The United Nations COP28 climate summit opened here in Dubai Thursday with delegates agreeing to adopt a new “loss and damage” fund to help poorer nations deal with the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis. Initial funding will start at $429 million, just a fraction of what’s needed to address the annual cost of climate catastrophes. Governments from the Global South and climate activists welcomed the fund but underlined its deficiencies. This is Libyan activist Nissa Bek.

Nissa Bek: “Considering the fact that most of these developing countries that actually need the fund are politically unstable, already the prerequisite sort of for receiving the fund is not there.”

Nissa Bek also addressed attendees at the COP.

Nissa Bek: “The loss and damage fund will only be a Band-Aid if fossil fuels continue to be produced. Loss and damage from climate change cost $1.5 trillion last year alone.”

Barbados’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for major reforms to global financial institutions and for firm and binding commitments from governments.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley: “We live now in the age of superlatives. And in the age of superlatives, we’ve seen this year one-third of the days of the year exceed 1.5 degrees. In Glasgow, I said this was a death sentence. It is a death sentence for many. And the reality is that unless we change course and adopt the policies that can in fact help mitigate that increase in temperatures, we are going to see far more lives lost and far more damage done. … I’ve asked the world simply: Let us agree to leave here with a global methane agreement.”

A number of world leaders used their time on the global stage to speak out against Israel’s assault on Gaza, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Jordanian King Abdullah. Later in the broadcast, we’ll hear voices from a protest for Gaza here at the U.N. climate summit.