Poorer countries prefer debt paymets over climate change; spend 5 times more funds: Report

Ahead of UN climate talks in Glasgow, a report by an international charitable organisation Oxfam has revealed that poorer countries are spend five times more on debt than managing the impact of climate change. According to the report by The Guardian Oxfam's observation claims at least 34 of the world's poorest countries spend nearly $29.4 billion on debt payments in a year while these countries spend almost one-fifth ($5.4 billion) of the budget in coping with the impact of climate change. The report, published in September this year, informs that the Eastern African country Uganda spent nearly $537 million between 2016 and 2020 on climate-related projects, while it spent nearly $739 million in only one year on debt.

"Releasing funds for climate is clearly a question of political will"

However, the charity organisation noted that the Eastern African nation is not only the low-income nation to find extra cash to pay debt interest, but more than 34 countries that are covered in the research would spend seven times on debt payments as compared to the issues related to climate change.

Reacting to the report, Oxfam International’s Global Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi, said that the whole world has seen how the countries spend trillions of funds to cope with COVID-19 but failed to show the same zeal while releasing funds for climate-related issues.

"The pandemic has shown that countries can swiftly mobilize trillions of dollars to respond to an emergency — it is clearly a question of political will. Let’s be clear, we are in a climate emergency. It is wreaking havoc across the globe and requires the same decisiveness and urgency," said Dabi in a statement released.

"Wealthy nations must live up to their promise made twelve years ago"

Dabi spoke about how millions of people from Senegal to Guatemala "have already lost their homes, livelihoods and loved ones because of turbo-charged storms and chronic droughts, caused by a climate crisis they did little to cause." She said that wealthy nations must live up to their promise made 12 years ago and put their money where their mouths are.

"We need to see real funding increases now," added Dabi. According to the UN Environment Program, annual adaptation costs in developing countries are expected to reach $140 billion to 300 billion per year by 2030, and $280 billion to 500 billion by 2050. It is worth mentioning that the report came ahead of the COP26 Summit where world leaders, climate campaigners and activists from around the world are due to attend the UN conference. It was postponed by a year due to the outbreak of the pandemic. The global event will take place in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12.

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