LDCG Seek Plan for Climate Change Losses

A press conference is held during the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 30. [China.org.cn]

The Least Developed Country Group (LDCG) plans to set up a loss-and-damage mechanism to handle the adverse effects of climate change that they have not been able to adapt to, a spokesman for the organization said at a press conference during the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 30.

Adao Barbosa Soares, the National Focal Point for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for East Timor (Timor L'Este), expressed that the world's least developed countries and other vulnerable countries are experiencing severe losses and damage caused by climate change and that current adaptation measures are not sufficient.

Soares quoted figures to illustrate that grain reduction, coastal erosion and other negative impacts his country and other least-developed nations currently suffer are far beyond adaptation. Financial and technical support from developed countries are in urgent need in order to combat these losses, he said.

Through the creation of a related international mechanism, assessment standards and capacity-building for mitigating loss and damage are expected to be enhanced. Within this new framework, technical assistance and rehabilitation funding can be directed towards areas in need, Soares said.

Soares pointed out that LDCG expects the creation of a related strategic international mechanism at this week's Doha conference.