Antalya (Turkey) (AFP) – The international fund intended to pay for the losses and damages of poor countries due to climate does not yet know how to adapt to help them more quickly, as it did exceptionally with Nepal, its two co-presidents admit in an exclusive interview with AFP.

Published on: 10/11/2026 - 09:24

The debates on the future of the young Loss and Damage Response Fund illustrate one of the central problems debated at COP31 this week in Turkey: money to rebuild and adapt the most threatened countries is lacking and not arriving quickly enough.

The fund, the latest climate fund, provided $20 million in October to help Nepal rebuild after the deadly floods of August, but only following a special request, pressure from developing countries and an extraordinary meeting, the only one in its short history.

Normally, countries that want to benefit from a grant must submit a file at a given period, take the exam and ultimately wait months.

At the October meeting, several members of the fund's board of directors, on the side of developed countries, warned that the decision did not call into question the normal procedure - criticized from the start by the most vulnerable countries.

Does the quick decision on Nepal set a precedent? “I don't think so yet,” replied cautiously the Norwegian Georg Børsting, who has co-chaired the board of directors since the beginning of the year with the Dominican Camila Minerva Rodriguez Tavarez, formerly of the Ministry of the Environment and Oxfam, during an interview shortly before COP31.

“The precedent is that the board is capable of organizing an extraordinary meeting,” continues the senior Norwegian official.

“The board of directors has shown that it is ready to act when necessary,” adds Camila Minerva Rodriguez Tavarez.

But should countries that will be hit by other disasters come knocking on your door?

“It’s an opportunity to learn how the fund will work,” she replies. “We are not an emergency response fund, it is not humanitarian aid.”

Do you tell vulnerable countries to come see you after a natural disaster?

“We say we will try,” she said again, before returning to the sober reality of the fund: it still has very little money compared to needs. “We can only act within our mandate and the money we have.”

Need billions

The fund was a victory for vulnerable countries snatched at COP27 in Egypt in 2022.

Since its establishment, with a secretariat at the World Bank in Washington and a board of directors composed mainly of representatives from developing countries, $822 million has been pledged by rich countries, but no money has yet been disbursed.

Of 176 applications filed earlier this year for a total of $2.8 billion, only projects in four countries (Jamaica, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Haiti) were deemed ready for approval at the July board in the Philippines. Ultimately, he postponed the first announcements until December, promising to disburse a total of $92 million.

Each project can request between $5 million and $20 million.

“The needs are in the billions,” says Camila Minerva Rodriguez Tavarez. His colleague wants to be realistic: “No fund will be able to meet all the demand”.

“How can this fund help and make a difference? Time will tell, there is no simple answer today,” concludes Georg Børsting.

© 2026 AFP

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