Amplifying Voices of Vulnerable Communities at COP27 – ActionAid India
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Amplifying Voices of Vulnerable Communities at COP27

Published on: Tuesday, 17th January 2023

Author: Priyanka Khullar (with inputs from Sandeep Chachra)

The 27th Conference of Parties of the UN Summit on Climate Change (COP27) took place in November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. ActionAid Association was proud to be a part of this global dialogue that more than 40,000 delegates and participants attended from around the world. Sandeep Chachra, Executive Director, ActionAid Association, at COP27 emphasised the need for climate action to prioritise locally-led people-centric mitigation and adaption solutions, stating that “we must recognise vulnerable communities’ silent and unassessed contribution to climate action.”
In the run-up to COP27, we initiated a petition seeking concerned people’s support to demand countries most responsible for climate change to take responsibility for damages and losses that people are facing today on account of this planetary crisis. As part of this campaign, together with several civil society organisations and people’s movements, we have for long been calling for the greatest greenhouse gas emitters to create a funding facility to address climate-induced loss and damage impacting vulnerable communities in the Global South. We are pleased to share that a decision to establish the Loss and Damage Fund has got delivered at COP27. Attributing this historic outcome to “the unified power of people’s movements and civil society and the unity of the Global South”, Sandeep stated that “communities suffering from loss of lives, livelihoods, habitats and futures will now have some hope for accessing compensation and protection”.
However, continuing fossil fuel dependence risks breaching the 1.5 Degrees Centigrade target. “Sadly, COP27 could not come to any decision to phase out all fossil fuels in a sustainable and equitable manner,” he said, further mentioning that “the ever-growing climate movement expects COP28 to deliver on this urgent need for the majorities of our world”.