SCOTLAND’s new first minister should follow Nicola Sturgeon ’s lead by continuing to push for support for communities across the world most affected by the climate crisis, a leading global partnership has said.
The call comes as new research reports that “massive investment and new approaches” are needed to prevent and mitigate avoidable losses and damages for the most vulnerable people on the planet.
The research was carried out by the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, a partnership that works to reduce the risks posed by flooding to communities all over the world.
Report co-author Barbara Rosen Jacobson said: “In her time as First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon has shown leadership on the global stage regarding the issue of Loss and Damage.
“At the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland became the first country to provide dedicated Loss and Damage funding with an initial pledge of £2 million, increased to £7m at COP27.
“In line with the recommendations of last year’s international conference on Loss and Damage in Edinburgh, these funds will be delivered as grants rather than loans and through a community-led process.
“While it will take significant international cooperation to deliver the funding and support required to meet the needs of communities affected by the climate crisis, Scotland’s actions have sent a clear message to the rest of the world that action on Loss and Damage must not be held up any longer.
Advocacy adviser for the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance Rosen Jacobson added: “It is imperative that the Scottish Government maintains this momentum and continues to push for progress under a new leader.”
The Alliance report has found that global failures to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis are causing “massive losses and costly damages” to the lives, livelihoods, and futures of communities around the world.
“The large, and ever-growing, impacts of climate change – from the droughts in East Africa to floods in Pakistan – are a result of failures to adequately avert and minimise losses and damages, including through mitigation and adaptation,” it states.
“Efforts to address resultant losses and damages are equally inadequate and the impacts of climate change are therefore mostly borne by affected communities themselves. Local governments and humanitarian actors, which attempt to provide relief to these communities, are already overstretched and underfunded.”
The report concludes that “massive investments and new approaches” are needed now to mitigate the devastating impact of the climate crisis by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as prevent and manage avoidable losses and damages for the most vulnerable people by increasing adaptation efforts.
