Global protests demand climate change offsets ahead of COP27

Young activists demonstrate for climate action, organizing protests from New Zealand and Japan to Germany and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Young activists rallied Friday for climate action, organizing protests from New Zealand and Japan to Germany and the Democratic Republic of Congo, demanding that rich countries pay for the damage global warming is doing to the poor. The protests take place six weeks ahead of this year’s UN climate summit, known as COP27, in which vulnerable countries plan to push for compensation for the destruction of their homes, infrastructure and climate-related livelihoods. The Fridays for Future youth movement has planned demonstrations in some 450 locations around the world. They are scheduled to coincide with the gathering of world leaders in New York City at the UN General Assembly.

“One day, it could be my house that floods,” said Park Chae-yun, 15, one of about 200 young people who protested in Seoul. “I live with a sense of crisis, so I think it’s more important to convey my concerns to the government to take preventive measures than to go to school.” One protester who gave his name as Meta had the same concern in Indonesia: “If Jakarta floods, everyone who has money can leave. Where am I going to go? I will drown here in Jakarta.” Around 400 young activists gathered in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, chanting slogans such as “Act for Africa, protect our planet” and carrying cardboard signs reading “Climate justice” and “Climate SOS.”

The growing and irreparable damage caused by climate change has increased developing countries’ demands for “loss and damage” compensation to be addressed at Egypt’s COP27 in November. The leaders of these countries say the world is already facing climate-induced disasters such as deadly floods sweeping through large parts of Pakistan, wildfires ravaging Morocco and Canada, and record-breaking heatwaves in Britain and India. “The least developed countries suffer the most from the devastating consequences of climate change,” Senegalese Environment Minister Abdou Karim Sall told a meeting in Dakar last week. “The key priority is to secure new and additional funding to address it.”

The United States and the European Union have historically resisted measures that could assign responsibility for causing climate change, requiring rich nations to pay compensation. The COP27 meeting in Sharm El Sheikh is not expected to produce a historic agreement like the one reached at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November, which called on countries to do much more to curb planet-warming carbon emissions. But it will be a litmus test for countries’ willingness to cooperate on climate action, despite geopolitical instability, as many governments struggle to control rising inflation and deal with the turmoil in energy markets caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Ultima Hora