Should rich countries pay climate 'reparations'? What the COP27 debate means

Heat waves, storms, rising sea levels, droughts and floods — evidence of climate change’s impact is fueling a growing funding push. What are climate reparations?

Searing heat waves, hypercharged storms, rising sea levels, devastating droughts and floods — evidence of climate change’s calamitous impact is being felt from the Bahamas to Bangladesh, and it’s fueling a growing movement for climate “reparations.”

This push for major, debt-free funding for climate-vulnerable countries that have contributed little to the onset of global warming has made significant strides in recent years — and the issue gained new momentum at the ongoing United Nations climate conference in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

Meena Gabeena, founder of Meenay Laas, a voluntary disaster relief group in Pakistan, was in the southwestern Baluchistan province when floods ravaged the country over the summer, inundating at some points up to a third of its surface. Torrential monsoon rains and melting glaciers drowned entire villages, as rivers burst their banks, leaving millions marooned and vital crops destroyed. More than 1,700 people, including more than 500 children, were killed in the extreme flooding and 33 million more displaced. 

It was one of many dramatic weather patterns this year to hit countries that bear little responsibility for the climate-fueled disasters that are becoming increasingly common.

Hunger crisis in Kenya growing more severeNov. 15, 202202:13Pakistan’s environmental footprint — how much carbon it has put into the atmosphere in recent decades — is significantly less than other countries. And at an individual level, the environmental footprint of most Pakistanis is much smaller than people in countries like the United States. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/climate-reparations-cop27-what-it-means-rcna49105

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