The first meeting of the Transitional Committee to design the new Loss & Damage fund wrapped up today in Luxor, Egypt, with a set of procedural decisions laying out the work of the committee for the remainder of the year. Brandon Wu, ActionAid USA’s Director of Policy and Campaigns, followed the proceedings and said:
“In a friendly, conversational first meeting, the Transitional Committee laid the groundwork for its real job over the course of this year: creating the framework for a fund to support communities affected by loss & damage from climate impacts. The mandate of this committee is broad, but it must now focus on developing the specifics of a fund that can be agreed at COP28 in Dubai this December. Rich countries have a long history of delay tactics on loss & damage, and must not be allowed to distract from this core responsibility.
“It was disappointing that civil society observers had to fight for space to participate in this meeting, and were relegated to an overflow room with only one opportunity per day to make brief interventions. This falls well short of the practice at other funds such as the Green Climate Fund, where observers can intervene regularly on each issue as it arises.
“None of us want to spend time and energy advocating for our own ability to participate. We would much prefer to focus on contributing our expertise and experience to the substantive issues at hand, helping to shape the most effective and equitable loss & damage fund possible. It’s vital this process is transparent and collaborative as it will affect the lives and livelihoods of countless impacted people living in vulnerable communities around the world.”
ENDS
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About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 15 million people living in more than 40 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.