Over the past 12 days, the United Nations Climate Change Conference has been ongoing in Dubai, where world leaders and environmental experts have been discussing ways to tackle one of our biggest challenges - the Climate Crisis.
Whilst there’s still a long way to go in developing a workable plan, one notable sign of progress has been the agreement of a ‘Loss and Damage Fund’, which represents a historic move.
This agreement has been demanded by the global south for decades and is a ‘hard-won’ victory for developing countries like Uganda. It signals a commitment by the richer nations (who cause the most pollution) to provide financial support to the poorer and more vulnerable nations who are already seeing climate change damage lives, livelihoods and infrastructure.
Sadly, it's been shown that climate change causes inequality, with the poorest communities in the world being disproportionately affected by climate change. Currently, the richest half of the world is responsible for 86% of greenhouse gases, but it is the poorer half that is more likely to suffer the ill effects of extreme weather conditions.
The current pledge for the new Loss and Damage Fund is for $700m. You can watch this video here to learn more about why the fund is so badly needed and how climate change is disproportionately impacting poorer communities.