Board member of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson, in discussion with FRLD Executive Director, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, at the fifth FRLD Board Meeting at the Hilton Barbados Resort on Wednesday. (C. Pitt/BGIS)
The naming of a global workplan and rules for delivering funding to climate vulnerable countries as the Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM) was one of the critical decisions reached at the fifth Board Meeting of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).
Sherpa to Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and a Member of the FRLD Board, Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson, stated that the naming of the workplan and rules for delivering funding marks another international process that this country would have named after it, pertaining to its advocacy for climate change.
Barbados hosted the FRLD Board Meeting from April 8 to 10, which was attended by approximately 200 people. This was the first time that an FRLD meeting was held in a small island developing state.
Ambassador Thompson said: “This outcome is a great one for Barbados, the Caribbean and climate vulnerable countries generally. It is a clear indication of the importance and necessity of Barbados’ engagement and advocacy on climate change and other issues critical to the island’s development and the well-being of Bajans.”
The Board also decided that money disbursed by the Fund to countries for climate responses would be in the form of grants, not loans, and there would be some level of access for affected communities.
Ambassador Thompson noted that on the final day of the session, the discussions were so engaging that the meeting went over its scheduled time.
“In a tense debate over the final text in which the decisions and the operating rules would be captured, which took the meeting into more than two hours overtime, the resources to be allocated to countries and regional groups became a highly divisive issue. In the end, however, it was decided that 50 per cent of the Fund’s capital available for disbursement would go to SIDS and LDCs,” she disclosed.
Other critical decisions taken at the Board meeting included the establishment of a Budget Committee of the Board, which is critical to the oversight of its financial matters; a proposal for the start-up phase of the Fund – which would finally allow countries access to funding; and retroactive approval of the expenditure incurred by the World Bank as host and Interim Trustee for the Board, from July 1 to December 31, 2024.
In addition, the Board agreed to a workplan and administrative budget of the Secretariat for July 1 to December 31, 2025; the organisational structure of the Interim Secretariat; and the dates and venues of upcoming meetings.
Ambassador Thompson expressed “extreme satisfaction” at the outcomes made during the fifth Board Meeting and thanked her advisor Ricardo Marshall, and the team who helped organise and oversee the sessions, including Senior Foreign Service Officer, Patti-Ann Gibson, and Research Officer Nathaniel Layne. She added that the delegates “repeatedly complimented and remarked at the warmth and kindness of the people of Barbados”.
The FRLD was agreed at COP 27, held in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, in 2022. Funding was agreed to, and it was formally established in 2023. The following year, 2024, saw the selection of a Board of 26 countries from across the world to serve as its inaugural members. Barbados obtained one of two Caribbean seats on the Board, the other being held by Antigua and Barbuda.
Ambassador Thompson was appointed by the Board to co-chair the committee to recruit the Executive Director of the Fund, and Ibrahima Cheikh Diong of Senegal was selected to be the Fund’s first Executive Director.
The staff of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change served as the Interim Secretariat for the Fund, but staff recruitment will now start in earnest. The Fund has attracted some US$ 760 million in capital so far.
Source: https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/blog/frld-global-workplan-rules-named-bim/
Author: Sheena Forde-Craigg
