Today we concentrate on a roundtable session to examine the ways in which the world's communities that are most vulnerable to climate disaster can be supported to more resilient positions. (Today's other roundtable discussions are covered elsewhere: investing in the future of energy is under energy and water security is under water).
Dear Heavenly Father! You are Jehovah Jireh, our provider! Your Word says that you feed the birds and clothe the flowers with compassion and love. How much more do you want to meet the needs of your children! Father, I pray for supernatural intervention during this crisis on behalf of those struggling to find food for themselves and their families. Amen.
Written by Fernando Sinacay, Compassion Photojournalist, Peru (from the Compassion website)
Father God we acknowledge that many of us have full cupboards and fridges, and indeed may even throw food away. We confess our contribution to the rise in world hunger for the first time in six years. We lift the 276 million people worldwide who are facing acute food insecurity where their lives or livelihoods are in immediate danger because of their restricted access to adequate food. We lift those most impacted, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, by the war in Ukraine.
We pray for East Africa and other areas impacted by extreme weather. We recognise that extreme weather and drought have collided with the impact of the pandemic, war, and rising inflation. We particularly pray for Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya where the terrible hunger crisis has been building following the worst drought there in 40 years. We lift the 13 million people who are experiencing severe hunger there every day. We ask that God will bring the much-needed rainfall and for there to be a successful harvest. We pray for peace in Ukraine so that the predicted increase in hungry people will not materialise.
(Adapted from prayers on the Compassion website)
1 John 3: 16-18 (NIV)
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
James 2: 15-19 (NIV)
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
Proverbs 14: 31 (NIV)
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God.
The impacts of climate change are getting worse - there are more frequent adverse incidences, they are harsher in their impact and they are affecting more people across the world.
There is regular destruction of homes, schools, healthcare facilities and critical infrastructure as a result of climate change. Livelihoods are lost and food and water insecurity increases.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) 2020 World Disaster Report attributed 83% of all disasters in the last decade to climate change.
Countries and communities caught in climate disasters cannot tackle underlying issues of poverty, unemployment and inequality when they are dealing with disaster impacts, so existing conditions worsen. Women and young people are usually the most severely affected.
Climate change and civil conflict are often close companions with peace breaking down in situations of extreme need.
Local communities and many governments are not adequately equipped or financed to prevent or prepare for climate impacts and there is a desperate need for investment as a means of empowerment.
To put these disasters into context consider some of the world's experience just over the summer this year (taken from Greenpeace and the roundtable summary document):
North-east Bangladesh and parts of India experienced their worst floods for a century, killing over 100 people and leaving more that 9.5 million stranded (that's about 1.7x the population of Scotland).
There were multiple wildfires in California. McKinney, the largest, burned approximately 60,000 acres of land, destroyed 87 homes and killed 4 people.
Sudan's rainy season was the one of the worst on records - by the end of August approximately 258,000 people had been affected (that's about half the population of Edinburgh) and more than 100 were dead.
Somalia and Ethiopia are facing hunger and famine because of food and water shortages caused by drought. The lives and livelihoods of 22 million people have been affected. Currently, over 1.1 million people are displaced and, by the end of this year, approximately 6.7 million people across Somalia (more than the population of Scotland), are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity.
China saw the most severe heatwave ever recorded, causing parts of the country and its main river to dry up.
Europe faced its worst drought for 500 years - rivers dried up, fish died and crops failed.
Monsoons in Pakistan have submerged one third of the country damaging over 2 million houses, 23,900 schools and 1,460 health facilities. That's a flood area approximately 3.7x the size of Scotland and a housing stock about 4/5 the size of Scotland's, or to put it more personally, that's over 2 million families whose homes have been affected.
Previous agreements, frameworks and COPs have brought these concerns onto the international agenda and have made inroads into identifying the actions to be carried out, so COP27 has a foundation to build on. But clearly, given the issues identified above and the worsening impact of climate disasters, there is much left to do.
How to improve working partnerships between organisations working in the fields of climate, humanitarian support, disaster risk reduction and emergency response.
Actions to scale up early warning systems to enable national and local stakeholders to deal with negative implications of climate change.
Enhancement of the United Nations Humanitarian, Development and Peace Nexus (HDPN) will be discussed. A nexus is a connection or link and this UN nexus works to ensure strong cooperation, collaboration and coordination between humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts at the national level.
Regarding local communities:
How to ensure their needs are integrated into national climate policies and humanitarian/emergency response mechanisms;
How to increase their resilience;
What are good examples of local sustainable climate adaptation projects;
How to respond to the needs of local communities in conflict-affected settings that are also particularly vulnerable to climate impacts.
Regarding financial institutions:
The challenges and opportunities for accelerating finance to small-scale and locally-led climate adaptation projects, as well as to local disaster risk reduction and humanitarian projects;
Making global climate finance fit for purpose to meet the needs of local communities.
Regarding the private sector: diversification of financial resources to incentivise the private sector to contribute to local climate adaptation projects.
COP27 Climate Change and the Sustainability of Vulnerable Communities roundtable session details from which much of the information on this page was taken.
