Stop Climate Chaos Scotland has
welcomed the Scottish Government's allocation of more money specifically for
Loss and Damage finance, after it announced that it will increase its
contribution to £7m from the existing Climate Justice Fund. The news comes a
day after members of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition and Loss and Damage
experts from the Global South met with the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to
discuss the issue at COP27 in Egypt.
At the meeting, delegates from
Kenya, Rwanda, Mali, Malawi, Bangladesh, Nepal and Zambia shared with the First
Minister their first-hand experiences of the devastating impacts the climate
crisis is having in their communities and their hopes from the global climate
talks. They also thanked the First Minister for the leadership Scotland has
shown on Loss and Damage.
Nushrat Chowdhury, Climate Justice
Policy Advisor at Christian Aid in Bangladesh, said “In our meeting the First
Minister spoke strongly about her commitment to championing Loss and Damage,
and this leadership is very welcome after the many years global south countries
have spent campaigning for rich nations to pay for their climate damage. It is
essential that this announcement - plus Loss and Damage finance being on the
formal COP agenda for the first time - inspires other rich nations to pay up,
and that this is seen as reparations, not charity, as the First Minister has
said.”
Anne Callaghan co-chair of SCCS's
International group said: “We are pleased to see this allocation of money from
the existing Climate Justice Fund specifically for Loss and Damage. As the
First Minister has acknowledged, this contribution is small but, crucially, we
have already seen both Denmark and Belgium build on Scotland’s leadership and
also commit funds. All rich nations must now urgently address the grave
injustice that the world's poorest countries who have done least to cause the
damage are paying the price to recover.
“However, with increasingly
catastrophic climate impacts, we urge the First Minister to now commit to
ensuring these funds are genuinely new and additional and raised by making the
biggest polluters in Scotland pay for the damage they’re causing.
“By doing so, the Scottish
Government can go beyond symbolic sums, contribute our fair share of climate
finance and boost investment in the actions needed for a just transition to a
fairer, low carbon Scotland. It would also mean the cost of living crisis
driven by our dependence on fossil fuels could be definitively addressed,
rather than lurching from one crisis to another. The longer we wait to act, the
more expensive it will be.”