The Nigerian Catholic Bishop called upon African leaders to establish “clear roadmaps” to ensure the climate finance given by nations of the global north reaches the most vulnerable communities that are at the highest risk of climate crisis.
“We believe that African leaders must become more transparent in the judicial use of their resources towards improving the quality of lives of their citizens. African leaders must prevent the hemorrhaging of resources from the continent to the Western world,” the 71-year-old Nigerian Catholic Bishop known for good governance and vocal about injustices said.
At the Nairobi press conference, the Director of the Jesuits Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA) emphasized the need for the actualization of the Loss and Damage Fund for vulnerable nations affected by climate disasters.
Fr. Charles Chilufya spoke the global kitty established to support developing countries facing the devastating impacts of climate change, as agreed upon during the United Nations 27th Conference of Parties Climate Conference (COP 27) in Egypt.
“We call for operationalization, including capitalization, by rich countries of the loss and damage fund for relief to global south countries through the provision of grant financing for addressing loss and damage,” Fr. Chilufya said.
The Nairobi-based Zambian Jesuit Priest added, “We call for equity and fairness of finance provided by global financial institutions to poor countries suffering losses and damages.”
In their statement, the religious leaders also urged delegates at the ACS to stop mining fossil fuels.
“We urge the African leaders to divest from fossil fuel energy sources, oil, gas, and coal, and set clear targets and necessary actions needed to actualize the divestment to operationalize fair and just systems to clean sources that are affordable, efficient and accessible for our communities,” Bishop Chediel Elinaza Sendoro of Mwanga Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania said.
The Evangelical Lutheran church leader added that Africa’s leaders need to come up with a “clear plan on the threat of adaptation actions, strengthening of adaptation actions and resilience against the consequences of the climate crisis as one of its core outcomes.”
African leaders need to “adopt a concrete science and evidence-based approach and implement adaptation actions that respond to the adaptation needs of the communities,” he said.
