Climate funding must be faster and easier, says deputy PM of flood-hit Somalia

Somalia’s deputy prime minister, Salah Jama, centre, speaking at Cop28 in Dubai. Photograph: Mahmoud Khaled/Cop28/UNFCCC

Funding to support vulnerable countries to repair the irreversible damage caused by the climate crisis needs to be fast tracked and easy to access, Somalia’s deputy prime minister has said.

Salah Jama said a deal on a loss and damage fund made on the first day of Cop28 last week was “welcome news for frontline states like Somalia” but, he said: “Implementation needs to be fast tracked. Bureaucratic bottlenecks in accessing the financing have to be fixed.”