work more than $40 billion—around $9 billion more than previously programmed,” the bank said in a statement.
The bank will also broaden the scope of debt repayment pauses following climate disasters.
Read: World leaders commit to transforming food systems at COP 28
Read more: Donors commit more than $1B for climate-health at COP 28
Related: Fossil fuel phaseout omitted from COP 28 health declaration
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Just another day in Dubai
While COP 28 is billed as the largest yet, the controversial oil-rich host Dubai has barely blinked an eye when it comes to the tens of thousands of climate influencers descending on their city. Unlike in recent locations when the whole economy was set up to welcome, house, feed, and transport participants, many locals had no idea the world's largest climate conference was in their backyard.
Devex Executive Editor Kate Warren tells me that hotel staff, taxi drivers, and restaurant staffers shrugged when COP 28 was the response as to why she was in town. “I thought it was an auto show" mused one Uber driver on the way to Expo City. He was not impressed by the 70,000 people in town. “Expo 2020 had a million people,” he replied.
The Expo City is a vast expanse to navigate, especially in the heat, but the upside is the pavilions are much more private and quiet than in COPs past. Food options have also improved, with a wide selection from plant-based shawarma to artisan popsicles. The hosts were even so kind as to provide a dedicated cafe for the press squirreled away in the media center.
Spotted by Kate walking around the blue zone last week: billionaire Mike Bloomberg, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema.
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Be part of the solution at COP 28
Are you a climate leader or sustainability practitioner? Is your organization committed to delivering a net-zero, nature-positive, equitable future? As the global climate community convenes in Dubai for climate conference COP 28, we invite you to join thousands of leaders and practitioners from business, finance, cities, government, and civil society in the Climate Innovation Zone, Madinat Jumeirah Conference Centre, to network, learn, and do business.
Blue/Green Zone badging is not required.
Register now at www.COP-28.org/Innovation-Zone
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The World Bank is teaming up with a consortium of 15 financial leaders to mitigate investment risks in climate projects within emerging economies. [Bloomberg]
COP 28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber said there is “no science” behind the phase-out of fossil fuels to limit global warming and doing so would not allow sustainable development. [The Guardian]
At least 47 people have died and 85 others injured in landslides caused by flooding in northern Tanzania, as local authorities warned that the death toll was likely to increase. [Reuters]
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Thank you for reading today’s Newswire, edited by Helen Morgan, copy edited by Nicole Tablizo, and produced by Patricia Guerrero. Have a news tip? Email [email protected].
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