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By Context Climate Team | Context Climate Team

Woeful failure on climate adaptation

"Underfinanced. Underprepared." Those will be the bleak conclusions of a key U.N. report due this week about how the world is falling short in helping vulnerable people adapt to the ravages of climate change.

Alongside an image of a forlorn figure standing in front of a burning house, the report will say that "inadequate investment and planning on climate adaptation leaves (the) world exposed".

The annual study by the U.N. Environment Programme, due for release on Thursday with an advance teaser on its website, is always grim reading about the mismatch between the needs [[link removed]] of developing countries and reality.

Last year's report - "Too Little, Too Slow" - explained how hundreds of billions of dollars were needed to protect countries from climate impacts already happening far faster than predicted. That followed 2021's report: "The Gathering Storm".

Finance for adaptation - to the strains and stresses caused by fiercer and more frequent droughts, floods, wildfires and heatwaves – is never sufficient, and the bulk of climate finance goes to help curb emissions.

People walk among rubble in the aftermath of Hurricane Otis, in Acapulco, Mexico, October 27, 2023. REUTERS/Quetzalli Nicte-Ha

This year is set to be the hottest on record, driven by a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, putting pressure on the annual COP28 climate conference, starting on November 30 in Dubai, to do more for adaptation.

"The increasing risks and impacts, including those we have seen this summer, make adaptation a priority for the success of COP28," incoming COP president Sultan al-Jaber wrote in a note [[link removed]] to governments attending a preparatory meeting this week.

He said he hoped for "substantially scaled adaptation finance".

On November 3-5, negotiators in Abu Dhabi will try to resolve disputes [[link removed]] over the design of a "Loss and Damage Fund" due to be launched at COP28 to ease suffering caused by events that exceed adaptation, for instance powerful cyclones or rising seas.

Rich and poor nations are deeply split over how the fund will work [[link removed]], including whether it should be housed at the World Bank where developed nations have most say, writes acting climate editor Megan Rowling.

A woman walks to fetch water from a nearby hand-pump with a water cooler on her head, during a heatwave, on the outskirts of Jacobabad, Pakistan, May 16, 2022. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

U.S. teachers: class isn't cool

Workers have been struggling with the effects of extreme heat this year - from teachers in the United States who have to abandon sweltering classrooms to European firefighters sent to battle an inferno of wildfires.

Across the United States, teachers are increasingly demanding climate-related protections [[link removed]], like air conditioning and better ventilation systems as part of contract negotiations, writes our correspondent David Sherfinski.

"It was obviously not ideal," said Franca Muller Paz, a Spanish teacher in Maryland who had to switch to virtual learning when sweltering conditions forced her and her students to quit the classroom.

"We wish we had air conditioning so that we could get better learning outcomes," she said.

In Europe, firefighters who battled a devastating wildfire season [[link removed]] say they need extra staff and equipment to cope, writes Joanna Gill.

Firefighting unions say the rising workload puts health and safety at risk, hits morale and potentially damages the ability to respond to forest fires, floods and other disasters.

"If they don't quickly invest resources, the lives of firefighters and their families will not be easy," said Raffaele Cozzolino, an Italian firefighter and union representative.

Bangladeshi adaptation expert Professor Saleemul Huq speaks at The Resilience Hub at the COP27 U.N. climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in this undated photograph. Laurie Goering/Thomson Reuters Foundation

Climate justice loses champion

This weekend, the world lost one of its biggest champions of climate justice for vulnerable, frontline communities: Professor Saleemul Huq OBE [[link removed]] (1952-2023). The passing of the renowned Bangladeshi adaptation expert, recognised by Reuters in a 2021 ranking of the most influential climate scientists, provoked an outpouring of grief among researchers, negotiators, advocates and journalists.

For us at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Professor Huq's insights on the importance of giving marginalised people a voice, and ensuring adaptation is rooted in local needs and knowledge, have informed our coverage since the mid-2000s. He granted me - Megan - an interview back then for my thesis on how humanitarian agencies should tackle climate change. We have quoted him in countless stories since.

He was always gentle, kind and available - despite being so busy. But he never pulled any punches, telling the world it had entered an age of climate "loss and damage", and berating the U.N. climate process for achieving too little, too late.

Despite his growing frustration, he never gave up on the COPs, going to all 27 of them and giving his advice freely to developing countries and whoever else needed it. At COP26 in Glasgow, he told our climate editor Laurie Goering [[link removed]]: "I spend three weeks each year on COP - and 49 weeks at my day job, working with vulnerable communities to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change... I am always trying to shift the needle in favour of the poorest people."

This subject was his - he owned it intellectually. And so when he came to us with ideas for op-eds to be published on our site, we always said yes.

The final piece we published by him was an open letter to the UAE hosts of COP28, calling for a "Dubai Loss and Damage Fund [[link removed]]" to be launched there. "It is important to remember that this COP28 is, in fact, ‘COP1’: the first U.N. summit in the new era of climate loss and damage which is already upon us," Professor Huq wrote. Overcoming disagreements and ensuring that the fund is indeed set up at COP28 would be a fitting tribute.

In sadness and hope,

Alister and Megan

This week's top picks Europe's firefighters call for reinforcements as wildfires worsen [[link removed]]

From Greece to France, union leaders say more staff and equipment are needed as climate change makes their jobs more dangerous

To combat climate crisis, Green Climate Fund needs serious money [[link removed]]

Rich countries must step up with more investment in climate action to achieve a safe and prosperous future for all

US teachers demand relief from classroom extreme heat [[link removed]]

Extreme heat is already disrupting U.S. classrooms this school year - here's how teachers and unions are fighting back

Will COP28 deliver a new fund for climate loss and damage? [[link removed]]

Questions about where funding will come from and how it will be disbursed are set to be addressed by December's COP28 conference

Read all of our coverage here [[link removed]] Editor's pick How can sustainable agriculture make the fashion industry greener? [[link removed]]

Brands and designers are turning to regenerative cotton farming as they look for ways to reduce their carbon footprint

[[link removed]]Discover more Nature [[link removed]] Climate Risks [[link removed]] Net Zero [[link removed]] Just Transition [[link removed]] Climate Justice [[link removed]] Green Cities [[link removed]] Thank you for reading!

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