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A The head of the UN effort to tackle the climate crisis has warned that the world’s poorest nations are struggling to adapt. Climate change The wobble is being driven by Donald Trump’s drastic cuts to foreign aid programs, as well as the failure of rich countries to offer money for adaptation in recent climate talks.
talking to IndependentEvans Nzewa – Chief climate negotiator for malawiand current chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) bloc of 44 low-income countries at UN climate talks – revealed that efforts at the UN to promote climate adaptation and resilience have essentially stalled since countries failed to agree on a target on adaptation financing at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan last year.
“since COP29“Negotiating rooms on adaptation have become politically deadlocked. The broken trust over the absence of a dedicated outcome on adaptation finance at COP29 has had a real impact,” says Njaeva, who attended the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, last month, ahead of the upcoming COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in November.
Carbon emissions continue to rise year-over-year – and the administration is skeptical about the climate the White House For the next four years – experts are now openly acknowledging that a key global temperature target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is likely to be missed, and as a result climate change adaptation must become a priority.
“1.5°C now appears to be passed,” Kate Levick, associate director of climate think tank E3G, said at London Climate Action Week last month. “We have to reach net zero “As quickly as possible – but we also need to recognize the importance of flexibility.”
At the start of the decade, the signs were positive to that end: climate adaptation and resilience were centre-stage COP26 in Glasgow in 2021When rich countries promised to double adaptation financing for developing countries by 2025.
But that deal is about to expire, leaving LDCs facing an uncertain future at a time when they will seek to develop policy solutions. The already devastating effects of climate change,
Njewa says the LDC group is pushing for a new target of tripling adaptation finance by 2030. But with no new targets adopted, countries have been left unable to develop or implement national adaptation plans, with Njaeva revealing that at least seven countries have recently halted plans developed over several years due to a lack of funding.
“How can we be expected to develop detailed technical blueprints when there is no indication that the funding needed to implement them will be made available,” he says.
“The situation is deeply unjust and a threat to human survival. But the real harm here is much bigger than the budget line: it is an erosion of trust, a waste of hard-earned momentum, and the sidelining of communities that cannot wait.”
Aid cuts are also hurting adaptation efforts
The deadlocked talks between national governments come as individual assistance programs that finance climate adaptation have warned that their funding streams have been eroded in recent months, largely due to the termination of about 90 percent of them by the Trump administration. U said program earlier this year.
One such program is LIFE-AR: an effort launched at the COP24 climate conference in 2018, which focuses on helping governments of LDCs strengthen their institutions and systems to address the challenge of climate change. Like many climate adaptation initiatives, it sounds technical on paper – but over the past seven years it has transformed the approach to adaptation of the governments of some of the world’s poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In particular, it puts pressure on some 70 percent of adaptation finance It is channeled locally, to support everything from improved irrigation systems to tree-planting efforts and the adoption of climate-smart agriculture.
USAID cuts earlier this year slashed almost £4.9 million from LIFE-AR’s budget: a cut that leaves much of the invaluable work being done by the group in its tracks.
“This has had a tremendous impact on countries that were starting to invest at the grassroots level,” says Tracy Kazumba, director of the LIFE-AR Interim Secretariat. “It breaks down trust between governments and communities, and leaves people exposed to further climate threats.”
Another key player in LDC climate adaptation is the non-profit FINCA International, which works in some of the world’s most challenged places to provide financing solutions and other tools to help communities become more resilient to the impacts of climate change. For example, in Tajikistan, FINCA is offering climate adaptation loans for drip irrigation and greenhouses; In DR Congo, it is part of a sustainable agriculture project training families in practices including fish farming and beekeeping; And in Malawi, it is providing agricultural loans insured against cyclones.
In the wake of cutbacks in aid from the US and other countries, FINCA now faces major challenges: according to Adam O’Kane, executive director of FINCA UK, the non-profit is facing a funding shortfall of $5-8m this year.
“The overall fundraising landscape has become more challenging, making it harder to raise the funds needed for our mission, which is to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that end global poverty,” says O’Kane. “Fundraising teams are having to focus a lot on new business opportunities, and we are trying to build relationships with organizations that are stepping up to help fill the gaps – but it’s definitely a challenge.”
Even before last year’s setbacks, adaptation efforts were struggling to generate money. The UN Environment Programme’s 2024 Adaptation Gap found that the estimated adaptation finance need for small island states and LDCs this decade was $4.8 billion per year and $40 billion per year, respectively – but the actual flow of finance reached only $1.4 billion and $11 billion for each group in 2022.
“Adaptation finance has increased over the past decade, but still not at the pace that is needed,” says Nella Canales, from the Stockholm Environment Institute and one of the report’s authors. “This growth is also threatened by upcoming changes in the development finance landscape.”
Some in the climate area, especially when it comes to renewable energy Encouraging the private sector to play a larger role in climate finance effortsBut so far, private financiers have been reluctant to participate in adaptation, with an average $1.5 billion out of $63 billion The adaptation finance tracked in 2021/22 is coming from private sources. Experts warn that it will be hard to replace aid in adaptation efforts, given the low incomes of many climate-vulnerable people, as well as the difficulties adaptation programs face in making profits.
“There is certainly a role for private actors in financing adaptation, but it will not meet all needs, especially not for those who are most vulnerable, for whom aid will remain vital,” Canales says.
“Most adaptation projects are public goods that are not attractive to private sector operators,” says Tracy Kazumba of LIFE-AR. “A balance must be struck between diversifying finance with private money, but also ensuring that the most vulnerable communities, who may have zero economic assets, are not excluded.”
This article is part of The Independent Rethinking global aid Project