While leaders have been meeting at COP27 for the past two weeks, families are dealing with the very real impacts of extreme weather—unable to wait for promises to transform into action. Over the past two weeks, the IFRC’s risk watch system put out alerts for some 14 floods in Africa, 18 in the Americas, 35 in the Asia Pacific, five in the European Union, and two in the MENA region.
See also: What is COP and what to expect from the forthcoming COP27?
During this period, four named tropical storms threatened destruction. Wildfires have ripped through communities in ten countries, affecting more than 10,000 hectares. At least three people died as a result of floods in Kigali, Rwanda, and 11 in Venezuela. In Ethiopia, 185,000 people were displaced. Communities in Africa and Afghanistan continue to grapple with food insecurity, which is an alarming compounding crisis.
Loss and Damage landed on the COP agenda for the first time, and the world leaders have agreed to the establishment of new funding arrangements assisting developing nations, especially those most at risk of the adverse effects of climate change. IFRC welcomes the finance pledges which have been made on Loss and Damage, which are historically important conversations and positive steps forward. These need to be complemented by new and additional finance that reaches the people and communities most at risk – and to be predictable, adequate, and flexible in order to address climate-related crises.
IFR is pleased to see the agreement to operationalize the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage to provide crucial technical assistance to reduce and respond to the impacts communities are already facing. However, the world must raise the ambition to reduce emissions and this COP did not deliver on that front. Every increment of global warming matters to save lives and livelihoods and is therefore critical to keep global temperatures below the 1.5C degrees warming limit.
”We welcome the focus on Early Warning Systems in the Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan, which reflects realities at the frontlines of the climate crisis that the IFRC has been bringing to the fore for over two decades. Reducing risk and saving lives, especially in last-mile communities, is what our teams around the globe do every single day and it is heartening to see this work being expanded. To be most effective, early warnings must be followed by early action and these systems must be rooted in the communities—including those hardest to reach and families stuck in protracted crises”, Francesco Rocca.
As the humanitarian impacts of climate change keep growing, so too should the finance for adaptation, ensuring it reaches the most affected and most at-risk. As the legacy of the “implementation COP,” global investment needs to reach the local level. It is time to turn words and commitments into action at the national level, to bring the agreement to life and make a real difference in the lives of people and communities most impacted by the climate crisis.
As the IFRC network, the organization is committed to scaling up local action to respond to the climate crisis, working with communities to build preparedness and resilience in face of rising risks and impacts.