When world leaders meet in Dubai for COP28 – the UN Climate Change conference held from 30 November until 12 December – loss and damage connected to climate change will be high on the agenda.
2023 is expected to be the hottest on record, experts believe, bringing with it disastrous consequences.
Tackling the climate crisis starts by averting the problem in the first place, chiefly by reducing global emissions. But simultaneously we need to equip communities with the tools they need to deal with losses and damage to homes, crops, livelihoods and infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
We can strengthen the hand of people seeking to protect the ecosystems their lives depend on and their cultural heritage.
Time and time again we see that people suffering the worst loss and damage linked to climate change are those who did the least to cause the problem.
People in poor and low-income countries, as ever, bear the brunt – the World Food Programme supports over 15 million people a year in such countries to protect themselves from climate impacts.
