Statement of the LDYC for  the 7th Board Meeting of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage

LDYC is a global, youth-led coalition advocating for climate justice through fair and accessible Loss and Damage finance. It amplifies the voices of young people, especially from the Global South and frontline communities, who are disproportionately affected by climate impacts. Through policy advocacy, storytelling, and grassroots mobilisation, the LDYC pushes for accountability from high-emitting countries, ensuring that those least responsible for the climate crisis are not left behind. Since 2022, we have consistently funded a number of youth-led projects that directly tackle loss and damage issues at the community level. Through the disbursement of over $ 400,000 to almost two dozen projects, we have witnessed firsthand the significant impact of well-financed, targeted measures to address loss and damage. From mangrove restoration to building homes, fostering post-disaster local economies, and strengthening mental health practices, youth have shown the FRLD how to effectively catalyse funds according to the priorities of those most impacted. 

Our work continues globally, as we launch our Global Youth Demands for COP30. With nearly 15,000 signatures and counting, young people are calling for ambitious action on loss and damage, despite the Presidency’s reluctance to make it a priority item. The Loss and Damage Youth Coalition (LDYC) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing 7th Board Meeting of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) happening in Manila, Philippines. We recognize the progress made by the Board and by the Secretariat in operationalizing the Fund, yet remain deeply concerned about the pace and direction of implementation. Nearly two years since the Fund’s establishment, the urgency of disbursing accessible and grant-based finance has never been greater. Communities are already facing irreversible losses; justice demands that the FRLD move from design to delivery. Grounded in our lived experience and informed by years of youth-led advocacy and community action on loss and damage, we put forward the following key demands to ensure that the Fund fulfills its mandate with equity, transparency, and accountability to those most affected:

1. The Board must ensure the needs and priorities of developing countries and frontline communities guide the Resource Mobilisation Strategy. Replenishment should prioritize real contributions not rhetorical pledges, and establish clear, time-bound targets derived from the independent, evidence-based assessments (i.e a Loss and Damage Gap Report) to provide new, additional, predictable and sufficient finance to meet the scale of loss and damage. 
2. The Board should launch the Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM) without further delay. Nearly two years after the Fund’s operationalization and consistent with the B6 mandate to test the Fund’s ambition, BIM must operationalize direct, and grant-based access to all developing countries and frontline communities to address loss and damage in their national contexts. It must prioritize grant finance that is directly accessible to national, subnational and community actors where implementing entities are engaged and required that they operate under the explicit guidance, ownership and decision-making authority of the recipient country and affected communities. Additionally, the Board must ensure that the FRLD remains distinct from existing climate funds (such as the GCF, the GEF, and the Adaptation Fund) and does not duplicate them. The FRLD is a unique fund that should be shaped by the voices of communities from its design, to its implementation and reporting.
3. We request that the Board and the FRLD Secretariat formally accredit the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition (LDYC) as a non-traditional observer in accordance with the Governing Instrument of the Fund.  In line with this for inclusive representation, the Board must reject granting a seat for the private sector in the draft policy on the participation of Active Observers in Board Meetings and related proceedings. The Board should allocate observer seats to constituencies and the non-traditional observers representing those most impacted by the climate crisis, support the adoption of clear, transparent accreditation criteria and processes that prevent conflict of interest and guarantee meaningful participation in deliberation and decision-making.
4. We welcome the progress toward an independent Secretariat and urge accelerated recruitment for key roles with explicit attention to regional balance, gender parity, representation and active engagement of youth and frontline constituencies in shaping the Fund’s operations. The design and rollout of resource mobilization and access modalities must reflect the lived experience and priorities of impacted communities.

The Board must act with transparency, urgency, and justice,  therefore must  ensure that the Fund responds to the needs and priorities of the most vulnerable while empowering  local leadership and upholding the principles of equity and accountability.  The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage’s credibility will be measured not by promises but by how quickly and equitably proper recourse reaches those living the realities of loss and damage.