Former president Joyce Banda has pushed for the disbursement of money from the Loss and Damage Fund to help Malawi and other developing countries recover from climate change impacts.

She made the call in her keynote address during the opening of the three-day Africa Regional Dialogue on Loss and Damage in Lilongwe yesterday.

Said Banda: “The CoP28 held in Dubai last December took a giant step of approving the Loss and Damage Fund, which received a 700-million dollars commitment.

Banda: They need the money now

“So many other financial pledges have been made so far. What is critical to me is that access to such climate financing must not be a further burden to the developing countries who need the money now.”

The annual United Nations Conference of Parties (CoP) on climate change agreed to establish a fund for responding to loss and damage. It is meant to support developing countries that are vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change respond to economic and non-economic loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change.

Banda said the funds would help Malawi recover from a bombardment of disasters that caused suffering to millions of Malawians.

Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change Michael Usi echoed Banda’s call, arguing that industrialised countries have an obligation to support damage and loss.

This, he said, was due to their contribution to climate change triggered by “excessive pollution” that hurt developing countries.

The Civil Society Network on Climate Change is hosting the dialogue with delegates drawn from African countries and the donor community.

The network’s  board chairperson Gift Numeri said the summit offers African nations to find solutions on how to recover from damage and loss to lessen people’s suffering.

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