Time for quiet diplomacy is over’: Oxfam calls for concrete resolution from the COP27

Oxfam, international development association, calls for substantial results following the Climate Change Conference, taking now place in Egypt. Senior Policy and Research Coordinator for Oxfam Ireland, Simon Murtagh, is expecting for this Sunday tangible achievements that are now “more urgent than ever”, following the two weeks meeting. Centre of attention is the Loss and Damage Funding, whose EU negotiations are leaded by the Irish Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan.

The Loss and Damage Funding, capital figured to support countries more affected by climate change, will possibly find a conclusion this weekend. Initially proposed in 1991, it would involve a financial support from countries majorly responsible for the climate crisis to Nations in need of support: it is the example of this year catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, for which the country had requested another loan that difficultly will repay. Murtagh claims “the crisis has already struck”: a report published by Oxfam this November, in fact, documents how the poorest countries are the ones majorly affected by the climate crisis, with less responsibilities in causing them but more consequences.

Studies show that hunger increased of 123% in already compromised countries in the last 6 years, following extreme natural events: from 2011 260,000 people died of famine in Somalia following two failed rains, the same is likely to happen in Kenya. The challenging stall in the Loss and Damage Fundingind is another slap in the face to countries already affected by economic measures made by wealthier ones. World’s richest people are, in fact, the greatest producer of CO2, 70% of which deriving from investments, in a large number in polluting industries.

Oxfam demands now affective actions: Governments are required to install new economic policies, involving more transparent actions and higher environmental standards from investors. Private sector implicated in financial resources needs to be held accountable for their actions: it is this the emblematic French case including the giant BNP Paribas.

Murtagh, in a press release issued this afternoon, claims that “to be effective, that Loss and Damage Finance Facility must deploy funding rapidly, coherently but also reform the international financial system. That means cancelling debt, changing decision-making structures and releasing billions of Euros in IMF ’Special Drawing Rights’ to transform the international climate agenda”.

The conclusive results deriving from the COP27 will arrive hopefully this Sunday, with an auspicable concrete plan regarding the financial backing: Mr Ryan reports possibility for settlement but essential decisions are still be made. Murtagh underlined how, following the COP26 in Glasgow, activists and scientific community “didn’t get really results”, claiming to wait for a concrete agreement as main outcome of the COP27, as a matter of urgency that cannot wait other 30 years.

Meanwhile, Oxfam continues its world-wide work against inequalities and climate crisis, promoting numerous initiatives on a global scale: “I don’t think there’s any tactics we should be afraid of because we need to be radicals” reports Murtagh, while underlining the importance of divulgation about climate change and its consequences.