In the eye of storm

The 65-year-old coordinator of the movement, a regional alliance of civil society groups, lamented that the recent typhoons felt like a case of deja vu, having watched her country battle increasingly turbulent storms during at least three COPs.

It was not just civil society representatives calling for more adaptation finance. Researchers, government delegates and investors were doing the same at various events held throughout the day on Nov 13.

Ministerial representatives from Chile, Bangladesh and Nigeria called for investments to strengthen health systems, as they highlighted the devastating impacts of the intensifying climate crisis on human health.

Extreme events

The COP30 presidency's special envoy for Africa, Carlos Lopes, painted a picture of extreme events occurring with a frequency that the continent's regions are struggling to cope with, citing temperatures of 50 C in North Africa and annual floods in East Africa.

Each year, more than half a million lives are lost due to heat, and over 150,000 deaths are linked to wildfire smoke exposure, according to Lancet Countdown executive director Marina Romanello, speaking at the same briefing.

Lancet Countdown, published annually in The Lancet medical journal, tracks the evolving links between climate change and human health.

"Health systems, already stretched and underfunded, are struggling to cope with these growing pressures, and most are still unprepared for what is coming," said the climate change and health researcher.

Current funding is nowhere near sufficient, Romanello added, citing how only 44 percent of countries have factored in the cost of adapting their health systems to climate change.

At another Nov 13 dialogue that brought together representatives of financial ministries, researchers and investors, participants argued that budgeting for adaptation is crucial to implementing the climate treaty in the next decade, beyond the talks in Belem.

The panelists, most of whom had observed the ongoing climate negotiations, said raising the commitment to financing adaptation will ultimately benefit business interests, as it results in long-term savings.

Guido Schmidt-Traub, a partner at consultancy Systemiq, said: "It costs 5 to 10 percent more to make that road resilient, so why not just build it resilient from the start? Because refurbishing and rebuilding it later is just vastly more expensive."

The Straits Times, Singapore