Could flood-ravaged Chennai be eligible for climate finance under the Loss and Damage provision of a Paris agreement?
Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar cited the crippling floods in Chennai and earlier in Uttarakhand as examples of a dichotomy in the approach of the West to the question of compensation.
“It is the biggest irony of the whole dialogue. If we raise the Chennai floods [under this provision], immediately the developed world will say it is not a case of loss and damage because it is not conclusively proved that this is a climate event. It can be a natural event. That is not a case for loss and damage,” he said, demanding that the dichotomy be ended.
Article 5 of the draft Paris agreement now before the Ministers and negotiators for finalisation deals with the subject of loss and damage, and has been included with optional text.
It is expected to be part of the Article on finance in the final deal.
