Contribution to international development: report 2021 to 2023

7. Climate Justice

“This fight belongs to all of us and I believe that this example [Scottish Government’s Loss and Damage Fund] will serve as a prototype of what could happen.” - Dr Lazarus Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi in an interview with the BBC reflecting on his belief that vulnerable countries like Malawi would be better supported if the Scottish model was replicated by other countries.

In line with SDG 13 (climate action), the Scottish Government’s climate justice approach recognises that those least responsible for the global climate emergency are being affected first and most severely by it. Following an Independent Review in 2021, we adopted a revised approach to our Climate Justice Fund, incorporating three pillars:

• Distributive Justice: equal access to and sharing of resources and benefits and is used in climate justice definitions to include both access to resources and benefits, and equitable sharing of costs of responding to climate change;
• Procedural Justice transparent, fair and equitable decision-making processes;
• Transformative Justice structural inequities and focuses on mainstreaming understanding of climate justice issues, as well as building capacity.

7.1 ODA Spend Projects

Throughout 2021-23, our trebled Climate Justice Fund has continued to focus on building resilience in communities in the Global South most affected by climate change. Our funding has ensured that the views and needs of those typically marginalised, such as women and indigenous groups, are at the centre of climate justice interventions.

The Climate Justice Fund is distinct from, and additional to, Scotland’s International Development Fund, although it follows same International Development Principles and has a shared focus on partner countries Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda.

Loss and Damage

Global South governments have been campaigning for over thirty years for the Global North to recognise that climate impacts are happening now and that they need support in addressing the losses and damages caused by climate change.

Working in partnership with the Global South, at COP26 in Glasgow, we were proud to be the first Global North government to commit to funding (£2 million) explicitly to address loss and damage. We have used this to support communities in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands; as well as funding research on needs assessments and case studies as part of our commitment to build evidence around how to most effectively address loss and damage.

At COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, we pledged an additional £5 million to address non-economic loss and damage. This is loss and damage that is under-acknowledged and not easily quantifiable in economic terms, such as loss of Indigenous knowledge, cultural heritage, biodiversity, and health^[27]. This helped to galvanise other Global North governments to take action both in agreeing to establish a new UN Loss and Damage Fund and to making bilateral funding commitments.

In 2023, we continued our leadership on addressing Loss and Damage. We committed another £3m to support vulnerable communities and at COP28, parties agreed to operationalise the Loss and Damage Fund, with pledges to contribute to this Fund. This represented a significant step forward in the fight for global climate justice. Please see Chapter 9.2 for details on our pilot programme to test the HEF Panel as a mechanism for disbursing Loss and Damage funding.

The Scottish Government is now focused on implementing and learning from our loss and damage programmes. We plan for this learning to help inform the development of the UN Loss and Damage Fund as well as other loss and damage funding to ensure it is effective. In this way, our funding aims not just to directly support vulnerable communities but to have wider global impact.

Building Knowledge and Evidence

Our project funding is pioneering participatory approaches that put communities first. We have also funded research on a range of climate justice issues including practical action to address loss and damage and the nexus of climate justice, conflict and gender. We have also learned valuable lessons from our first round of loss and damage funding, including the benefits of small and locally-let grants.

We have recently funded a pilot programme assessing the effectiveness of the Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) architecture as a mechanism for disbursing loss and damage funding. This funding supported gender responsive projects in climate-impacted communities in Pakistan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia.

7.2 Impact Case Studies

These case studies are a snapshot of some of the projects the Climate Justice Fund has supported during 2021-23.

Case Study CJ1: Loss and Damage - UUSC – Fiji

£180,000 - 2022 – 23

In the Pacific, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) worked with local partners to implement community-led interventions to address loss and damage. In Fiji, community communication networks for information about weather alerts were developed, as well as evacuation routes, safe locations, and other guidance to help families rapidly respond to severe weather events. Partners co-designed the range of activities that each organisation undertook through subgrants from UUSC. Design activities include youth organising to map out what is being lost or damaged and community-led strategy development to seek resources for rebuilding or relocation. Other activities included protection of traditional knowledge through storytelling; preservation of traditional knowledge through intergenerational dialogue; and litigation at the regional and international levels. UUSC engaged in participatory monitoring, evaluation, and learning in a deliberative and consultative manner.

Case Study CJ2: Loss and damage - CARD – Malawi

£160,000, 2022 – 23

In Malawi, Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) supported communities in Chikwawa district following devastation caused by Cyclone Ana in January 2022. Interventions were identified and selected by community members during a community-level assessment.

The work delivered involved reconstructing homes with resilient materials, utilising local skilled workers. It also had a livelihood component in the form of a livestock pass-on scheme. This scheme involved one set of families receiving a first round of goats, which were supported by veterinary services and livestock insurance, for which village savings programs contributed to premiums. Once the goats reproduced, the first set of families passed on the offspring to a predetermined second set of families.

Case Study CJ3: Loss and Damage - Helvetas – Bangladesh

£200,000 - 2022 – 2023

In Bangladesh, Helvetas supported families to make more informed and economically-successful decisions about migration. For instance, through skill development, as well as re-building infrastructure and livelihoods damaged by climate disasters.

The project also provided support for the smart use of remittances to support the climate resilience of family members who have not migrated. The project established a gender-segregated database of seasonal or temporary migrant workers, to provide an evidence base for further support for climate-forced displacement. In addition to support around migration, the project enabled re-building livelihoods and infrastructure damaged by climate-induced disasters.

Case Study CJ4: Loss and Damage – SCIAF – Storm Ana and Cyclone Gombe

£500,000, 2023 – 2023

The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) in partnership with their in-country sister organisation, Trócaire, delivered a project in Malawi to address loss and damage following Storm Ana and Cyclone Gomba.

Project impacts included dyke rehabilitation, the construction of 17 safer houses for vulnerable households, and increased access to potable water from eight rehabilitated waterpoints - benefiting approximately 2,464 people. Community Based Childcare Centres were also rehabilitated, enabling parents to work while their children were cared for.

Participatory art methods were used to uncover lived experiences of non-economic loss and damage (NELD), including loss of historical sites, increased illiteracy rates due to disruption in education, increased anxiety and trauma, increased early marriage, and gender-based violence. Following this, 130 members of civil protection committees, victim support units, case-workers, and community policing received training in social protection, gender-based violence and psychosocial first aid. A community graveyard was also fortified from flooding.

Case Study CJ5: Loss and Damage - C40 Inclusive Climate Action Programme

£1 million, 2023-2024

C40 Cities is a global network of nearly 100 mayors committed to halving their fair share of emissions by 2030. The Scottish Government is working with C40 Cities through their Inclusive Climate Action programme to address urban loss and damage, support sub-Saharan Africa’s first local Just Transition process and address losses and damages faced by climate migrant communities.

Our funding is supporting 15 cities in the Global South to deliver local inclusive climate action that builds resilience for frontline residents. It also supported peer learning between over 30 cities.

Case Study CJ6: Gender and advocacy - Scottish Human Rights Defenders Fellowship (SHRDF),

£90,000, 2023 - 2024

The Scottish Government’s Climate Justice Fund is enabling three frontline climate human rights defenders from the Global South, to spend six months respite in Scotland. All the Fellows are working on the advancement of human rights in relation to environmental factors, with some focussing more specifically on the link between gender and environmental rights. The programme is facilitating interaction between the Fellows and Scottish civil society, to build, expand and enhance international their networks. They are also contributing to research activities of universities in Scotland in the field of human rights.

Case Study CJ7: Gender - Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO)

£194,000, 2021-2023

Since 2017, the Scottish Government has supported the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO) to support capacity-building and training for women from Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States to engage in UNFCCC talks and to integrate gender equality considerations into the outcomes.

At COP27, the Scottish Government supported four female delegates from Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic and Timor-Leste as part of WEDO’s Women’s Development Fund programme. Delegates took part in capacity strengthening ahead of the negotiations to develop skills as well as a mentoring programme. The funding has also assisted grassroots and indigenous women leaders to invest in and scale up climate solutions in Global South countries

7.3 Future Climate Justice Programmes

The focus of our work for the rest of this Parliamentary term will be on two major multi-year Programmes: Climate Just Communities (CJC) and our Non-Economic Loss and Damage Programme (NELD). Both programmes were launched at the end of 2023.

Climate Just Communities

Climate Just Communities (CJC) is a £24 million multi-year programme which is taking a participatory approach to support more resilient and inclusive communities across Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. The programme will ensure that the priorities and participation of the most marginalised within communities are central to the development and implementation of climate justice interventions.

Funding was awarded through a competitive and open process to SCIAF (Rwanda), NIRAS (Zambia) and DAI (Malawi) who will work with partners to deliver interventions in country.

Non-economic Loss and Damage (NELD)

The Climate Justice Resilience Fund will deliver our £5m programme to address climate induced non-economic loss and damage. This programme will be community-led and will respond to community needs. It will also be gender-responsive, ensuring that women and girls are given a strong voice throughout all stages of programme design.

This programme will build on our partnership with the Climate Justice Resilience Fund, who delivered our initial £1m loss and damage funding programme. It will be open to being scaled by funding from other governments, including sub-national governments, NGOs and the private sector.

7.4 Cross-Scottish-Government Policy Initiatives

In line with our commitments on policy coherence for our climate justice work, and commitments to ‘do no harm’, wider Scottish Government policy initiatives developed and adopted during this period that contribute to international development include:

• the development of our new strategic Climate Justice work, which takes into account wider Scottish Government policy priorities, is underpinned by our published evidence on the nexus of climate justice, conflict and gender
• Scotland’s Feminist Approach to International Relations. As set out at 4.4, Climate Justice is one of the four key focus areas set out in the policy position paper developed in response to wide-scale consultation. The principles of climate justice align with our international development principles and feminist approach to international relations. We aspire to create a more inclusive society where women and girls are empowered to exercise equal rights and have equitable access to opportunities, economic resources and decision-making, and live their lives free from all forms of conflict and insecurity, which are often exacerbated due to the impacts of climate change.