Environmentalists – even the least radical – had been sceptical about the 27th World Climate Summit, with previous conferences having been over-mediatised as they were underwhelming in terms of concrete effects. This time, however, the most proactive among them had promised the world inevitable decisions at this meeting, which was described as the “last chance” before the irreparable.
They had specifically reassured Africans that the meeting’s location in Egypt would guarantee that particular effects of climate degradation on our planet’s southern regions would be taken into account…
Climate debt and new promises
Now the lanterns are out and citizens of Africa seem “happily surprised”, as the Swiss say. Those looking at the conclusions of COP27 through an African lens point to a supposedly historic breakthrough: the 196 countries represented decided to set up a “loss and damage” fund
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