At COP27 in 2022, developing nations won a hard-fought victory: the establishment of a Loss and Damage Fund designed to compensate vulnerable countries for climate-induced disasters. Two years later, as COP30 approaches, the fund is operational, but the realities raise a troubling question: will it bring real relief to African nations, or is it yet another mechanism that perpetuates their dependency on external aid?
For decades, Africa has been trapped in a vicious cycle: hit hardest by climate disasters, promised financial support, and yet left with little to show for it. Meanwhile, the continent accounts for less than 4 percent of global carbon emissions, yet it bears the brunt of the climate crisis. Rising temperatures have significantly led to severe climatic events that have devastated communities across the continent.
In Sahel’s region of Burkina Faso, residents experienced the most intense heat in 200 years, while the southeastern coast of Africa repeatedly suffered powerful cyclones, leading to widespread displacement and destruction.
Recently, Cyclone Jude struck Mozambique with winds reaching 120 mph, causing severe flooding with over 200 mm of rain in 24 hours. This led to grounded flights and power outages affecting 9,200 people and damage to 900 homes; last December when Cyclone Chido struck the country, at least 120 deaths were recorded with 120,000 homes destroyed. Malawi’s Tropical Cyclone Freddy resulted in catastrophic flooding, displacing nearly 508,250 people and claiming at least 499 lives in 2023.
In a statement by Josefa Correia Sacko, the commissioner for Agriculture and Sustainable Development at the African Union Commission, last year, she said Africa needs $3 trillion to combat the impacts of climate change by 2030. Yet at COP28, the Loss and Damage Fund received a mere $700 million in pledges, a drop in the ocean compared to the financial burden African nations must bear.
But evidence shows African countries are not starving for funds. For example, between June 2023 and July 2024, Nigeria’s state governments collectively received approximately ₦39 billion (about $23 million) in ecological funds through the country’s Ecological Fund, established in 1981 to address environmental disasters. Despite these allocations, the National Emergency Management Agency reported that over 205 individuals lost their lives to flooding in 2024. Two years earlier, floods had displaced over 1.4 million Nigerians, submerging entire towns and leaving victims stranded without government assistance.
Nigeria is not alone. Many African countries have established national efforts to support local adaptation initiatives. Examples are Kenya’s Climate Change Funds and South Africa’s Green Funds. In the Central Africa region, the Central Africa Forest Initiative (CAFI), aimed at preserving forest ecosystems, already received financial commitments of up to $543.7 million between 2016 and 2021.
If national and regional mechanisms could not distribute climate adaptation aid effectively, what guarantees that the Loss and Damage Fund will be any different? Even if the money reaches its intended recipients, the fundamental issue remains: will this fund make Africa more resilient to climate change, or will it merely keep the continent dependent on emergency relief? History offers a sobering lesson.
The withdrawal of USAID from key African programs in the past months exposed the dangers of relying on foreign aid. Across the continent, development projects came to an abrupt halt, leaving millions of people vulnerable. The sudden exit taught Africa that when external assistance dries up, the continent is left to fend for itself.
COP30 will come and go, just like the climate conferences before it. The real question is not how much money Africa will receive but how long it will keep looking outward for solutions that must ultimately come from within, especially when history teaches external funding can be unsustainable.
