•Demands Climate Justice
Climate justice activists from Africa Make Big Polluters Pay (MBPP) coalition, alongside partners such as the Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Eurodadd, Latindadd, Debt Justice UK, and Recourse, held a protest outside the plenary halls of the ongoing COP29 talks in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The demonstrators are calling for the cancellation of unjust debt and for grant-based climate finance from wealthier nations to support climate change victims in the Global South.
The protest highlights opposition to proposals from the Global North, which suggest using debt swaps as a solution to the intertwined crises of debt and climate change.
Activists argue that debt swaps fail to address the root causes of financial inequality and environmental damage, and could even worsen conditions for vulnerable nations.
“Debt swaps do not significantly reduce debt levels and can harm local communities,” said Hilda Nakabuye of Fridays for Future, Uganda.
“What we need is full debt cancellation and financial support through grants, not loans,” he insisted.
Olamide Martins Ogunlade from CAPPA, Nigeria, also emphasized the connection between climate and debt justice, stating, “There is no climate justice without debt justice. The Global South is suffering the consequences of a crisis we did not cause.”
In addition to their call for immediate debt cancellation, the activists are demanding a $5 trillion annual down payment in reparations from polluting nations to help the Global South reduce emissions and recover from climate impacts.
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