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‘Loss, Damage’ Funding…A Climate Breakthrough Threatened by ‘Details’

A press conference for the "Climate Action Network" discussed the issue of “loss and damage” funding during COP27 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A press conference for the "Climate Action Network" discussed the issue of “loss and damage” funding during COP27 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
    Sharm El-Sheikh – Hazem Badr
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‘Loss, Damage’ Funding…A Climate Breakthrough Threatened by ‘Details’

A press conference for the "Climate Action Network" discussed the issue of “loss and damage” funding during COP27 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A press conference for the "Climate Action Network" discussed the issue of “loss and damage” funding during COP27 (Asharq Al-Awsat)

COP27 President Sameh Shoukry has affirmed the success of negotiations on world countries adopting for the first time a climate agenda item on the most important issue of establishing a “loss and damage” fund.

Despite being labeled a breakthrough, the step will usher in complex discussions that will determine progress on the matter.

The expression “Loss and damage” refers to the costs incurred because of extreme weather events or climate impacts, such as rising sea levels.

There were constant demands to include the issue of “loss and damage” in COP summits that began in the early 1990s.

Major industrialized countries, however, repeatedly obstructed efforts to add the topic to COP agendas out of fear that it may lead to demands for billions of dollars in compensation for poorer countries.

Recent climate disasters - such as floods in Pakistan - gave a new impetus to demands for introducing “loss and damage” to discussions at the COP27 summit currently being held in Egypt.

Before the summit, Magdi Allam, Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Environmental Experts, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the COP27 Summit would achieve important breakthroughs due to the climate warning that nature raised this year to the world, represented by the severe weather phenomena witnessed by several countries.

Even if putting the discussion of “loss and damage” on the agenda is considered a breakthrough, the devil remains in the details.

Wael Abdel Moez, a researcher specializing in climate affairs at the University of Berlin, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “there is no agreement on describing the loss and damage that should be compensated.”

“There will also be disagreement over who will pay: Will the US pay the most, as the historically biggest polluter, or will it be China, which is the biggest polluter now?”

“Certainly, the tense Chinese-US relations will affect the possibility of resolving such issues,” said Moez.

The fact is, developed countries have not fulfilled their promises to provide $100 billion in climate finance annually by 2020. Moreover, they also failed to implement what was agreed upon in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

This has made developing and poor countries look for more practical solutions to finance climate “loss and damage.”

“One of the solutions proposed in the corridors of COP27 is to have the United Nations assume the responsibility,” Moez noted.

Some countries have also proposed inviting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to impose a profit tax on fossil fuel companies to raise funding.

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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

In the Mazzeh 86 neighborhood, west of the Syrian capital Damascus, the names of many shops, grocery stores, and public squares still serve as a reminder of the era of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

This is evident in landmarks like the “Al-Hafez Restaurant,” one of the prominent features of this area. Squares such as “Al-Areen,” “Officers,” and “Bride of the Mountain” evoke memories of the buildings surrounding them, which once housed influential officials and high-ranking officers in intelligence and security agencies. These individuals instilled fear in Syrians for five decades until their historic escape on the night of the regime’s collapse last month.

In this neighborhood, the effects of Israeli bombing are clearly visible, as it was targeted multiple times. Meanwhile, its narrow streets and alleys were strewn with military uniforms abandoned by leaders who fled before military operations arrived and liberated the area from their grip on December 8 of last year.

Here, stark contradictions come to light during a tour by Asharq Al-Awsat in a district that, until recently, was largely loyal to the former president. Muaz, a 42-year-old resident of the area, recounts how most officers and security personnel shed their military uniforms and discarded them in the streets on the night of Assad’s escape.

He said: “Many of them brought down their weapons and military ranks in the streets and fled to their hometowns along the Syrian coast.”

Administratively part of Damascus, Mazzeh 86 consists of concrete blocks randomly built between the Mazzeh Western Villas area, the Mazzeh Highway, and the well-known Sheikh Saad commercial district. Its ownership originally belonged to the residents of the Mazzeh area in Damascus. The region was once agricultural land and rocky mountain terrain. The peaks extending toward Mount Qasioun were previously seized by the Ministry of Defense, which instructed security and army personnel to build homes there without requiring property ownership documents.

Suleiman, a 30-year-old shop owner, who sells white meat and chicken, hails from the city of Jableh in the coastal province of Latakia. His father moved to this neighborhood in the 1970s to work as an army assistant.

Suleiman says he hears the sound of gunfire every evening, while General Security patrols roam the streets “searching for remnants of the former regime and wanted individuals who refuse to surrender their weapons. We fear reprisals and just want to live in peace.”

He mentioned that prices before December 8 were exorbitant and beyond the purchasing power of Syrians, with the price of a kilogram of chicken exceeding 60,000 Syrian pounds and a carton of eggs reaching 75,000.

“A single egg was sold for 2,500 pounds, which is far beyond the purchasing power of any employee in the public or private sector,” due to low salaries and the deteriorating living conditions across the country,” Suleiman added.

On the sides of the roads, pictures of the fugitive president and his father, Hafez al-Assad, were torn down, while military vehicles were parked, awaiting instructions.

Maram, 46, who previously worked as a civilian employee in the Ministry of Defense, says she is waiting for the resolution of employment statuses for workers in army institutions. She stated: “So far, there are no instructions regarding our situation. The army forces and security personnel have been given the opportunity for settlement, but there is no talk about us.”

The neighborhood, in its current form, dates back to the 1980s when Rifaat al-Assad, the younger brother of former President Hafez al-Assad, was allowed to construct the “Defense Palace,” which was referred to as “Brigade 86.” Its location is the same area now known as Mazzeh Jabal 86.

The area is divided into two parts: Mazzeh Madrasa (School) and Mazzeh Khazan (Tank). The first takes its name from the first school built and opened in the area, while the second is named after the water tank that supplies the entire Mazzeh region.

Two sources from the Mazzeh Municipality and the Mukhtar’s office estimate the neighborhood’s current population at approximately 200,000, down from over 300,000 before Assad’s fall. Most residents originate from Syria’s coastal regions, followed by those from interior provinces like Homs and Hama. There was also a portion of Kurds who had moved from the Jazira region in northeastern Syria to live there, but most returned to their areas due to the security grip and after the “Crisis Cell” bombing that killed senior security officials in mid-2012.

Along the main street connecting Al-Huda Square to Al-Sahla Pharmacy, torn images of President Hafez al-Assad are visible for the first time in this area in five decades. On balconies and walls, traces of Bashar al-Assad’s posters remain, bearing witness to his 24-year era.