A new report launched by ACT Alliance in cooperation with Bread for the World and Germanwatch stresses the need for governments meeting in Paris in December to address loss and damage that occurs as a result of climate change.

The report highlights that a central challenge the world faces is to offer solidarity and coordinated help to those affected by loss and damage. It states that to meet this challenge, it is important to promote climate risk analysis and climate management.

It also states that new approaches such as the G7 Climate Risk Insurance Initiative must be implemented in a way that reaches and involves the poorest, and promotes human rights, with dignified necessary resettlement and international protection for migrants who leave their home because of climate change.

‘We need to keep our global temperature well below two degrees Celsius, or risk more cases of loss and damage,” said John Nduna, ACT Alliance General Secretary. “Any temperature rise of more than two degrees will have more catastrophic impacts on climate change, including the sinking of many islands and making many areas not fit for human habitation.”

ACT Alliance has followed the UN climate negotiation process for many years and has taken lessons from ACT members working on the ground to help communities adapt and build resilience, to influence the alliance’s policy development and engagement with governments at national and international level.

‘We continue to experience increasing incidences where adaptation is becoming impossible,” said ACT Alliance Climate Advisory Co-Chair Mattias Söderberg. “ACT Alliance members continue to experience situations where their efforts to adapt to impacts of climate change are perennially challenged. We have witnessed devastating climate related disasters which have resulted in loss of lives and displacement of the people in Vanuatu, in the Philippines due to Typhoon Haiyan, and in the Sahel region in Africa where desertification is increasing at an alarming rate.’’

As the progress to come up with a new climate regime culminates between now and mid-December, Söderberg said the alliance hopes that loss and damage will be part of the agreement to be adopted on the at the December UN climate meeting (UNFCCC) in Paris.

“In regard to loss and damage, the Paris Agreement should recognise increasing climate risks and related losses as another key challenge in view of achieving the ultimate goal of the Convention,’’ said Söderberg.