Why in the News?

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change announced that Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, a finance expert from Senegal, has been appointed as the first director of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage. This fund helps countries hit by climate disasters.

Loss and Damage Fund

• It was established at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in 2022.
• Objective: To provide financial support to countries most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, particularly those that suffer irreversible damage due to natural disasters.
• It addresses the financial costs of damages resulting from climate change that go beyond what adaptation or mitigation efforts can manage.
• The World Bank administers the fund, with financing expected from developed countries, private entities and international institutions.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

• It is an international treaty aimed at addressing climate change and its impacts.
• It was signed in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development also known as the Earth Summit, the Rio Summit or the Rio Conference.
• It came into force on 21^st March 1994.
• Secretariat: Bonn, Germany
• Executive Secretary: Simon Stiell
• It has been ratified by 198 countries and is called to have a near universal membership.
• According to Article 2, the Convention’s ultimate objective is “to achieve, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”.
• It holds annual Conferences of the Parties (COP), where nations negotiate and review progress on climate-related commitments and actions.
  • COP 1: Berlin, Germany
  • COP 29: It will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11th to 22nd November 2024
• Key Agreements
  • Kyoto Protocol (1997)
  • Paris Agreement (2015)
  • Bali Action Plan (2007)
  • The Copenhagen Accord (2009)
  • The Cancún agreements (2010)
  • Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (2012)

Logo of UNFCCC