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Das Parlament des britischen Nordirland wird am Dienstag (10. Dezember) über die Fortführung des Windsor-Abkommens abstimmen. Das Abkommen ist ein entscheidender Bestandteil des Handelsabkommens zwischen dem Vereinigten Königreich und der EU nach dem Brexit entschieden.

Les entreprises chinoises condamnent l’importance excessive accordée par l’UE à la sécurité économique, affirmant que les efforts de Bruxelles pour réduire sa dépendance stratégique à l’égard de Pékin nuiront en fin de compte aux consommateurs européens.

Le cinéma nord-africain rayonne à la 4ᵉ édition du Festival International du Film de la Mer Rouge Dix films du Maghreb, plusieurs Algériens célèbrent l’héritage […]

L’article Les récits nord-africains au cœur du Festival International du Film de la Mer Rouge 2024 est apparu en premier sur .

La décision de certains États membres de l’UE d’interrompre les procédures de demande d’asile pour les Syriens — suite à la chute du régime de Bachar al-Assad — a soulevé des questions sur l’avenir des réfugiés syriens déjà présents sur le territoire.

Bulgarische Abgeordnete planen eine umfassende Untersuchung des russischen Einflusses im Land. Auslöser waren die abgesagten Wahlen in Rumänien und die Aufdeckung eines verdächtigen Netzwerkes von Unternehmen in Bulgarien.

Ahhoz, hogy igazán jól mutassunk az öltönyben, elengedhetetlen, hogy megtaláljuk a hozzá tökéletesen passzoló inget is. Akár elegáns rendezvényre, akár üzleti találkozókra készülünk, vagy a hétköznapokban szeretnénk egy kicsit kiemelkedni a tömegből, egy elegáns ing rengeteget ad a megjelenésünkhöz. Ebben a cikkünkben adunk néhány tippet, mire érdemes figyelni, ha a számunkra tökéletes inget keressük.

Ha igazán kimagasló minőségben készült viseletet keresünk, érdemes megnézni a Lord Men’s Fashion ingkínálatát, ahol különféle trendi modellek közül választhatunk.

Fontos, hogy kényelmes legyen

A kényelmes viselet nagyban befolyásolja, hogy mennyire érezzük jól magunkat a bőrünkben, és ez meglátszik a viselkedésünkön is. A legmegfelelőbb ingek azok, amelyek nem csupán stílusosak és passzolnak az egyéniségünkhöz, de maximális komfortérzetet is adnak.

Ha az ing szorít, vagy nem elég rugalmas az anyaga, akkor nem fogjuk benne magunkat jól érezni, feszengeni fogunk, és ez bizony meg is látszik rajtunk. Érdemes olyan anyagból készült inget választani, mint például a pamut, amely légáteresztő és kényelmes, így akár az egész napos viselése sem okoz kényelmetlenséget. 

A minőséget mindig tartsuk szem előtt

A minőség és az időtállóság szempontjából nem érdemes spórolni. Egy jól megválasztott ing olyan, mint az öltöny; akár évekig is kitart, ha minőségi anyagból készült és precízen van megvarrva.

Ha nem szeretnénk túl gyakran cserélni a ruhatárunkat, akkor érdemes prémiumkategóriás ingeket választani, amelyek nemcsak kényelmesek, hanem valóban a lehető legjobb minőségben készültek. Egy magasabb árfekvésű modell hosszú távon sokkal jobb befektetés, mint egy olcsóbb, gyorsan elhasználódó darab. A drágább ingek jellemzően kevésbé hajlamosak a gyűrődésre és nem nyúlnak, nem kopnak ki egyhamar. 

Milyen fazon áll jól nekünk?

Bár a divat diktálja az irányvonalat, nem mindegy, hogy milyen fazon az, ami jól passzol hozzánk, és melyik felel meg leginkább az egyéni stílusunknak. Nem mindig célszerű vakon követni a divatot, bátran eltérhetünk az éppen legnépszerűbb daraboktól. 

Az ing fazonja attól is függ, hogy milyen alkalomra választjuk. Egy testhezállóbb, slim fit ing ideális egy fiatalos, modernebb megjelenéshez, míg egy klasszikus szabású modell elegánsabb viselet lehet egy gálavacsorán vagy egy üzleti rendezvényen. Ha gyakran jelenünk meg üzleti találkozókon, érdemes kerülnünk a túlzottan színes vagy mintás darabokat. A klasszikus szabású és egyszínű ingek – fehér, kék, szürke vagy fekete színekben – eleganciát sugároznak, és szinte bármilyen típusú öltönnyel könnyen tudjuk párosítani.

Tipp a vásárláshoz

Ha figyelembe vesszük a fazont, a színt és a minőséget, biztosak lehetünk benne, hogy igazán elegáns megjelenéssel léphetünk a világ elé. Amennyiben épp egy jeles eseményre készülünk, és még nem találtuk meg a tökéletes öltözetet, úgy érdemes felkeresni a Lord Men’s Fashion webshop oldalát, ahol a számtalan öltöny és kiegészítő között egészen biztosan megtaláljuk, amit keresünk.

The post Hogyan válasszunk inget az öltönyhöz? appeared first on Biztonságpiac.

Israel not providing a just and fair peace plan will inevitably lead to future conflicts with more deaths, injuries, displacements and destruction. Credit: UNRWA

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel retaliated with a war in Gaza involving bombings, shootings and blockades but with no explicit plan for achieving peace with the Palestinians.

It remains unclear what the Israeli government is trying to achieve with its continuing war in Gaza and what its postwar plan is. While Israeli leaders have vowed to maintain security control in Gaza after the war, they have not clearly stated what that control might entail.

A former Israeli defense minister said that Israel’s government with the support of far-right politicians was aiming to occupy, annex and ethnically cleanse Gaza and build Israeli settlements there. He accused the Israeli government of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

It remains unclear what the Israeli government is trying to achieve with its continuing war in Gaza and what its postwar plan is. While Israeli leaders have vowed to maintain security control in Gaza after the war, they have not clearly stated what that control might entail

Some Israeli government ministers and far-right lawmakers also said that their military control over Gaza should pave the way for renewed Jewish settlement. They called for Arab residents to leave Gaza so that Jewish Israelis can populate the coastal strip.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and his former defense chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe that those two Israeli officials were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.

Furthermore, Amnesty International recently issued a landmark report indicating that it had gathered sufficient evidence to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The report found that during its military offensive following the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, Israel had unleashed “hell and destruction” on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity, and obstructed humanitarian aid reaching the Palestinian population. Amnesty International said that month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity.

Israel’s actions in Gaza, the ICJ’s decisions and Amnesty International’s recent report are contributing to serious political problems and demonstrations worldwide. Protests and progressive activism opposing Israel’s actions, which are viewed as having created a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, have taken place across many countries and regions.

Various peace proposals have been offered to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Table 1).

 

 

The proposal widely supported by most governments, international agencies and non-governmental organizations is the two-state solution. That proposal recommends establishing an independent state for Palestinians alongside that of Israel with the two states existing peacefully within recognized borders and security ensured for both nations.

The two-state solution has been the goal of the international community for decades, dating back to the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan. Many countries, including China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, believe that the creation of a Palestinian state with guarantees for Israel’s security is the only way to finally bring peace and stability to the Middle East.

In a new resolution passed by a 157-8 vote on 3 December, the UN General Assembly expressed “unwavering support, in accordance with international law, for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine.” The resolution also called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories and pushed for the creation of a Palestinian state, convening an international conference in June to try to jumpstart a two-state solution.

Although it is not a member state of the United Nations, the State of Palestine has been officially recognized as a sovereign state by 146 countries, or 75 percent of the United Nations member states. Those countries represent nearly 90 percent of the world’s population.

The Israeli government as well as the Knesset, have rejected the two-state solution. However, they have not offered an alternative solution to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians.

The Israeli government has stated that it will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan. In addition, despite the ICJ decision mandating Israel to end its occupation and dismantle its unlawful settlements, Israel is continuing with its expansion of Israeli settlements and apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Some have concluded that the two-state solution is no longer an option primarily due to today’s realities. Approximately 750,000 Israelis, or about 10 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, are currently residing in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

As a result of those demographic realities, the de facto option to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears to be the one-state solution.

The one-state solution with its total population of approximately 15.5 million would provide equal rights for all its citizens, irrespective of their religious affiliation. The one-state would be similar to other democracies where equal rights and opportunities are provided to all citizens of every religious group.

Israel, however, rejects the one-state solution. It sees a single state with equal rights for all its citizens of the various religious groups would undermine the Jewish character of Israel. Whereas the current proportion Jewish of the Israeli population is about 77 percent, the Jewish proportion in the larger one-state would be approximately 50 percent.

Other proposals that have been offered to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict include: a confederation of Israel, Jordan and Palestine; a federation of smaller Palestinian provinces or cantons; autonomy-plus for the Palestinians; and the establishment of a Jewish Greater Israel.

Many Israelis of the religious far right are seeking the establishment of a Jewish Greater Israel. Their desired nation includes the occupied Palestinian territories and its population would have a large Jewish majority. Due to the existing demographics, a Jewish Greater Israel would necessarily involve the departure, expulsion or transfer of very large numbers of the non-Jewish population currently residing in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The serious human consequences of the Israel-Gaza wars continue to rise and are being regularly updated. The current reported levels of mortality, injuries, displacement and destruction provide an intelligible picture of the wars’ consequences on casualties, living conditions and the wellbeing of the populations in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon and elsewhere.

Although the true mortality figure is estimated to be many times larger, the total number of reported deaths of Israelis, Lebanese, Palestinians and others resulting from the Israel-Gaza war during the period from 7 October 2023 to 7 December 2024 is approximately 52,000.

The overwhelming majority of those reported deaths, 88 percent, were to Palestinians. Also, a large majority of those deaths, nearly 70 percent, were women and children. The Palestinian deaths were followed by Lebanese at 8 percent, Israelis at 3 percent and others, such as journalists and media workers, at 1 percent (Figure 1).

 

Source: Israeli Government, Ministries of Health of Gaza and Lebanon and UNOCHA.

 

A similar pattern is observed with respect to the numbers of reported injuries. Although the true figure of injuries will certainly be considerably larger, the total number of reported injuries is approximately 140,000. Again, the large majority of the reported injuries, about 81 percent, were to Palestinians with many being children. The Palestinians were followed by Lebanese at 12 percent, Israelis at 6 percent and others at 1 percent (Figure 2).

 

Source: Israeli Government, Ministries of Health of Gaza and Lebanon and UNOCHA.

 

The Gaza-Israel war was also responsible for the displacement of more than 3 million people. Approximately 60 percent of those displaced were Palestinians, followed by Lebanese at 38 percent and Israel at 3 percent.

Beyond the displacement of people from their homes, Israel’s bombings have damaged or destroyed approximately two-thirds of the buildings in Gaza and about 38 percent of the buildings in villages in southern Lebanon as well scores of buildings in Beirut and Baalbek. In addition, the Hezbollah rocket attacks in northern Israel have damaged or destroyed about 9,000 buildings and 350 agricultural sites.

In sum, it is clear that over the past fourteen months, the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Israel and elsewhere have resulted in large numbers of deaths, injuries and displacements as well as extensive destruction of buildings and community infrastructure, notably impacting the Palestinian population in Gaza.

The decisions of ICJ concerning Israel’s crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict and the findings of Amnesty International’s report stating that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza constitute an indisputable indictment of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Simply rejecting the ICJ’s decisions and denying the findings of Amnesty International will not diminish that momentous indictment.

It is also clear that to achieve a lasting peace with the Palestinians, Israel needs to move beyond rejecting the various peace proposals. The Israeli government needs to put forth an explicit peace proposal indicating how it envisions resolving the decades-old conflict with the Palestinians. Israel not providing a just and fair peace plan will inevitably lead to future conflicts with more deaths, injuries, displacements and destruction.

 

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.

 

Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have condemned the incursion. Saudi Arabia said the move would "ruin Syria's chances of restoring security".

The post Israeli troops near Damascus, say Syrian security, after Israeli airstrikes hit Syrian bases appeared first on Euractiv.

Kasachstan pflegt seit 31 Jahren diplomatische Beziehungen mit der Europäischen Union. Doch nicht nur die Zusammenarbeit mit der EU soll ausgebaut werden, sondern auch einzelne Mitgliedsstaaten stehen im Fokus.

Paschal Donohoe, le président de l'Eurogroupe, a assuré lundi 9 décembre que la crise budgétaire que traverse la France devrait pouvoir être maitrisée, bien que la Commission redoute que le déficit du budget de l'État se maintienne à 6,2 % du PIB en 2025.

Le Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Géophysique (CRAAG) a signalé une secousse tellurique survenue ce mardi 10 décembre 2024, à 5 h 02 […]

L’article Séisme de magnitude 4.0 ressenti dans plusieurs wilayas ce 10/12/2024 est apparu en premier sur .

Le mariage blanc, une pratique illégale qui se répand à bas bruit, continue de séduire les sans-papiers en quête d’une régularisation en France. Bien que […]

L’article Mariage blanc : coup de filet en France contre un réseau de six Algériens est apparu en premier sur .

Bogdan Święczkowski, ehemaliger Leiter des Amts für innere Sicherheit (ABW), wurde zum neuen Präsidenten des polnischen Verfassungsgerichts ernannt. Er steht der oppositionellen PiS-Partei nahe und setzt somit den rechtskonservativen Einfluss auf die Justiz in Polen fort.

Global Youth Voices (GYV) delegates at the 10th Conference of Parties (COP10) in Panama, February 2024. Credit: GYV
 
Human Rights Day is commemorated every year on 10 December, the day in 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

By Yodhim Dela Rosa and Rajika Mahajan
NEW YORK, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

As the world commemorates UN Human Rights Day December 10, with the theme, “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now,” it’s time to ask: Are we truly listening to what the youth envision for their present and future?

This year’s theme strikes a chord with young people globally, highlighting a pressing issue that threatens them now and their future – tobacco addiction.

Globally, about 37 million adolescents aged 13-15 years are hooked to tobacco use. They are ensnared through aggressive and deceptive marketing tactics of a powerful, profit-driven and harmful industry – the tobacco and its related industries. Beyond consumption, over a million children are also trapped in producing tobacco under harsh and exploitative conditions.

Protect Our Right, Our Future – Youth’s Call to Action

Today’s youth are a premium market targeted by tobacco and related industries, with manipulative strategies designed to lure them into life-long addiction. From digital media marketing to seemingly innovative products like biodegradable filters or vaping devices, the industry ensures its grip on the next generation.

But young people everywhere are speaking out, demanding an end to these harmful practices. The Global Youth Voices, a movement that represents youth coalitions and organizations around the world, has made their stance clear.

In October 2023, they appealed to governments to shield them from the manipulative practices of tobacco and its related industries. Through a declaration this May, they demanded justice and restitution for the harm inflicted and ongoing threats to their health and future.

Recently, in a powerful open letter to the UN Secretary-General, the youth called on the General Assembly to prioritize the well-being of young people and resist the tobacco industry’s influence. Their call is loud and clear: they want stronger regulation of tobacco promotions on all platforms, including entertainment and social media, accountability for environmental pollution– particularly that caused by tobacco plastic waste– and prevention of new addictive products being marketed as disguised innovation.

Tobacco’s Harms Globally

The tobacco industry’s adverse impact on health, the environment, and the economy is deeply troubling. It harms individuals, communities, and the planet while violating fundamental human rights.

Annually, tobacco claims more than 8 million lives, with 22,000 deaths every single day. Smoking is a leading driver of cardiovascular diseases, respiratory illnesses, and over 20 types of cancer, burdening healthcare systems and families worldwide.

Beyond health, the global economy shoulders a staggering $1.4 trillion annual loss from tobacco-related costs, ranging from medical expenses to lost productivity. Tobacco is also a major environmental offender, polluting ecosystems with 4.5 trillion cigarette butts discarded yearly, making them the most littered plastic item in the world.

These toxic, non-biodegradable wastes infiltrate our waterways and soil, causing annual marine ecosystem losses estimated at $20 billion. The magnitude of these harms highlights the urgent need to hold the tobacco industry accountable—not only to protect the health, economy, and environment of our current generation but also to safeguard the well-being of future generations.

For decades, the tobacco industry has evaded accountability for the extensive harms it causes. While the global treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) offers tools for regulation, implementation remains lacking and inconsistent. Many governments around the world have failed to act cohesively against tobacco industry interference.

Right Now: Making Tobacco Pay

A civil society report surveying 90 countries, the 2023 Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, illustrates the industry’s evasion tactics through its so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

These programs—often framed as philanthropic efforts—are used to repair the industry’s tarnished reputation, foster goodwill, and distract from its role as a driver of death and environmental harm. By presenting itself as a “responsible corporate citizen,” the tobacco industry seeks to escape financial liabilities while influencing policymakers and the public.

This Human Rights Day, let us remember that our rights and our children’s rights to health, a clean environment, and a life free from preventable harm are non-negotiable. The fight against tobacco is a fight for justice, equity, and sustainability.

Upholding and protecting human rights is a collective responsibility. Governments, policymakers, and advocates alike must act decisively and cohesively to hold the industry liable for both human and planetary damages.

A comprehensive solution to curbing the tobacco industry’s undue interference lies in fully implementing the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 recommendations such as, denormalizing and banning tobacco-related charity, requiring greater transparency for increased accountability, removing incentives to the tobacco industry, and providing a firewall between government officials from the industry so they can be freed-up to protect their citizens.

The industry must be held liable for the harm it causes to both human health and the environment. Governments should make the industry pay by adopting the “polluter pays” principle. The industry must bear the financial burden of cleaning up its waste and addressing its environmental damage. Because of the irreconcilable difference between profit and public health, the industry must be excluded from the policy table.

We cannot afford to let the industry dictate the terms of our health, our rights, or our future.

The time to act is now.

Yodhim Dela Rosa is the Global Research Coordinator, and Rajika Mahajan is the Communications Officer at the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC).

GGTC works closely with governments and advocates worldwide to address the most significant challenge in tobacco control implementation: tobacco industry interference.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Charles Onana said to suggest the killings were planned was "one of the biggest scams" of the last century.

Charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, the Isreali prime minister will testify three times a week, despite the Gaza war and possible new threats posed by wider turmoil in the Middle East.

The post Netanyahu to take the stand in his corruption trial for the first time appeared first on Euractiv.

A house damaged due to coastal erosion caused by rising sea levels in Tuvalu. Credit Hettie Sem/Pacific Community

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY, Dec 10 2024 (IPS)

Advancing development of the new Climate Loss and Damage Fund was a key call by Pacific Island nations at the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Azerbaijan in November. For Pacific Island Countries and Territories, the fund represents a critical step towards addressing what they consider a gross climate injustice: despite contributing less than 0.03 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, they bear the brunt of climate change’s devastating impacts.

The concept of climate finance as a “polluter pays” issue is grounded in the principle that those who have historically contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions should be financing the developing world’s ability to deal with its impacts and scale climate action.

Fifteen years after the Paris Agreement’s promises, the Pacific region has only accessed 0.22 percent of global climate funds, severely impeding the region’s ability to adapt to escalating climate impacts.

“Access to funding is very limited to date,” Coral Pasisi, Pacific Community’s Director of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability, Niue, told IPS. “There are structural impediments to why international funds are not financing adaptation and mitigation in the Pacific at the rate they need. Most global funds do not take account of the special circumstances of SIDS—including their extreme exposure to disasters, remoteness, lack of capacity and small population sizes. And there is a direct correlation between the lack of access to climate finance for resilience and adaptation measures and the mounting costs of loss and damage for the Pacific region.”

Access to climate-related international finance has been and remains a significant challenge for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The global multilateral climate financing architecture is administratively complex, requiring considerable capacity to access and taking too long—on average three years for project development to approval. Through pooling resources and frontloading, the regional organization, the Pacific Community, is a vital partner in raising the chances of funding success for some of the world’s smallest nations.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), loss and damage are ‘the negative impacts of climate change that occur after all reasonable adaptation and mitigation measures have been implemented’. These impacts can be economic, such as damage to infrastructure, destruction of homes, reduced agricultural yields, and other financial losses. They can also be non-economic, such as loss of culturally important areas, traditional knowledge, loss of life and grief. It is important to note that most often, loss and damage have both non-economic and economic implications. When communities and nations face overwhelming challenges and lack sufficient financial resources to address these impacts, they become increasingly vulnerable. This exacerbates loss and damage, undermining recovery and resilience efforts.

With the global temperature rise on course to exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius safety threshold in the 2030s, warns the IPCC, losses inflicted by climate extremes are set to escalate and will be beyond the economic resources of Pacific Island states. Even though there are six Pacific Island nations among the 20 most disaster-prone countries in the world. In 2019, disasters were costing the region USD 1.07 billion per year, with 49 percent of losses due to cyclones and 20 percent due to droughts, reports the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). And this century, annual average losses could amount to 20 percent of GDP in Vanuatu and 18.2 percent in Tonga.

Recent disasters include the violent eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano in the Polynesian nation of Tonga in 2022. It affected 85 percent of the population of about 107,000 people, destroyed infrastructure, agriculture and tourism, and left a damage bill of USD 125 million.

Extreme rainfall and floods caused months of agricultural losses in Siai Village, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, in 2012. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

The following year, Vanuatu was hit by two cyclones, Judy and Kevin, plus a 6.5-magnitude earthquake in March. Again, more than 80 percent of people were affected, crops were lost, tourists fled and the cost of damages amounted to 40 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic |Product (GDP). Meanwhile, in Fiji, villagers on Vanua Levu Island have witnessed higher sea tides accelerate coastal erosion in the past 18 years and communities have been forced to relocate inland due to excessive flooding.

Climate losses in the region are related to the vulnerability of populations. Ninety percent of Pacific Islanders live within 5 kilometres of weather-exposed coastlines and plants in the region that generate 84 percent of total power are exposed to cyclones, reports ESCAP.

“Critical infrastructure, such as schools, roads and hospitals, is one of the areas that has the costliest impacts in terms of economic loss and damage and non-economic implications. This is especially the case where only one main hospital exists, for example; the effects of losing that facility extend well beyond the repair and replacement costs,” said Pasisi.

Non-economic losses are more difficult to quantify. These “are debilitating and often irreversible, including loss of land, cultural sites, burial grounds, traditional knowledge, village displacement, psychological trauma from recurrent disasters, failing human health, coral reef degradation and more,” reports the Vanuatu Government.

Despite their funding needs, Pacific island states face major bureaucratic handicaps in putting together complex international climate funding applications. These include lack of technical expertise, dearth of data and sheer capacity constraints within governments.

Mapping Loss and Damage challenges

In March 2023, the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu was hit by two cyclones, Judy and Kevin, that affected 80 percent of the population and left a loss and damage bill of USD 433 million. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

The new global Loss and Damage Fund was first agreed by world leaders at the COP27 Climate Change Conference in 2022. Its objective is to procure major contributions from industrialized, large carbon-emitting nations and aid vulnerable and developing countries in times of climate-driven crises. It will play a vital role given that a recent study claims that, from 2000-2019, climate extremes cost the world USD 16 million per hour.

Island nations view this initiative as a long-overdue step toward addressing climate injustice. Solomon Islands welcomes the spirit of cooperation and commitment to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund.

“While we welcome the pledges being made in particular from developed country parties, we need to ensure that these pledges are being delivered,” Dr Melchior Mataki, Deputy Head of the Solomon Islands Delegation to COP28, told media in December 2023.

Progress in operationalizing the fund has been slow, even as the climate crisis accelerates. “The biggest challenge is the time it takes to access funding. Time is not on our side,” said Michelle DeFreese, SPC Loss and Damage Project Coordinator. “Countries have urged for the development of the Fund for decades, but the impact of climate-related loss and damage is already taking a tremendous toll on countries in the Pacific.” She explained that “responding to and preparing for sea level rise is one of the greatest funding needs in the region, particularly for low-lying atoll nations, including Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.”

To address this, the Pacific Community has collaborated with the Tuvalu Government to develop advanced physical and computer models demonstrating the impact of a 25–50-centimeter sea level rise on the atoll nation by the end of the century. The information is vital to making the case for the funding needed. From 1993 to 2023, the mean sea level rise in the Pacific was 15 centimetres, far higher than the global mean rise of 9.4 centimetres, reports the UN. And, if the global temperature rises to 1.5–3.0 degrees Celsius, the Pacific Islands could confront a rise of 50–68 centimetres.

Yet, while SIDS are encouraged by the global commitment to the new Loss and Damage Fund, with the secretariat hosted by the World Bank, the details of how it will operate, the criteria for applications and the amount of funds it will offer are still undetermined. Funding promises also fall far short of what is required. At COP28 in December last year, sizeable contributions were committed by nations including Germany, France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates, but the total of USD 700 million stands in contrast to the projected USD 100 billion per annum needed for accelerating climate losses this century.

“The Pacific has championed Loss and Damage since 1991 and will continue to do so. While all countries face climate change impacts, the Pacific and other SIDS have done the least to cause climate change and face disproportionate impacts,” Ronneberg said. “If the world doesn’t reduce emissions to be compatible with the 1.5 degree target, we will face existential threats from climate change loss and damage.”

Recognizing the urgency, the Pacific Community has intensified efforts to help nations develop comprehensive loss and damage strategies. With support from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the organization has launched a project to help Pacific nations develop loss and damage plans and strategies. Denmark has pledged EUR 5 million to support vital research and data collection needed for funding applications.

“The project that the Pacific Community started this year with funding from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims to support countries in the development of loss and damage national plans and strategies in parallel with the operationalization of the Fund for responding to loss and damage,” DeFreese explained.

The need for swift and substantial global action has never been greater, as the Pacific continues to face the mounting toll of climate impacts. Without accelerated efforts to operationalize the fund and deliver on pledges, vulnerable nations risk being left unprepared for the challenges ahead.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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• Pioneering Digital Initiative Empowers Pacific Islands to Tackle Climate Disasters

Le jeune homme de 26 ans a été inculpé de meurtre dans le cadre de ll'enquête sur l'assassinat d'un PDG à New York de la semaine dernière.

Le jeune homme de 26 ans a été inculpé de meurtre dans le cadre de ll'enquête sur l'assassinat d'un PDG à New York de la semaine dernière.

Remarks by Paschal Donohoe following the Eurogroup meeting of 9 December 2024.