Discussion on the Climate Finance and Israel-Palestine Conflict

Climate Finance

Why in news?

• The United Arab Emirates, which is hosting the ongoing COP28 climate summit, announced on December 1 that it would contribute $30 billion to a new fund aiming to divert private sector capital towards climate investments and improve financing for the Global South.
• UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan said the fund was “specifically designed to bridge the climate finance gap” and stimulate further investment of $250 billion by 2030.

About Climate Finance:

Climate finance refers to large-scale investments required for actions aiming to mitigate or adapt to the consequences of climate change.

• Adaptation encompasses anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and implementing suitable measures to prevent or minimize the resulting damage. An illustration of adaptation measures includes constructing infrastructure to safeguard coastal communities from sea-level rise.
• Mitigation involves curbing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere to alleviate the severity of climate change impacts. This is achieved by increasing the utilization of renewable energy sources, expanding forest cover, and similar measures

 

Green Financing:   To assist the provision of climate financing, UNFCCC established a financial framework to give financial resources to developing nation Parties. The finance structure also supports the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. It specifies that the financial mechanism’s operation can be entrusted to one or more existing international entities, since the Convention’s entrance into force in 1994, the Global Environment Facility has acted as the financial mechanism’s operating institution. Parties established the Green Climate Fund (GCF) at COP 16 in 2010 and designated it as an operating entity of the financial mechanism in 2011.   The financial mechanism reports to the COP, which determines its policies, programme priorities, and financing eligibility criteria.

 

Significance:

• Climate finance is needed for mitigation because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce emissions.
• Climate finance is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the adverse effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.
• Climate Financing recognizes that the contribution of countries to climate change and their capacity to prevent it and cope with its consequences vary enormously.
• Hence, developed countries should also continue to take the lead in mobilizing climate finance through a variety of actions, including supporting country-driven strategies and taking into account the needs and priorities of developing country Parties.
• Climate finance is critical to tackle the issues posed by climate change and achieve the goal of limiting the rise in the earth’s average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, something the 2018 IPCC report has predicted.

 

Climate Financing in India:

• Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) are nationally binding targets adopted under UNFCCC. India has to reduce GHG emissions under this, which requires climate financing.
• National Clean Energy Fund: The Fund was created to promote clean energy, funded through an initial carbon tax on use of coal by industries. Governed by an Inter-Ministerial Group with the Finance Secretary as the Chairman. Its mandate is to fund research and development of innovative clean energy technology in the fossil and non-fossil fuel based sectors.
• National Adaptation Fund: The fund was established in 2014 with a corpus of Rs. 100 crores with the aim of bridging the gap between the need and the available funds. The fund is operated under Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): It allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2. The CDM is the main source of income for the UNFCCC Adaptation Fund. The Adaptation Fund is financed by a 2% levy on CERs issued by the CDM.
• Internal Programmes: 3/5 Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), Disaster Management Fund etc. A Climate Change Finance Unit was set up by Department of Economics in the Ministry of Finance to advise and guide the MoEF&CC as well as to lead on global climate finance issues.

 

Principles of Climate Finance:

• Polluter Pays:

The ‘polluters pays’ principle is the commonly accepted practice according to which those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment. This principle underpins most of the regulation of pollution affecting land, water and air formally known as the 1992 Rio Declaration. It has also been applied more specifically to emissions of greenhouse gases which cause climate change.

• Common but Differentiated Responsibility and Respective Capability (CBDR–RC):

CBDR–RC is a principle within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It acknowledges the different capabilities and differing responsibilities of individual countries in addressing climate change.

• Additionality:

Climate finance should be additional to existing commitments to avoid the diversion of funding for development needs to climate change actions. This includes use of public climate finance and investments by private sector.

• Adequacy & Precaution:

In order to take precautionary measures to prevent or minimise the causes of climate change as a stated goal under UNFCCC, the level of funding needs to be sufficient to keep a global temperature within limits as possible. A better level of adequacy might be increased in the national estimates of the needed climate funds, this will help build planned investments with respect to INDC.

• Predictability:

Climate finance must be predictable to ensure sustained flow of climate finance. It can be done through multi-year, medium-term funding cycles (3 – 5 years). This allows for adequate investment program to scale up country’s national adaptation and mitigation priorities.

Way Forward:

• Calls for more climate finance are important, but if current practice is any guide, a large share of the funds will be taken from budgets that fund critical development priorities.
• Although public finance can only contribute a share of these extensive needs, increased involvement of international providers is key.
• Developed nations should collaborate with and support developing countries in their transition to clean energy and in securing funding for climate-resilient infrastructure. This collaboration is essential to fulfil the commitment of delivering on the $100-billion goal.
• Additionally, there is a crucial requirement to maintain political dedication to generating new finance, along with:
  • Ensuring that financial resources are effectively directed toward reducing emissions and enhancing resilience.
  • Drawing lessons and enhancing strategies based on recent experiences, particularly as the Green Climate Fund becomes operational

 

Israel-Palestine Conflict

Why in news:

Recently, the militant group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, launched a fierce attack on Israel through land, air, and water, resulting in numerous casualties. This has reignited the long-standing Israel-Palestine Conflict, prompting the involvement of global and regional powers

 

Background of the conflict:

• The Israel-Palestine conflict emerges from interconnected historical claims, nationalist aspirations, and religious significance in the Middle East, revolving around struggles for territory and identity.
• Originating with the emergence of Zionism in the late 19th century and paralleled by the rise of Arab nationalism, the conflict intensified in the 20th century, particularly following the establishment of Israel in 1948.
• Israelis and Palestinians both assert rights to the same lands, leading to wars, uprisings, and peace negotiations.
• The significance of this region to three major world religions further complicates this enduring political dispute between Israel and Palestine

Past Developments:

In 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, which sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.

 

Arab Israel War, 1949

On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was created, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War. The Arabs especially blamed Britain and USA. The Arab states refused to recognise Israel as a legal state and they vowed to destroy it. The war ended in 1949 with Israel’s victory, but 750,000 Palestinians were displaced and the territory was divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.

 

Suez War of 1956

• Col. Nasser of Egypt was aggressively in favour of Arab unity and independence, including liberation of Palestine from Jews and did many acts which irritated USA, UK and France. Since this was the era of Cold War, Egypt also became a player. The Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal. So now UK and France along with Israel thought to invade Egypt. But this attracted huge international criticism and these countries agreed to withdraw.
• Following the 1956 Suez Crisis and Israel’s invasion of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria signed mutual defence pacts in anticipation of a possible mobilization of Israel troops.

 

Six Day War 1967

In June 1967, following a series of manoeuvres by Egyptian President Abdel Gamal Nasser, Israel pre-emptively attacked Egyptian and Syrian air forces, starting the Six-Day War. After the war, Israel gained territorial control over the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt; the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan; and the Golan Heights from Syria.

 

Yom Kippur War/October War, 1973

• Egypt and Syria launched a surprise two-front attack on Israel to regain their lost territory; the conflict did not result in significant gains for Egypt, Israel, or Syria, but Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat declared the war a victory for Egypt as it allowed Egypt and Syria to negotiate over previously ceded territory.
• An important development during the war was that the Arab oil-producing states tried to bring pressure to bear on the USA and on western European states which were friendly to Israel, by reducing oil supplies. This caused serious oil shortages, especially in Europe. At the same time producers, well aware that oil supplies were not unlimited, looked on their action as a way of preserving resources. With this in mind, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) began to raise oil prices substantially. This contributed to inflation and caused an energy crisis in the world’s industrial nations.

 

Camp David Accord

• Finally, in 1979, following a series of cease-fires and peace negotiations, representatives from Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords, a peace treaty that ended the thirty-year conflict between Egypt and Israel.
• The state of war that had existed between Egypt and Israel since 1948 was now ended.
• Even though the Camp David Accords improved relations between Israel and its neighbours, the question of Palestinian self-determination and self-governance remained unresolved.

 

First Intifada (shaking off)

In 1987, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rose up against the Israeli government in what is known as the first intifada.

It was civil disobedience movement which involved strikes, non-payment of taxes etc.

 

Oslo, I Accords, 1993

The 1993 Oslo I Accords mediated the conflict, setting up a framework for the Palestinians to govern themselves in the West Bank and Gaza, and enabled mutual recognition between the newly established Palestinian Authority and Israel’s government.

 

Oslo, II Accords

• In 1995, the Oslo II Accords expanded on the first agreement, adding provisions that mandated the complete withdrawal of Israel from 6 cities and 450 towns in the West Bank.

• Israel formally recognized the PLO;
• the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist and promised to give up terrorism;

 

Second Intifada

Palestinians launched the second intifada, which would last until 2005. In response, the Israeli government approved construction of a barrier wall around the West Bank in 2002, despite opposition from the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

 

Clash between Israel and Palestine, 2014

In the summer of 2014, clashes in the Palestinian territories precipitated a military confrontation between the Israeli military and Hamas in which Hamas fired nearly three thousand rockets at Israel, and Israel retaliated with a major offensive in Gaza. The skirmish ended in late August 2014 with a cease-fire deal brokered by Egypt, but only after 73 Israelis and 2,251 Palestinians were killed.

Abraham Accords, 2020

In August and September 2020, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then Bahrain agreed to normalize relations with Israel, making them only the third and fourth countries in the region—following Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994—to do so. In 2020 only, Morocco also joined Abraham Accords, in 2021 Sudan joined,

India has adopted de-hyphenation Policy which simply means that India’s relationship with Israel would stand on its own merits, independent and separate from India’s relationship with Palestinians.

 Impact of Assault on Israel-Saudi Arabia Ties

Israel, in the recent times, has cemented many peace agreements with neighbouring countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia etc which is set to feel a jolt due to the recent attack.

• One of the reasons for Hamas’ assault on Israel can be attributed to disrupting efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together, along with other countries that may be interested in normalizing relations with Israel.
• Hamas had highlighted threats to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, the continuation of an Israeli blockade on Gaza and Israeli normalization with countries in the region.
• Dehyphening Saudi Arabia from Israel will help promote the agenda of Muslim Brotherhood and territorial sovereignty over the Arab and Middle East region.
• Normalization of ties of regional powers with Israel will further embolden and strengthen the position of Israel vis-a-vis reclaiming Palestinian territories.
• Ties with UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia etc will provide a vigorous push to infrastructural development, and create inter-dependence and inter-relationships among these countries, much to the chagrin of Palestinian

India’s Stand on the Israel-Palestine Conflict:

• India was one of the few countries to oppose the UN’s partition plan in 1947, echoing its own experience during independence a few months earlier.
• India recognised Israel in 1950 but it is also the first non-Arab country to recognise Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole representative of the Palestinian. India is also one of the first countries to recognise the statehood of Palestine in 1988.
• In recent times, India is being seen shifted towards a Dehyphenation of Policy.
• Dehyphenation of Policy:

India’s policy on the longest running conflict in the world has gone from being unequivocally pro-Palestine for the first four decades, to a tense balancing act with its three-decade-old friendly ties with Israel.

• In recent years, India’s position has also been perceived as pro-Israel.
• Further, India believes in a Two-State Solution with respect to Israel-Palestine conflict, and proposes the right to self-determination to both the countries in a peaceful manner

The Path Forward:

• Achieving a peaceful solution necessitates global unity, but the reluctance of the Israeli government and other involved parties has exacerbated the issue. Therefore, adopting a balanced approach is essential to maintain positive relations with both Arab countries and Israel.

 

• The recent normalization agreements, known as the Abraham Accords, between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco represent steps in the right direction. All regional powers should aspire to foster peace between the two countries along the lines of the Abraham Accords.

 

• India’s role in multilateral organizations requires “concerted efforts in collaboration with all relevant parties to attain security and stability in the Middle East and West Asia.” Currently serving as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2021-22 and re-elected to the Human Rights Council for 2022-24, India should leverage these multilateral forums to serve as a mediator in resolving the Israel-Palestine issue