The Board of the newly established Loss and Damage Fund unanimously decided that the Philippines would serve as the Board’s host country recently.
The Board announced the decision after hours of closed-door discussions on the first day of the Fund’s second board meeting taking place in Incheon, Korea.
Besides the Philippines, the countries that submitted proposals to host the Board were Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Barbados, Eswatini, Kenya, and Togo.
“We welcome the Loss and Damage Fund Board’s decision to select the Philippines as its host country,” said Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development, on July 9, 2024.
“The Philippines, as a country that is extremely vulnerable to loss and damage, should demonstrate political leadership in demanding the governments of developed countries to fulfill their historical, legal, and moral obligation to provide reparations for climate devastation. Developed countries should deliver trillions of grants-based finance, not the shameful millions they have pledged thus far,” she said.
In a statement, Nacpil added that “it’s unacceptable that the Fund has received only 661.39 million USD in pledges when loss and damage will cost 447 to 894 billion USD a year by 2030.”
“It’s particularly shameful that the United States has pledged only 17.5 million USD when they’re the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gasses and therefore most responsible for the climate crisis. The Philippines should join the rest of the Global South in demanding trillions, not millions, in climate finance from the developed countries who’ve pushed us to the brink of climate chaos,” she said.
While the Philippines will serve as the Board’s host country, the Fund’s secretariat will be housed at the World Bank, its interim host for the next four years.
In response to the World Bank’s role, climate justice movements in the Global South are pushing for the Fund’s independence from its host, citing the Bank’s history of financing fossil fuel projects, supplying billions in trade finance to oil and gas projects as recently as 2022, and preference for loans with conditions.
“The World Bank, after all, is a bank whose governance and operations is dominated by the governments of developed countries. This makes it unfit to run a Fund whose primary financial instrument should be grants, not loans, and whose mission is to serve the self-determined needs of developing countries,” said Nacpil.
“The Philippines must stand firm for a Loss and Damage Fund that is democratic and independent of the World Bank. As interim host, the World Bank should not compromise the integrity of the Fund’s operations and decision-making,” added Nacpil.
To ensure this, the participation of civil society organizations at the Fund’s board meetings is crucial.
“We call on the Board to encourage and facilitate a mechanism that ensures the active and meaningful engagement of civil society organizations in all Loss and Damage Fund processes and decisions.” (APMDD/PR)
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