COP28 Blog: In Syria, adaptation is part of life

Here in Syria, people’s capacity to cope will most likely be significantly reduced in months to come. Syria has been in crisis for the past twelve years. Now, continued inflation and other substantial challenges have made everyday life for Syrians almost impossible to bear.  

After being here for seven years, I can see how humanitarian work has in one way or another, and perhaps indirectly, taken a dive into climate adaptation programming. Climate adaptation has become a vital turning point for many. Syrians already opt for eco-friendly solutions when going about their daily routines – without putting a label on it or knowing that it is part of reducing the world’s carbon footprint and adapting to climate change.  

Syrians ride bicycles instead of driving cars, they install solar panels and establish home gardens. These are just some of the many activities that are more affordable, support many livelihoods, and use reliable resources.  

The humanitarian response to climate change in Syria will soon feel a growing demand. One very successful way for the humanitarian community to engage in climate programming is to access adaptation funding to increase multi-purpose cash and in-kind assistance. This can protect livelihoods, reduce humanitarian needs, and strengthen people’s adaptive capacities and resilience. 

We in the humanitarian sector must advocate for funding for disaster preparedness, early recovery and resilience-building activities to be part of climate-related adaptation, and we can do so with a unified voice at COP28. At the moment, we do not have clear information about donors and climate financing streams, let alone how local actors can access such funding. 

Sara Savva is Deputy Director of Gopa-Derd, one of ACT’s newest members.  She is also an ACT delegate at COP28 from December 7 to 12.

 

 

ACT joins Interfaith Liaison Committee call to COP28

30 November 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Carine Josiéle Wendland, a Lutheran World Federation delegate from the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil speaks as people gather for a so-called Talanoa dialogue at the (Anglican) Christ Church Jebel Ali in Dubai, in connection with the United Nations climate summit COP28. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
30 November 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Carine Josiéle Wendland, a Lutheran World Federation delegate from the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil speaks as people gather for a Talanoa dialogue at the (Anglican) Christ Church Jebel Ali in Dubai, in connection with the United Nations climate summit COP28. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert

On November 30, 2023, the first day of COP28- the UN climate conference- in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, people of faith gathered at Christ Church, Jebal Ali, to hold a Talanoa dialogue, helping to define the call from people of faith to this COP.

A Talanoa dialogue is a way that people in the Pacific come together to discuss and decide on difficult issues facing their communities.  A Talanoa asks, and the people who are present answer, three questions:

  1. Where are we at?
  2. Where do we want to go?
  3. How do we get there?

This Talanoa was hosted by the Interfaith Liaison Committee to the UNFCCC.  ILC’s purpose is to bring together people of faith who participate in climate justice work, particularly in UNFCCC spaces, to coordinate and act together, and the Talanoa is a key part of ILC’s work each year. ACT Alliance is part of the ILC, along with the WCC, LWF, and a wide range of other organisations.

On December 8, the ILC shared their Call to COP28 with the UNFCCC Secretariat.  The call addresses a range of justice topics within the climate negotiations including intergenerational justice, Indigenous people, gender, climate finance, mitigation and just transition, the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), loss & damage, the Global Stocktake (GST), human rights, and international food systems & agriculture.

The full call can be found here.

COP28 Press release: media stunt- house of cards collapse to highlight crumbling climate financial architecture

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 8 December 2023 – ACT Alliance will be holding a media action at COP28 highlighting the weakness of the climate financial architecture, which has been failing to deliver for vulnerable countries who urgently need support to deal with the growing impacts of climate change.
 
The media action will consist of activists with banners, chanting, telling stories of the need for climate finance and climate justice, and building a house of cards, which will then be collapsed representing the dangers of a lack of robust climate financial architecture.  Interviews will be available with global faith based climate activists.
 
Where: Action zone 9, near the main entrance to the Blue Zone
 
When: December 8, 16:00-16:30
 
Climate finance is essential to implementing climate action, yet so far rich countries have failed to deliver on their promises. At COP28 this year, the Global Stocktake (GST) is predicted to affirm what we already know: we are completely off track to meet our international climate goals.  
 
Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement will be impossible without the immediate mobilisation of finance, to support countries to reduce carbon emissions, adapt to the advancing impacts of climate change, or compensate for the loss and damage already happening. At COP28, ACT Alliance will be reiterating its call for rich countries to pay up, by pledging significant levels of climate finance which is new and additional, public, and grants based.
 
Media contact:
Simon Chambers, Director of Communications, ACT Alliance
WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 simon.chambers@actalliance.org

COP28 Blog: loss and damage in the Horn of Africa

By Vincent Ondieki

The World Meteorological Organization reports that increasing temperatures and sea levels, changing precipitation patterns, and more extreme weather are threatening human health and safety, food and water security, and socio-economic development in the Horn of Africa. They further note that climate variability and climate change are major obstacles to resilience in the Horn of Africa, where increasing temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns are already affecting economic growth, livelihoods, food security, health, and ecosystems. 

Due to El Nino, devastating flash floods have killed at least 111 people, including 16 children, across the Horn of Africa in recent weeks. More than three-quarters of a million people have been displaced and the rains show no sign of slowing. In Kenya’s northern counties and capital, Nairobi, unrelenting rainfall has led to widespread flooding. An estimated 80,000 people have been displaced or marooned in this area alone, and a further 46 have died since the beginning of the rainy season in September. Fatalities and missing persons are being reported on an almost daily basis.  

Save the Children reports that heavy rainfall in Somalia and the Ethiopian highlands has left the central Somalia town of Beledweyne completely submerged. The Shabelle River burst its banks, forcing about a quarter of a million people, a full 90 percent of the population, from their homes. Across Somalia, eight children were amongst 32 people who are known to have died in the floods, with close to half a million displaced across the country. In Ethiopia, at least 33 people, including eight children, have died in the floods. Most drowned while trying to flee the devastation caused by the ongoing rains.  

Ironically, the El Nino rains come on the heels of the worst drought in this part of Africa in 40 years, a drought which itself followed five failed rainy seasons. The droughts and lack of rain had already decimated livestock and crops, pushing the region to the brink of famine. These weather events so cruelly following each other illustrate the extreme and irreversible impacts of climate change on already vulnerable communities in the Horn of Africa and the resulting losses and damages that vulnerable communities suffer. 

Thankfully, at COP27 parties agreed to establish a funding arrangement for losses and damages such as these. The commitment to a Loss and Damage Fund represents a renewed commitment to supporting local, rural, and vulnerable communities most affected by the climate crisis.  

At both the first Africa Climate Summit and the Africa Climate Week this past September there was a resounding call for the operationalization of the Loss & Damage Fund – including setting up a board to guide its directions. The COP28 transition committee has developed proposals for the fund on governance structure, replenishment, and accessibility.  

What happens in and beyond COP28 in Dubai must make loss and damage funds accessible to vulnerable communities. This is critical for climate justice and rebuilding trust, so that communities and nations can rebuild sustainably. If not, options exist to double commitments to finance adaptation to avoid occurrences of losses and damages. This is my wish for COP28.  

Vincent Ondieki is an Environmental Governance and Climate change specialist who has worked nationally (in Kenya) and continentally (in Africa). He recently started working with ACT Alliance on climate justice issues in Africa.

COP28 Press release: Climate crime scene media action

Climate crime scene media action

Time: 5th December 2023, 11h30

UPDATED Location Action Zone 9 (near the main entrance)

This visual stunt hosted by ACT Alliance and Don’t Gas Africa looks at a climate crime scene, with the outline of a body on the ground.  But who is the victim?  On energy day at COP28, join us to hear from vulnerable communities facing the brunt of the impacts of climate change, which speaks to the urgency of phasing out fossil fuels forever.

Powerful advocates from around the world will communicate how climate change disproportionately impacts communities across Africa and the Global South, who have done the least to contribute to climate change but are facing the worst of its effects.

Media Contact:
Simon Chambers, Director of Communications, ACT Alliance
WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 simon.chambers@actalliance.org

COP28 Blog: Vulnerability and climate finance

By Niko Humalisto

The distribution of the $100-billion-dollar climate finance commitment sparks competition among developing countries vying to be primary recipients of support. Notably, many African least developed countries (LDCs)

haven’t received aid from the key UN fund for climate action. Prioritising these limited finances for actions yielding the most benefits aligns with the interests of countries mobilising these funds. Central to this prioritisation is the concept of particular vulnerability. 

In climate negotiations such as COP28, nations often highlight their vulnerabilities: the Arabian Peninsula faces extreme heat, island states are grappling with rising sea levels, and countries with savannahs are at risk of desertification. Consequently, there is growing competition to establish vulnerability to increase the chances of being eligible for climate finance for mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage in future. 

The competition for finance is partly due to scientific ambiguity. Vulnerability lacks a singular definition and can vary in terms of duration (long or short term), geographic scale, and an emphasis on societal, technological, or natural causes of vulnerability. Different scientific criteria lead to inconsistent results when answering the question of whether climate finances are largely targeted to vulnerable countries. Since a scientific consensus might not soon emerge, a political solution becomes imperative. 

Vulnerable or particularly vulnerable nations 

However, defining vulnerability politically remains not only ambiguous but controversial. The Paris Agreement identifies Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as particularly vulnerable. The Bali Action Plan, established at COP13, designates Africa as “most vulnerable” alongside SIDS and LDCs. The original 1992 convention on climate change outlines various criteria affiliated with biophysical conditions, such as lowland coastal areas prone to floods or areas with high desertification risk as particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Despite attempts to differentiate between vulnerable and particularly vulnerable nations, all developing countries are eligible for climate funding. 

As negotiations proceed for the new quantified collective climate finance goal and the establishment of modalities for the Loss and Damage Fund, donor countries have noted that some Gulf states already have a higher GDP per capita than they do. This poses a challenge to a more than thirty-year-old division of donors and recipients. Many developing country groups strongly oppose this challenge and emphasise developed nations’ historic responsibility for climate change and corresponding responsibility to rectify it. The ambiguity in both scientific and policy realms impedes the creation of meaningful mechanisms to delineate eligible and non-eligible countries. 

Focus on local leadership and vulnerable populations 

For civil society organisations dedicated to promoting climate justice, having a position on this issue—a thorny, cross-agenda debate—is crucial. One approach is to emphasize local leadership in climate action, recognizing that when it comes to vulnerability, disparities within countries often surpass those between countries. ActAlliance also stresses targeting vulnerable population groups for financial aid, such as Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, or smallholder farmers. There is no scientific ambiguity as to whether these groups are vulnerable or not. Another avenue involves not committing to pre-established boundaries on particular vulnerabilities, opting instead to evaluate problems on a case-by-case basis as modeling technologies advance. 

We must also acknowledge that economic prosperity, climate change, and vulnerability are dynamic processes which require evolving criteria for financing eligibility. Insisting on robust differentiation mechanisms between countries based on vulnerability at this stage might do more harm than good. This is especially the case when there are existing avenues to channel financial resources into combating the climate crisis without increasing geopolitical tensions.  

Niko Humalisto works as a leading advocacy specialist for ACT Alliance member the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission and holds a title of an adjunct professor in the University of Eastern Finland. Apart from his work in advancing climate finances and circular economies, he volunteers in the bicycle workshop in Turku, Finland.   

  

COP28 Press statement: Two sides of the same coin: Climate and Gender Justice

Two sides of the same coin: Climate and Gender Justice

Dubai, UAE- Climate justice and gender justice are two sides of the same coin – there can be no climate justice without gender justice.  The climate emergency is not gender neutral. Women and girls in all their diversity are on the frontlines, often first and worst impacted by the climate crisis.  

Research has shown that women and girls are 14 times more likely to die in a disaster than men, and we know that many disasters are a result of the climate emergency.  As these disasters get more frequent and severe as global temperatures continue to rise, there is a risk that gender inequalities are exacerbated, unless gender-transformative action is taken, including in climate finance.

Extractive economic models, human rights and land violations, and structural gender barriers, require transformative and interconnected struggles for justice.  

ACT Alliance has released a new report today Climate finance and gender: Lessons from Nordic efforts to integrate gender equality in climate-related development finance. The report’s recommendations to the Nordic countries include advocacy, tracking of finance with a gender lens, that transformative gender approaches be used and more.  The report can be downloaded here.

ACT Alliance calls on COP28 to:

  •   fulfil the human rights-related promises that are a key part of the updated Gender Action Plan adopted at COP25.
  •   ensure that COP28 climate finance decisions are gender-responsive and that financing reaches women and girls in all their diversity.
  •   that the Gender Action Plan influences all decision-making at COP28.

Quotes 

Gloria Pua Ulloa, SEDI Asociacion Civil, Argentina “There’s no climate justice if women and girls, in all their diversity, are not included in all decision-making processes related to climate change.”

Hanna Soldal, Act Church of Sweden, Sweden: “Gender justice and climate justice are two faces of the same coin. Women and girls are 14 times more likely to die from climate induced disasters than men.  There can be no climate justice without gender justice.”

Christina Cosby, Presbyterian Church of the USA “Youth, Indigenous Women, and local communities, most affected by climate change, offer valuable wisdom for innovative solutions. In climate finance at COP28, their engagement must move beyond ‘involvement’ to meaningful action for a more equitable and fruitful policy. Drawing on our faith traditions, they guide us by understanding our past, have the key to where we need to go, and the wisdom on how to get there. Climate Finance and Gender Justice are two faces of the same coin—you cannot have one without the other.” 

Media contact

Simon Chambers, director of communications, ACT Alliance
WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972
Email: simon.chambers@actalliance.org

COP28 Press release: Media action- Two sides of the same coin: Climate and Gender Justice

Time: 4th December 2023, 16h00

Location UPDATED: Action Zone 9 (B1 near the entrance)

 This visual stunt will showcase calls for critical investment in gender-transformative climate finance.

The climate emergency is deepening gender inequalities. Extractive economic models, human rights and land violations, and structural barriers related to finance, education and health services, contribute to women and girls being 14 times more likely to die in a disaster than men. 

Powerful advocates from around the world will communicate how climate and gender justice are two sides of the same coin, and collectively call for gender-transformative and rights-based climate adaptation, finance, mitigation and disaster risk reduction

Interviews can be made available with: 

  • Gloria Pua Ulloa, SEDI, Argentina (English, Spanish)
  • Dr. Nahed Ayoub , Bishopric of Public, Ecumenical and Social Services (BLESS), Egypt (English, Arabic)
  • Hanna Soldal, Act Church of Sweden, Sweden (English, Swedish)

Media Contact:
Simon Chambers, Director of Communications, ACT Alliance
WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 simon.chambers@actalliance.org

COP28 Blog: Argentina’s changing climate most affects smallscale farmers, women, girls, youth and Indigenous

By Gloria Pua Ulloa

Climate change is increasing extreme weather events and has significant impacts on both ecosystems and people’s lives. Droughts, hurricanes, floods, and fires affect millions of people in Latin America each year,

jeopardizing food sovereignty and leading to significant migratory movements in the region.  

The extractive economic model and deforestation promoted by the hegemonic economic model threaten the continuity of rural, indigenous, and farming communities. These communities not only face challenges in their agroecological food production methods but also risk expulsion from their territories. Although there are no official figures indicating the number of people mobilizing in the region due to climate disasters, some estimates suggest that without concrete actions, millions of people could be forced to leave their territories due to climate impacts. 

In the province of Misiones, Argentina, where the Evangelical Service of Diakonia (SEDI, an ACT Alliance member) focuses its efforts and supports groups of farming families, community members speak of how critical the situation is due to prolonged drought and forest fires. Misiones is one of the few provinces in the country characterized by a warm subtropical climate without a dry season. Yet unusually long periods of drought are beginning to affect the region. 

Because of this, many of the farming and indigenous families supported by SEDI have lost vegetable and crop yields. The impact is so severe that they have been unable to preserve seeds for the next annual planting season. This significantly affects their strategies for feeding themselves and their communities, their primary means of resilience during periods of economic crisis such as the one currently affecting the region. Some community members say that they are in an even more pressing situation than during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The effects of climate change can be observed throughout the region. This underlines the need for urgent measures to curb the impacts of a changing climate and implement the loss and damage fund. The countries that have contributed the least to climate change are the ones most affected by its effects and require greater efforts for adaptation. Historical contributors to the increase in global temperature should bear the responsibility to contribute in terms of loss and damage, mitigation, and adaptation to protect the most vulnerable populations. 

Climate change also contributes to the growth of extreme poverty in the region. Women, girls, and young people will be the most adversely affected if the situation worsens. Historically, they have borne the brunt of economic inequalities. The worsening of the crisis hampers their chances for a dignified and fulfilling life.  

Our call is for states at COP28 to express their genuine commitment to climate justice and act now!

Gloria Pua Ulloa is a sociologist and works as Gender Justice and Youth Programme officer at the Evangelical Service of Diakonia -SEDI- in Argentina.  

 

 

Press conference at COP28: Global faith voices join together at Interfaith Talanoa Dialogue in Dubai

3 December 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA ADVISORY

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: People of faith have been engaging in climate justice work for decades.  Over 150 people of faith from around the world came together at the Interfaith Liaison Committee’s Talanoa dialogue on November 30 to discuss the three questions of a Talanoa: Where are we at, where do we want to go, and how do we get there in our work for climate justice at COP28.

As the World Leaders’ Summit has wrapped up, the ILC is working on its call to the COP  for increased action to achieve climate justice and help keep global temperature rise to under 1.5C.  

People of faith (Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Brahma Kumaris, and many others) bring the experiences of communities on the front lines of the climate emergency, they bring a moral dimension to the debate, and they also bring technical expertise through their engagement in combating climate change and in climate justice advocacy. 

85% of the world’s population ascribe to a faith tradition, and faith communities are part of all communities in the world.  They work as part of these communities together with local leaders and communities to address the impacts of climate change.

The Interfaith Liaison Committee to the UNFCCC brings together faith constituencies working to achieve climate justice to raise their voices together and share their stories from their traditions and experiences around the world.

What: Calls from people of faith from around the world for concrete action at COP28 towards achieving climate justice for the most vulnerable, and sharing stories of the impacts of climate change in communities around the world.

Who: 

Sister Jayanti Kirpalani  Additional Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris
Rev. Chebon Kernell, Indigenous, World Council of Churches
Ms. Lucy Plummer from youth from Soka Gakkai International
Mr. Harjeet Singh, head – global political strategy, CAN international
Ms. Valériane Bernard, Brahma Kumaris representative to the United Nations, Geneva- Moderator

Where: Press Conference Room 2 Zone B6 building 77 and online

When: Monday, December 4, 2023 13:30-14:00 Dubai time

Why: Faith communities bring concrete experiences of the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable people, including women and girls in all their diversity and people on the move, who have done the least to cause climate change and are facing the brunt of its impacts. Faith groups are on the front lines, responding to climate change through mitigation, disaster risk reduction, adaptation, and more.

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 MEDIA CONTACT
Simon Chambers- WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972, Email: simon.chambers@actalliance.org
Director of Communications, ACT Alliance