Global call to establish an international mechanism on Loss and ...

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GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY CALL FOR LOSS AND DAMAGE IN ... Center for International Environmental Law - International Central
GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY CALL FOR LOSS AND DAMAGE IN THE NEW CLIMATE AGREEMENT Honourable Minister, Your Excellency, as the Philippines is, yet again, braced to deal with the destruction and tragedy from Typhoon Hagupit, we are reminded that the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, communities and ecosystems are bearing the brunt of devastating impacts from climate change, and that developing countries are hardest hit. COP20 must address the increasing loss and damage from the breaching of adaptation limits, through advancing the Warsaw International Mechanism and through including loss and damage in the draft text for the 2015 agreement as a distinct issue. Extreme weather events, as well as slow-onset impacts such as rising sea levels or desertification, are already destroying the homes and livelihoods of millions, and undermine their human rights. Undoubtedly, emissions must be reduced more rapidly, and adaptation action and support be scaled up immediately. However, some impacts of climate change will be so severe that countries, communities and ecosystems will simply be unable to adapt. This is either because they have not had the necessary support for adaptation, or because the countries historically most responsible for climate change have failed to sufficiently reduce emissions in order to keep global temperature rise to below 1.5°C. This is a gross injustice. The most recent Assessment Report (AR5) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed what many communities in developing countries already know: that there are indeed “limits to adaptation.” And with a world still on a path to 4° Celsius warming, this will become worse. Your actions here in Lima must be guided by this unambiguous message. The issue of Loss and Damage has been a priority concern for vulnerable countries. Such countries, who have done the least to contribute to the climate change crisis, are the ones who suffer the greatest loss and the severest damage from its impacts, making it a gross injustice. An effective mechanism to provide financial and technical support to developing countries to address loss and damage is urgently needed. This need will only increase as the impacts of climate change escalate in the years and decades to come. At COP19 in Warsaw last year, good progress was made when parties agreed to set up the Warsaw International Mechanism for loss and damage. We urge the COP to agree further steps in operationalising the Mechanism. But this is not enough. The UNFCCC must also ensure the necessary support for communities and countries to deal with climate-induced loss and damage in the long-term. Loss and damage must therefore be contained in the 2015 decision text being drafted here in Lima under the ADP, as an independent issue and distinct from adaptation.

Parties from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) are urgently calling for the loss and damage mechanism to be anchored in the 2015 agreement, distinct from adaptation. This call has been echoed by the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), who ask for the ADP agreement to establish a compensation regime to support countries affected by slow onset events. The Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC) has called for the relationship between the level of mitigation and the associated cost of loss and damage to be recognised. As civil society present here in Lima and working with social movements and communities around the world, we ask you to ensure that the issue of loss and damage is addressed effectively and separate from adaptation under the new post-2020 climate agreement. We ask you to demonstrate your commitment to the very people that the UNFCCC was set up to protect. Sincerely yours, ActionAid International Care International WWF International Additional signatories: International APRODEV - Europe APWLD - Asia Pacific Center for International Environmental Law - International Central Asian CSOs Climate Coalition - Central Asia Climate Action Network Europe - Europe Climate Action Network South Asia- South Asia Earth in Brackets - North America Fundacion Solar- Central America GAIA - Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives- International Jubliee South Asia Pacific Movement for Debt and Development JSAPMDDAsia Oil Change International - International Oxfam - International Tipping Point Collective International Australia Climate Justice Programme Global Voices Bangladesh AOSED Center for Participatory Research and Development, CPRD Eminence Equity and Justice Woring Group, Bangladesh (EquityBD) International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) Maleya Foundation Belgium CNCD-11.11.11 Inter-Environnement Wallonie Cameroon

African Women's Network for Community management of Forests (REFACOF) Cameroon Lelewal Foundation China CYCAN El Salvador Unidad Ecologica Salvadoreña Campaña Mesoamericana para la Justicia Climática Fiji and the Pacific Islands Region Project Survival Pacific France International National Trusts Organisation Germany Bread for the World/Brot für die Welt Germanwatch Heinrich Boell Stiftung North America Welthungerhilfe Guatemala Asociación de Organizaciones De Los Cuchumatanes Centro Mesoamericano de Estudios sobre Tecnología Apropiada Mesa Nacional de Cambio Climático Guatemala Guinea Guinee Ecologie India Casa India CEED Development Alternatives EFICOR Indian Youth Climate Network Indonesia HuMa Japan CAN Japan Friends of the Earth Japan Kiko Network Kazakhstan Ecological Forum of Kazakhstan Social-Ecological Fund NGO

Kenya Green Belt Movement Kenya Youth Climate Network Mexico Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad Closet de Sor Juana AC Nepal/Asia Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal (FECOFUN) Nepal Policy Centre New Zealand P3 Foundation Nicaragua Centro Alexander von Humboldt Centro para la autonomia y desarrollo de los peublos indígenas Nigeria Centre for Human Rights and Climate Research NGO Coalition for Environment (NGOCE) Norway Natur og Ungdom (Young Friends of the Earth Norway) Philippines Ateneo School of Government AMIHAN Federation of Peasant Women - Philippines Philippine Movement for Climate Justice Russia Baikal Environmental Wave Switzerland ACT Alliance Tajikistan Foundation to support civil initiatives Turkey Troy Environmental Association Uganda Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN) United Kingdom Climate Law and Policy Friends of the Earth EWNI Practical Action United States of America

Friends of the Earth U.S. USA GGCA George Mason University Many Strong Voices SustainUS Uruguay Amigos del Viento Red uruguaya de ong Ambientalista

For more information, contact: Teresa Anderson, ActionAid International, [email protected] tel:+44 7587 551 928 / +44 7984 932655 (viber) Jo Barrett, Care International, [email protected] David Hirsch, WWF International, [email protected]