Tensions ignited at the UN climate talks as representatives from developing nations staged a dramatic walkout.
As per Al Jazeera, the negotiators from the least-developed nations walked out on Saturday, accusing wealthier countries for failing to address critical issues like climate financing and loss and damage compensation.
The negotiators from both affluent and developing countries gathered in a room at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, attempting to reach a complex agreement on financing for poorer nations to combat and adjust to climate change.
They highlighted that the issue of climate finance interests was being ignored by the developed countries’ leaders.
Cedric Schuster, the Samoan chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States, a coalition of nations threatened by rising seas, said, “We’ve just walked out. We came here to this COP for a fair deal. We feel that we haven’t been heard.”
Evans Njewa, chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, said, “[The] current deal is unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do.”
Moreover, Colombia Environment Minister Susana Mohamed told The Associated Press news agency, “I would call this dissatisfaction, [we are] highly dissatisfied.”
The climate activists also shout down United States climate envoy John Podesta as he left the meeting room, accusing him of the US not paying its fair share and having “a legacy of burning up the planet”.
