International support must be provided to launch carbon markets in Africa: Ghada Waly

Major countries bear cost of climate change to uphold values of justice

Sharm El-Sheikh – Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said that African countries can benefit from the issuance of carbon certificates to major countries, especially as they contribute the least percentage of carbon emissions, which represents about 3-4% for the whole of the continent, indicating that Egypt has already begun to take steps in this regard.
She stressed that international support in creating a carbon market is of great importance, especially in terms of assisting in the implementation and trading mechanism.
Last week, the EGX Holding Company for Capital Markets Development, a subsidiary of Egyptian Exchange, has signed an agreement with the Agricultural Bank of Egypt and Enara Group's Libra Capital to establish Libra Carbon, the first Egyptian company to develop, manage, and issue carbon certificates and environmental products of all kinds for the African continent.
Waly said that bearing the cost of climate change by the major countries is tantamount to upholding the values of justice in the distribution of responsibilities, especially since Africa is a continent that does not contribute to pollution, but bears the greatest tax from drought and desertification, pointing out that uniting the efforts of African countries to obtain financing represents a pressure that must be met. Take it into account.
She told Daily News Egypt that for the first time during COP27, the issue of losses is discussed clearly, and damages are monitored in order to obtain funds, as Egypt took the first step in asking for funding to reduce biodiversity damage to transform the Paris Climate Agreement into reality.
The Paris Climate Agreement was adopted in December 2015, and aims to reduce carbon emissions, and the need for major countries to provide the necessary funding to reach this goal.
Waly added: "The question has shifted from the question of what to do about climate change? How much funding is needed, and who will finance it?"
She pointed out that the relationship between climate change and crime is the result of a cause, as there are crimes committed that harm the environment, such as the ivory trade that kills elephants and causes damage to biodiversity.
In addition to the cutting of forests and coca trees in Colombia, which harms the environment, the result is that land desertification and drought are a major cause of unregulated migration, causing citizens to lose their jobs, which leads to resorting to crime.
He said that crimes that affect the environment (environmental crime) contribute to the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change. The impact of corruption on the most significant drivers of climate change – including illegal deforestation, ecosystem degradation, and waste trafficking – is considerable and needs to be better understood.
She added that the increase in crimes that affect the environment, such as deforestation, marine pollution, fishery crimes, and waste trafficking contributes to the degradation of natural ecosystems, decline of biodiversity, release of carbon dioxide (CO2), and other harmful gases, into the atmosphere. Crimes that affect the environment impair the resiliency of natural ecosystems to withstand climate change.