African civil society organisations met in Lilongwe, Malawi in late April 2022 and issued a call to the international policy community on climate-related loss and damage and climate finance – with a view to influencing the critical COP27 climate talks in Egypt this year.

The gathering of more than 70 representatives was hosted by the Malawian Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC) and co-convened by the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). It brought together diverse climate champions ranging the breadth of the continent, from Senegal to Tanzania.

Over the course of a several days, the civil society organisations hammered out a list of concerns about the impact of climate change on African people and environments, and the slow pace of political action and financing.

The conference build on an earlier session in Kigali, Rwanda in February-March 2022. “We wanted to concretise our discussion in Malawi so that we are very clear on what our demands should be for compensation,” said co-convenor Julius Ng’oma of CISONECC.

Declaration spells out key priorities from civil society

A conference communique, available in full here, outlines conference delegates’ priorities for urgent, meaningful action on loss and damage and climate finance from the international community.

Delegates were clear on the need for the governments, via the UNFCCC, to:

“[establish] a special finance facility for loss and damage response in line with article 8 of the Paris Agreement. These finances for loss and damage should be predictable in quality and quality and should be separate from the Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund (GCF)”, delegates said.

Furthermore, delegates called for loss and damage to be priority items on the agendas for governmental negotiation at all annual Conferences of the Parties (COPs) of the UNFCCC and during the ‘subsidiary body’ or technical meetings of the convention.

The declaration notes that men, women, young people and people living with disabilities experience climate-related loss and damage differently. Support to countries and communities should reflect these differentiated needs. 

On climate finance more broadly, the recent COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland agreed to double the amount of finance available for climate change adaptation. However, African civil society delegates noted that the 2020 climate finance target for US$100 billion still has not been met – with the rich countries most responsible for climate change falling far behind on their commitments. This gap must be redressed immediately, while a greater long-term finance goal is established.

Further, countries still have not reached consensus on a definition of climate finance. The definition is urgently needed in order for the international community to measure flows effectively.

The declaration finishes by emphasising:

“the pivotal and leadership role that African governments should play in consolidating African voices and experiences on loss and damage and strong demand for predictable and verifiable new and additional climate finance support.”

Read the African civil society communique in full here.

Reporting by CDKN's Mairi Dupar, in conversation with Julius Ng'oma, CISONECC Malawi.