Global climate activists intensified their demands at COP29 in Baku, calling for developed countries to take accountability for climate change impacts that continue to devastate communities across the Global South.
During an eye-catching demonstration held ahead of the Finance Day, climate activists displayed a massive "invoice" listing the mounting costs of climate destruction, highlighting the urgent need for financial redress.
"The time for excuses is up. Developed countries simply need to own up for the harm they have caused. It is absurd that people in the Global South who have done little to cause the crisis have been forced to bear the costs of climate destruction unleashed by richer countries.
"The giant invoice that we displayed today clearly itemizes the costs of loss and damage, adaptation, and mitigation already being borne by developing countries. If developing countries want to avert runaway climate breakdown, they need to repay the debt owed to the Global South." Said Teresa Anderson, the Global Lead on Climate Justice at ActionAid International
The action brought into sharp focus the inequities faced by vulnerable communities, particularly women and girls, whose lives have been disrupted by climate change.
Sylvia Kijangwa, a youth climate activist from Tanzania, related the daily challenges women and girls face in her homeland due to prolonged droughts, water scarcity, and food insecurity.
"In my country, women and young girls are increasingly forced to walk long distances in search of water, putting them at risk of attacks by wildlife and abuse at water wells. This Finance Day, we demand justice for these women who come from countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis. Our children are suffering from malnutrition due to the food crisis as empty promises become the norm. COP29 is the right time to provide finance for the costs of climate impacts that we are still paying." Kijangwa said
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Echoing Kijangwa's call for action, Nura Mohamed, Program Manager of ActionAid Somaliland, drew attention to the urgent need for substantial financial commitments, particularly to protect vulnerable women and girls from severe economic and social impacts in Somaliland.
"Women and girls in Somaliland cannot wait any longer as major polluters continue to evade accountability for the climate debts owed to communities devastated by climate change. For women and girls, the impacts are severe--droughts endanger livelihoods, and the resulting economic hardships fuel surges in gender-based violence and FGM/C. The delay is over. With climate shocks threatening our very survival, we are now demanding climate finance in the trillions, not the billions," Mohamed said
The activists implored those future promises be backed by concrete financing mechanisms, arguing that immediate action is essential to stave off further climate-induced suffering.
