A large delegation of Caritas Internationalis with regional and national Caritas representatives will attend the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP 27, being held in Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt, from 7 to 18 November.
“It will be an opportunity to advocate for climate justice and bring to the world’s attention the conditions of vulnerable communities and their sufferings as a result of climate change, even though they are not directly responsible for it,” says Caritas Internationalis Secretary General, Aloysius John who will be present at the opening of the Conference. “Climate change has had a major impact on the current food and migration crisis. The international community and especially the States responsible for the degradation of our Common Home must act immediately,” adds John.
In Egypt, Caritas will call States for more commitment to address the so-called “loss and damage” which are the irreversible negative impacts caused by climate-related extreme weather events. On this topic, on 9 November, Caritas Internationalis will co-host a side event titled, Addressing loss & damage to deliver climate justice. Youth, gender and faith leaders’ perspective, along with other Faith Based Organisations.
“Without a reliable and comprehensive financing facility to ensure funding to help countries cope with climate-induced loss and damage, the most vulnerable countries will sink deeper into debt and poverty every time they are hit by climate disasters, for which they are not responsible,” says John.
The Caritas confederation brings concrete examples related to this subject. According to Caritas Fiji, Tropical Cyclone Winston affected 57% of livelihoods related to agriculture and caused an estimated US$1.42 billion in damage (around 30% of GDP), affecting 540,000 people. In Asia, Caritas Philippines reported that Typhoon Rai in the Philippines caused damage to the agricultural sector to the amount of EUR 210 million and EUR 55 million to the fisheries sector. These examples show how urgent it is to invest in loss and damage measures, and climate change adaptation measures, namely those measures aimed at preventing or minimising the damage that climate change can cause.
In particular, Caritas believes climate funds should focus on climate-resilient community development initiatives. However, most climate funding is devoted to mitigation measures, which act on the causes of climate change. “Climate finance should be invested at the local level to address the needs of poor and vulnerable communities and structured to mitigate economic risks and debt distress created by climate change,” says Aloysius John. “We regrettably see how the disbursement and utilisation of international climate finance remain inconsistent and profoundly unfair, and that there is limited and lack of transparency and accountability with climate funds reaching the poor and vulnerable communities that are on the frontlines of the climate crisis.”
Caritas Internationalis also highlights the need for climate finance to be provided not in the form of loans, which would further burden economic growth in developing countries, but in the form of grants. The resilience of local communities to climate change also depends on agriculture, which will be one of the key topics at COP 27. Agriculture must play a central role in climate change policies and address current severe food insecurity. Therefore, there is a need for greater investment in the agricultural sector with a focus on innovations that build sustainable local food systems rooted in local realities, inclusive and resilient to climate shocks worldwide. Currently, only 1.7 percent of climate finance goes to the agriculture sector, with a questionable fraction supporting small-scale farmers.
Caritas also urges to build on the experiences and practices of local communities, whose knowledge of how to cultivate and maximise the use of locally available resources has brought unquestionable benefits of adaptation and mitigation. “In a context in which climate change continues to make resources scarcer and the carbon footprint more significant, we urge states to ensure that science reflects and integrates lived experience and local knowledge in responding to climate change,” concludes John.
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