The movement for Climate Justice in Madagascar calls for COP27 to deliver on four key areas in order to galvanise action and ensure just outcomes from the negotiations.
1. Accountability framework for the negotiations: the members of the Movement for Climate Justice in Madagascar are deeply concerned that there are more fossil fuel lobbyists than representatives of the ten nations most impacted by the climate crisis registered to attend COP27, and that the fossil fuel delegation is larger than that of any African country.
· We support the joint civil society submission on establishing an Accountability Framework to protect the integrity of the UNFCC climate negotiations against undue influence of polluters’ interests by establishing clear conflict of interest policies.
· We are calling on the UNFCCC and all Parties to exclude from the climate negotiations the big polluters and organisations that have financial or vested interests in the production or burning of fossil fuels.
· Within the framework of the Global Stocktake, each State must demonstrate transparency through adequate reporting of figures on the achievement of its commitments and emission reduction targets.
· An international law allowing for legal action against countries that do not fulfill their commitments should be enacted, or if necessary, the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice should be extended to this effect.
2. Loss and Damage: because a clear time-bound roadmap for effective institutional arrangements and for finance for loss and damage will be a litmus test as to whether or not COP 27 is a success, we reiterate our support to the strong call from developing countries during the first informal consultations on 8 November for a multilateral fund for loss and damage which is fit for purpose.
· The multilateral fund should be designated as an operating entity within the UNFCCC which focuses exclusively on addressing loss and damage and setting up a financial support framework for countries being repeatedly battered by the impacts of climate change, food system disruptions, fossil fuel price spikes and other shocks.
· Finance for loss and damage has to be grant based since loans of any kind would only increase the debt burden of affected countries and the misery of their communities;
· The source of the money should be developed countries but also the tax that fossil fuel companies must pay on their windfall profits;
· Developed countries must pay their historical and ecological debts to Madagascar and other developing countries through the cancellation of their debts in order to allow them to use the funds dedicated to their payment to meet the urgent needs of their population groups that are victims of the losses and damages due to the climate crisis.
3. Climate Finance and Adaptation: the members of the Movement for Climate Justice in Madagascar have noted with great concern the systemic failure of developed countries to address the issue of resource mobilization to fulfill their pledges to the Adaptation Fund (AF), and their use of the UNFCCC platform to “abuse public trust and mislead the global community” as underlined by the spokesperson of the Africa Group.
· Major economies and financial institutions must fulfil the raft of commitments made in Glasgow covering finance, but also transport, energy, methane, deforestation and other areas.
· Developed countries must fulfill their commitments to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, which are a priority for Madagascar and the African Group.
· In view of the establishment of the global goal on adaptation at COP27, developed countries should commit to at least doubling their funding to meet the growing adaptation needs of developing countries as estimated by the IPCC, and establish a plan to achieve these commitments by 2024 at the latest.
· In the long term, developed countries should commit to advancing the post-2025 global financing target up to a level between $750 billion and $1300 billion per year, so as to establish a financing framework that allows for both an urgent transition to carbon-neutral economies, and access of developing countries to increasing levels of new, predictable, and concessional financing.
· Financing measures for the transition must safeguard the assets, resources and livelihoods of vulnerable groups. In particular:
o the current energy crisis in developed countries should not be solved through their support for fossil fuel exploitation in developing countries rich in oil and gas reserves;
o the current and potential impacts of decarbonization and energy transition in developed countries on developing countries must be taken into account, as in the case of the exploitation of rare earths which are strategic minerals in high demand for the energy transition, but with enormous social and environmental costs for countries like Madagascar which would thus become sacrifice zones.
4. Article 6:
· Measures agreed at COP27 must not undermine the fundamental rights and livelihoods of communities in developing countries. Land, including the territories of indigenous groups and agricultural land, and forests must be excluded from Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
