Rich nations pay lip service to crisis leaving millions exposed

President William Ruto addresses the ministerial conference of the Africa Climate Summit at the KICC, Nairobi, on August 4, 2023. [PCS, Standard]

Despite being largely responsible for the worsening climate crisis in East Africa, rich nations are accused of underpaying affected countries.

Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan were paid $2.4 billion in climate-related development finance in 2021, in stark contrast to the $53.3 billion East Africa, to meet its annual climate goals by 2030.

According to Oxfam's "Unfair Share" Report published yesterday, the biggest polluting nations have fallen short of meeting both the climate and the humanitarian funds East African countries need to recover from their climate-fuelled hunger crisis.

The report highlights the impact of climate change on the future of the region.

In a statement, Oxfam in Africa Director, Fati N'Zi-Hassane said, "Even by their own generous accounts, polluting nations have delivered only pittance to help East Africa scale up their mitigation and adaptation efforts. Nearly half the funds (45 per cent) they did give were loans, plunging the region further into more debt," said N'Zi-Hassane.

A prolonged drought and erratic rainfalls according to Oxfam have killed nearly 13 million animals, and decimated hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops, leaving millions of people without income or food.

Despite low compensation, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan have incurred up to an estimated $30 billion of losses from 2021 to the end of 2023.

Additionally, Oxfam notes that the countries also lost approximately $7.4 billion worth of livestock.

As a result, more than 31 million people across the region are suffering severe hunger because of a two-year drought and years of flooding, compounded by displacement and conflict.

"At the heart of East Africa's hunger crisis is an abhorrent climate injustice. Rich polluting nations continue to rig the system by disregarding the billions owed to East Africa, while millions of people are left to starve," added N'Zi-Hassane.