From Frontlines <[email protected]>
Subject Funding "loss and damage", Bangladesh's squeezed climate migrants and tracking heat - Climate change news from Frontlines
Date September 27, 2022 1:15 PM
  Links have been removed from this email. Learn more in the FAQ.
  Links have been removed from this email. Learn more in the FAQ.
Climate change news from the ground, in a warming world Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here [[link removed]] Laurie Goering [[link removed]]

Climate editor

When he moved to Dhaka two years ago, after the surging Jumana River eroded away his home and farm, Abul Kashem made just enough money helping shoppers carry their groceries to feed his family and pay his rent.

But as a global cost-of-living crisis [[link removed]] fuelled in part by the Ukraine war takes hold, driving up fuel and food prices, Kashem - like many climate change migrants in Bangladesh - is no longer getting by.

Fewer people can afford to hire him and when they do, they pay less - even as his rent and grocery bills soar. That has forced his family to cut back on meals and move 20 km (12 miles) further from his work.

With so many losses, "I can't survive," he warned our correspondent Mosabber Hossain.

For the world's most vulnerable, losses and damage [[link removed]] from climate change disasters - and from the aftermath of trying to cope with them - are swiftly rising.

Shanti Dash, a house maid who has been losing her work as prices rise, stands near closed shops in the Kallyanpur slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 16, 2022. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Mosabber Hossain

Climate change "loss and damage" - the harm that happens when people aren't prepared for the impacts of warming or can't adjust how they live - is expected to be a hot topic at the November COP27 [[link removed]] U.N. climate conference in Egypt.

Researchers this year found that 55 economies hard hit by climate impacts - from Bangladesh to Kenya to South Sudan - would have been 20% wealthier today if not for climate change and for the $525 billion in losses [[link removed]] they have suffered from shifts in temperature and rainfall over the last two decades.

Demand for a global fund to help countries and communities manage those losses is growing. But such a move faces fierce opposition from rich nations including the United States, Australia and some European countries that don't want to be held liable for their historically high greenhouse gas emissions.

How else might the costs of loss and damage be paid? The U.N. Secretary General wants to tax fossil fuel companies, particularly as oil firms rake in record profits. Taxes on airlines and financial transactions also might play a role.

"It makes total sense for tax systems to build in a way for people to recover from the harm caused by the planet's biggest polluters," noted Teresa Anderson, the global lead on climate justice for ActionAid International.

Volunteers paint a basketball court with a reflective treatment in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacoima in July 2022. Derek Street/Handout via Thomson Reuters Foundation

Meanwhile, smart ways to reduce risks and curb losses are being tried out around the globe.

In the United States, people living in poorer urban communities prone to heat stress are using monitoring equipment [[link removed]] to record heat and humidity levels in various parts of their neighbourhoods.

That's a first step toward identifying the hottest places and then securing financial resources to cool them, whether with tree planting, shades or heat-reflecting paint for roofs and roads.

A lack of data has in the past held communities back from accessing the money they need, said Liv Yoon, a social scientist. Now, "they have that data."

This is the last week of our Frontlines newsletter - thank you all for reading! Next week we change our name and look (but not our focus). Keep an eye out for our revamped newsletter: Climate.Change.

See you next week,

Laurie

Will Indonesia's new forest pact with Norway open door to more funding? [[link removed]]

As Indonesia slows deforestation, it is seeking more international finance for forest conservation programmes that reduce carbon emissions

Cost of crypto: Report says U.S. bitcoin as dirty as 6 million cars [[link removed]]

The environmental groups behind the report urged U.S. states to consider halting new mining operations if climate change goals are to stay within sight

Will Iran's climate inaction fuel rising disaster threats? [[link removed]]

As climate threats from flooding to water scarcity rise, Iranians see little help on the horizon

As U.S. bakes, mapping shows Black, Latino areas feel more heat [[link removed]]

Locals are tracking temperatures, humidity and other data to help officials protect those living in sweltering 'heat islands'

No room to cut: Rising inflation traps Bangladesh climate migrants [[link removed]]

As fuel prices and the cost of living soar, Bangladesh's poorest warn "I can't survive"

Why climate-change 'loss and damage' will be a hot topic at COP27 [[link removed]]

With warming-driven disasters hitting the poor harder, pressure is growing for new sources of global funding to repair the harm

OPINION: COP27: Here’s how to unlock Africa’s low-carbon future [[link removed]]

Private investment is needed for Africa to adopt renewable energy. Here’s why that investment makes sense

OPINION: In tackling the cost-of-living crisis, Liz Truss is adding fuel to the climate crisis [[link removed]]

Britain’s new Prime Minister needs to keep in mind that boosting fossil fuel use now sets the country up for worse crises soon

OPINION: How to protect tropical forests? Let indigenous people lead [[link removed]]

To turn around deforestation, patient indigenous-led conservation is key

READ ALL OF OUR COVERAGE HERE [[link removed]] Have a tip or an idea for a story? Feedback on something we’ve written? Send us an email [mailto:[email protected]] If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe here [[link removed]]. Like our newsletter? Share it with your friends.

This email is sent to you by Thomson Reuters Foundation located at 5 Canada Square, London, E14 5AQ.

Thomson Reuters Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales (no. 1082139) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (no. 04047905). Our terms and conditions and privacy statement can be found at www.trust.org [[link removed]].

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Thomson Reuters Foundation Climate Newsletter. If you do not wish to receive future newsletters, please unsubscribe or manage your subscriptions below.

Manage your subscriptions [[link removed]] | Unsubscribe from this newsletter [link removed]

Unsubscribe from all TRF communications [link removed]
Screenshot of the email generated on import

Message Analysis