The second board meeting for responding to Loss and Damage is happening from the 9th to the 12th of July in Korea, after the first meeting in Abu Dhabi which laid the first steps to the implementation of the direly awaited fund which aims to be a lifeline for vulnerable communities facing adverse effects of climate change. This second meeting shall already respond to many questions we have been asking including finalizing the governing structures of the fund, access modalities, and civil society participation among other agenda items. Concerning the high importance of this meeting, we demand that significant progress be made in the full operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund.
We outline the following key priorities from the meeting:
- On operational modalities and accessibility, we‘ve always consistently highlighted that a fund dedicated to supporting vulnerable communities should be tailored to meet the needs of those communities. The Loss and Damage Fund should be new, additional, predictable, accessible, and grant-based. Clear indicators and frameworks should be established to simplify the access process, allowing for direct access to the most vulnerable countries and communities to the Loss and Damage Fund;
- On civil society participation in the fund board meeting, we are encouraged by the adoption of the decision for observers’ participation in the 1st board meeting in May and hope that this meeting and the subsequent LDF board meeting set a precedent for transparent and effective observer’s participation, mainly youth, women, and Indigenous people, among others as detailed in the provisional agenda of the meeting;
- On innovative strategies for fundraising, the board should explore concrete sustainable ways to match the money in the Loss and Damage Fund with the needs of vulnerable communities. As it stands today, Loss and damage finance is mostly sustained by voluntary pledges, falls drastically short of what is needed, and new sustainable funding mechanisms should be established;
- On the interim secretariat of the fund, the World Bank should communicate whether or not they will be able to meet the 11 conditions set out in paragraph 20 of decisions 1/CP.28 and 5/CMA.5 including allowing all developing countries to directly access resources from the Fund, and through small grant funding for communities;
- On the name of the Fund, we align with the existing name ‘Loss and Damage Fund’ as it explains why it was established and its purpose. Any derogatory names such as ‘climate change response fund’ will be unacceptable as it will reduce the weight of the nature of the fund.