African activists demand more action from climate summit COP27

Civil society groups and youth activists held rallies at the ongoing U.N. COP27 summit in Egypt, calling for action on climate change.

The youth said they want the establishment of a loss and damage finance facility that can provide additional and readily accessible funding to help developing nations adjust to and limit the “irreversible life changing impacts on young people.”

Ahead of the conference, activists had worried their voices would be curtailed.

This is because public demonstrations are effectively banned and activists have struggled to operate legally amid a far-reaching crackdown on political dissent.

But Egypt had said it would allow protests within confined zones at COP27.

The activists also condemned European and other countries who are using COP27 to lock African countries into new fossil fuel projects by shopping around for new deals to replace Russian gas, and even providing public finance towards this end.

They noted further that countries from the Global North owe a tremendous debt to the Global South who are most impacted but least responsible for the climate crisis.

Developed countries have so far failed to deliver the promise of more than a decade ago to provide USD $100 billion dollars per year to help poorer nations from 2020-25, with a particular shortfall in adaptation finance.

Activists hope that more efforts will be committed to climate change by the end of the conference which is the first on the African Soil.