BAKU: United Nations talks on getting money to curb and adapt to climate change resumed Monday with tempered hope that negotiators and ministers can work through disagreements and hammer out a deal after slow progress last week.
That hope comes from the arrival of the climate and environment ministers from around the world this week in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the COP29 talks. They’ll give their teams instructions on ways forward.
“We are in a difficult place,” said Melanie Robinson, economics and finance program director of global climate at the World Resources Institute. “The discussion has not yet moved to the political level — when it does I think ministers will do what they can to make a deal.”
Talks in Baku are focused on getting more climate cash for developing countries to transition away from fossil fuels, adapt to climate change and pay for damages caused by extreme weather. But countries are far apart on how much money that will require. Several experts put the sum needed at around $1 trillion.
“One trillion is going to look like a bargain five, 10 years from now,” said Rachel Cleetus from the Union of Concerned Scientists, citing a multitude of costly recent extreme weather events from flooding in Spain to hurricanes Helene and Milton in the United States. “We’re going to wonder why we didn’t take that and run with it.”
Meanwhile, the world’s biggest decision makers are halfway around the world as another major summit convenes. Brazil is hosting the Group of 20 summit, which runs Nov. 18-19, bringing together many of the world’s largest economies. Climate change — among other major topics like rising global tensions and poverty — will be on the agenda.
Harjeet Singh, global engagement director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said G20 nations “cannot turn their backs on the reality of their historical emissions and the responsibility that comes with it.”
“They must commit to trillions in public finance,” he said.
In a written statement on Friday, United Nations Climate Change’s executive secretary Simon Stiell said “the global climate crisis should be order of business Number One” at the G20 meetings.
Stiell noted that progress on stopping more warming should happen both in and out of climate talks, calling the G20’s role “mission-critical.”
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Climate talks in Azerbaijan head into their second week, coinciding with G20 in Rio
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Climate talks in Azerbaijan head into their second week, coinciding with G20 in Rio
- Talks in Baku are focused on getting more climate cash for developing countries to transition away from fossil fuels
- Several experts put the sum needed at around $1 trillion
Why Somali migrants may still aim for US despite travel restrictions
MOGADISHU: Somali migrant Mohamed Abdi Awale endured horrors on an ill-fated journey across Africa to seek a better life in the West — but he’s determined to try again one day, even aiming for the US despite increasing restrictions.
Awale is one of 165 Somali migrants recently repatriated after being detained in Libya, where the International Organization for Migration says those caught on journeys to Europe face “unacceptable and inhumane conditions.”
Awale undertook a more than 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) journey, leaving Somali capital Mogadishu to cross Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan.
He was captured by smugglers near the Sudan-Libyan border and taken to the Sahara oasis town of Kufra, where captors filmed him being tortured in a bid to extract a ransom from his family.
“Torture became normal,” Awale said. “If you failed to pay, they beat you until you fainted. Some people lost their minds. Others didn’t survive.”
Unable to afford the ransom, his mother, Hawo Elmo Rage, turned to social media, pleading with Somalis at home and abroad to help her save her son.
“They told me to send the money or they would take his life,” Rage said. She ultimately raised $17,000, enough to free him.
Awale was released from Kufra and put in a car bound for the Mediterranean coast with other migrants. After their vehicle broke down, the group trekked for more than two weeks, facing starvation and dehydration.
“I thought we would die there,” Awale said.
The group was then detained outside of Tripoli, and Awale spent a month in prison in the coastal town of Sirte and another two months in detention in Tripoli before his repatriation to Somalia in November.
Awale became one of hundreds of thousands of Somalis that have fled the country in more than three decades of civil war, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, which estimates that another 3.5 million people are displaced within Somalia itself.
While most Somali refugees live in neighboring countries like Kenya, according to UNHCR, many like Awale have been inspired to seek a future in the West. Awale said that he dreamed of moving to the US since he was a child.
“I want him to stay,” his mother said. “But I know he wishes for a better life. I pray God gives him a safe future— not the dangerous one he found.”
Changes to immigration policy this year under Trump administration changed the calculus of migrants like Awale. US President Donald Trump banned travel to the US by citizens of Somalia and 11 other countries in June — so Awale set his sights on Europe.
Awale remains hopeful that he will reach the US one day, despite anti-Somali sentiment from the White House and a further tightening of immigration restrictions for Somalis.
The White House also announced this week that it was pausing all immigration applications for people from 19 countries, including Somalia.
“My dream was America, but I felt like Trump closed that door,” Awale said. “Maybe after Trump’s term ends.”
Awale is one of 165 Somali migrants recently repatriated after being detained in Libya, where the International Organization for Migration says those caught on journeys to Europe face “unacceptable and inhumane conditions.”
Awale undertook a more than 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) journey, leaving Somali capital Mogadishu to cross Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan.
He was captured by smugglers near the Sudan-Libyan border and taken to the Sahara oasis town of Kufra, where captors filmed him being tortured in a bid to extract a ransom from his family.
“Torture became normal,” Awale said. “If you failed to pay, they beat you until you fainted. Some people lost their minds. Others didn’t survive.”
Unable to afford the ransom, his mother, Hawo Elmo Rage, turned to social media, pleading with Somalis at home and abroad to help her save her son.
“They told me to send the money or they would take his life,” Rage said. She ultimately raised $17,000, enough to free him.
Awale was released from Kufra and put in a car bound for the Mediterranean coast with other migrants. After their vehicle broke down, the group trekked for more than two weeks, facing starvation and dehydration.
“I thought we would die there,” Awale said.
The group was then detained outside of Tripoli, and Awale spent a month in prison in the coastal town of Sirte and another two months in detention in Tripoli before his repatriation to Somalia in November.
Awale became one of hundreds of thousands of Somalis that have fled the country in more than three decades of civil war, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, which estimates that another 3.5 million people are displaced within Somalia itself.
While most Somali refugees live in neighboring countries like Kenya, according to UNHCR, many like Awale have been inspired to seek a future in the West. Awale said that he dreamed of moving to the US since he was a child.
“I want him to stay,” his mother said. “But I know he wishes for a better life. I pray God gives him a safe future— not the dangerous one he found.”
Changes to immigration policy this year under Trump administration changed the calculus of migrants like Awale. US President Donald Trump banned travel to the US by citizens of Somalia and 11 other countries in June — so Awale set his sights on Europe.
Awale remains hopeful that he will reach the US one day, despite anti-Somali sentiment from the White House and a further tightening of immigration restrictions for Somalis.
The White House also announced this week that it was pausing all immigration applications for people from 19 countries, including Somalia.
“My dream was America, but I felt like Trump closed that door,” Awale said. “Maybe after Trump’s term ends.”
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