Cyclone Remal’s toll on Bangladesh 

With a span of about 400km, Cyclone Remal struck the Bangladesh coast on 26th May 2024, passing through the Sundarbans with wind speeds as high as 111km/h. The cyclone caused prolonged precipitation and widespread destruction, with floods submerging areas and disrupting livelihoods across 19 districts.

Damage to 61 kilometres of embankments in Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat resulted in significant financial losses. According to the Needs Assessment Working Group, 80,591 hectares of cultivable land were flooded.  

The working areas of Practical Action in Bangladesh, Satkhira and Khulna, fell under the great danger signal 10. These regions, along with Faridpur district, face risks of heatwaves, cyclones, and riverine floods. Human interventions have diminished the protective barrier provided by the Sundarbans, exposing vulnerable communities more each day, and exacerbating the effects of such risks. 

These events underscore the necessity of enhancing community resilience from all perspectives. 

Urgency for strengthening community resilience 

Bangladesh’s EWS is advancing; warnings are being disseminated using multiple mobile network operators, government websites, voice messages, digital weather boards and the Disaster Alert for BD app. These technological advancements enable volunteers from the Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) to disseminate disaster information to areas that are hardest to reach.   

Despite progress in Bangladesh’s EWS, some risks like losses and damage to natural resources and physical infrastructures, as well as financial losses, remain significant and unavoidable. Predicting and managing meteorological and hydrometeorological events is complex due to the influence of multiple factors on the occurrence, intensity, and impacts of such events. These complexities make it hard to estimate potential losses and damages, whilst at the same time increasing the need for alternative and innovative approaches to mitigate impacts and ensure rapid system restoration. 

Practical Action’s contribution to enhanced resilience 

As part of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, Practical Action helps vulnerable communities prepare for and recover from climate change-induced hazards. In Faridpur District, the implementation of the Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) tool found a lack of adequate EWS in remote areas. This deficiency arises from insufficient resources and challenges such as limited technological access, awareness, and government initiatives.  

As a result, communities in remote areas of Faridpur, especially living in the Char areas (silt-clay-sandbars created by river deposits in the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta), previously seldom received early warning messages/signals. Initiatives like disaster alert apps and localized voice messaging systems are contributing to the increased preparedness that is being seen across communities. Fishermen and farmers are particularly benefited as they get weather alerts and flood data continuously through the Disaster Alert app. These alerts enable fishermen to return to the ports earlier, and farmers can cut and sell their crops before damage is caused. 

Earlier, our preparation for floods was limited because early flood warnings were seldom received in the Chars. Now, with the early warnings we get from various channels, every member of my family is alerted during events like pandemics or floods, which greatly aid our safety and preparedness.

Rabeya Begum. A local resilience agent from Dheukhali Union

During Cyclone Remal, 3,000 volunteers from the CPP were accessible via the Disaster Alert for BD app. Their details are kept up to date within the app, enabling easy contact for anyone needing assistance. These volunteers play a crucial role in disseminating emergency messages to community members during crises. Moreover, Practical Action was able to reach 72,000 households through the voice messages about the cyclone warnings.

Building resilience towards future events

As the need to build resilience towards future events rapidly increases, Practical Action’s work in Bangladesh will involve building resilience to heatwaves, as well as floods. Teams will conduct the Participatory Rural Appraisal, a Community Risk Assessment, and then, using the Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities tool, assess the resilience of the vulnerable people. Conducting these assessments will allow us to identify and prioritize resilience building activities and develop risk reduction action plans for the most vulnerable areas.

Our upcoming initiatives include implementing risk transfer mechanisms, enhancing governance systems, and improving alert systems to enhance resilience and responsiveness to future events. Collaboration with relevant authorities like local government, private sectors or NGOs will be essential for advancing these efforts further. The impact that Cyclone Remal had on vulnerable livelihoods underscores the need for better resilience through increased adaptation, improved preparedness, and response, and prompt recovery.

See our country page for more details on Practical Action’s work in Bangladesh. 

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This gathering of experts, policymakers, and stakeholders underscored the urgency of integrating anticipatory measures into disaster risk management frameworks to effectively protect vulnerable communities. At present, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) is developing a national framework for anticipatory action. The participants of the event mentioned that the platform has proven important to brainstorm creative ideas and provide inputs to the widely anticipated national framework.

Key takeaways and strategies

The significance of early warning systems and their enhancement was one of the main lessons to be learned from the discussion. To take early action, precise and timely forecasts, together with potential impact modeling, are a must. This helps to act beforehand by predicting the threats that come along with monsoons such as floods, inundation, landslides, and waterborne infections. At present, it is visible that the stakeholders have been able to accurately anticipate the time and place of potential disasters, thanks to the advancements in technology at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM). 

Dr. Archana Shrestha, Deputy Director General at DHM highlighted the importance of communicating the certainty and uncertainty of forecasts to the stakeholders and the public. She mentioned that it is important to collaborate with NGOs and municipalities so that the technical forecasts are translated into actionable information.

One of the backbones of effective anticipatory action is community engagement. Providing community members with the required resources and training helps them to take proactive actions that helps not only to protect themselves but also their communities. This helps to reduce loss and damage significantly. Working with the communities for early action includes pre-positioning emergency supplies, strengthening communication networks and having proper evacuation plans.

Collaborative partnerships were also highlighted as essential in implementing anticipatory action. Bringing together government agencies, NGOs, private sector entities, and international organizations fosters a holistic approach to disaster preparedness. These collaborations help to combine resources, knowledge, and best practices which results in the efficacy of proactive measures as a whole.

For humanitarian organizations to respond to emergencies before they happen, Michael Kroft, the UNESCO Representative to Nepal, emphasized the significance of creating a thorough AA framework for Nepal. He mentioned that AA is faster, more dignified, and cost-effective than post-event responses and hence this should be prioritized.

Application to the monsoon season

As we approach the monsoon season, the learnings from the dialogue are very suitable and significant. As monsoons relate to life threatening hazards, it is mandatory to have proactive planning and response strategies. When we talk about initiating anticipatory action, it is about involving the relevant authorities to make use of resources and deploying the reaction teams to high-risk areas using predictive methods.

Proactive efforts in flood-prone regions include early evacuation drills, strengthening infrastructure at risk, and building temporary shelters with basic supplies. We can lessen the impact of disasters if emergency relief materials such as water, food, medicines and sanitation kits, among others are made ready to send to the affected areas as soon as possible.

Anil Pokharel, CEO of NDRRMA emphasized various efforts of NDRRMA such as the development of a national multi-hazard early warning system and the approval of the national gender and social inclusion strategy that facilitates anticipatory action. To address the disaster related challenges, Pokharel highlighted the importance of adequate budget allocation, policy reform and investment in modern technology.

He emphasized participation in initiatives for early warning such as the “Early Warning for All” program led by the United Nations and in collaboration with other international partners. Moreover, he discussed the benefits of integrating disaster risk management into infrastructure projects like the Upper Arun hydropower project for anticipatory action.

Likewise, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) unveiled the Monsoon Preparedness and Response Plan 2081 to deal with disaster incidents on June 5th. According to the Plan, it is estimated that 181,000 people and over 400,000 households will be affected by monsoon-related activities this year. During the meeting held at the ministries with various stakeholders on June 6, it was informed that cooperation of various ministries and organizations will be sought to ensure the effective implementation of preparedness and response efforts.

We urge all the development partners to update their status of stock and how they can support the monsoon preparedness as early as possible.

Mohan Kumar Ghimire, early recovery cluster lead at MoFAGA

It is evident that increasing pre-event investment in flood resilience will reduce the losses and damage caused by floods. The Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance research shows that every $1 invested in flood risk reduction has been documented to save on average $5 in future losses. As anticipatory action integrates climate adaptation strategies into local development plans, it plays a vital role in resilience building efforts. The strategies include improving drainage systems, promoting sustainable land use practices, promoting monsoon resilient crop varieties among others.  Many organizations like Mercy Corps, Practical Action, Dan Church Aid (DCA), CARE International and Action Aid, among others have been effectively working in these areas.

Challenges

It is not all rosy though. With no national framework for anticipatory action, multiple organizations are using their version of anticipatory actions. There are still very few identified lists of anticipatory actions beyond cash interventions. Many local governments do not prefer cash interventions as most of these interventions are targeted and avoid blanket approaches as targeted approaches are not conducive for managing the political relationships. This is especially because there is a lack of trust in the forecasts from DHM and the list of potential impact populations identified. Numerous small river systems that are often unnoticed but are the scenes of major flood impacts lack historical data on river discharge, hydro-meteorological parameters, and high-resolution terrain models which are basics for hazard modelling.

The way forward

The Third National Dialogue on anticipatory action has laid a strong foundation for planning and improving monsoon preparedness through proactive initiatives. Different stakeholders including the communities, participated in the dialogue led by NDRRMA and NGOS with Mercy Corps and DCA serving as co-leads of the Anticipatory Action Community of Practice in Nepal. The interactions have proven that the effectiveness of AA lies in the successes, difficulties, and experiences of proactive, action-focused programs. 

There is no doubt that embracing AA helps to increase community resilience, promote sustainable development, and lessen the immediate risks posed by natural disasters. In the face of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and the effects of climate change, continued collaboration, innovation, and investment in anticipatory measures will be key to safeguarding lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure.

The presenters highlighted minimizing the gap between existing funding mechanisms and the needs of AA. Piush Kayastha, who oversees European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, proposed connecting climate and disaster funds with AA initiatives to ensure adequate financial resources for preparedness and response, fostering public-private partnerships to harness innovative technologies for early warning and response and incorporating multi-hazard approaches and scaling up collaborative efforts across sectors to enhance resilience and preparedness.

As Nepal looks forward to exploring existing government mechanisms to promote shock-responsive social protection to target the most vulnerable populations, strengthening the national volunteer system, and ensuring a standardized framework with clearly distinguishing roles and responsibilities across all tiers of government with due policy reviews, the future does look bright.

It is also important to use simplified language, raise awareness, establish robust communication channels, and promote the citizen science approach for monsoon preparedness. Inclusive communication, advocating for the integration of local languages, songs, mural arts, participatory mapping, Interactive Voice Response, mobile games, drama, jingles, social media, SMS, household-level risk mapping, and visualization techniques are crucial for risk communication, be it during monsoon or any other disasters.

As stakeholders across sectors continue to apply these insights and strategies, we move closer to realizing a future where anticipatory action serves as a cornerstone of disaster risk reduction, ensuring safer and more resilient communities in monsoon-prone regions and beyond.

This article was originally published by Republica on 8th July 2024. You can view the original here.

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While different in myriad ways, all members of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance share a common vision – that floods have no negative impact on people’s and business’ ability to thrive. At ISET-International, we are committed to the ongoing measurement of outcomes and impacts, through annual reporting by all Alliance members.

Our latest Progress Report shows how the Alliance had surpassed its targets by the end of 2023; its community programs and advocacy efforts have beneficially impacted 3.14 million people, and influenced USD 1.26 billion of funding towards resilience. This has been achieved through contributions at all levels – from local action that benefits thousands, to influencing national policies in a way that benefits hundreds of thousands – and by many different methods.  

Positive impact through interventions and advocacy

Counting not just people reached but people impacted, especially through advocacy, is not something traditionally done in development programs. Moving from measuring reach to impact required commitment, learning, and the development and application of new systems tailored to the range of contexts Alliance teams work in and approaches they take to their work.  

The significant impact of the work being done by Mercy Corps Indonesia, for example, is the result of multiple, inter-related activities designed to improve the government’s understanding of flood risk and strengthen its capacity to take action. These activities included: 

• the development of a technical model illustrating current flooding challenges .
• working with the government to develop sub-national policies to address land subsidence, and build flood resilience.
• providing technical support for the design of a major dam and reservoir to alleviate groundwater withdrawals.
• the development of a resilient livelihoods approach.

By helping government actors understand why and how they need to move beyond purely infrastructure-based flood protection measures, and by supporting the development of actions that both address the root cause of flooding and support adaptation to flood impacts, Mercy Corps Indonesia’s work has beneficially impacted the local population of 1.3 million people. 

Influencing funding for resilience at all levels

Surpassing our financial target was the result of a wide range of efforts, including provincial-level commitments to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) funding; the influence of various national risk management programs; funding commitments on global adaptation policy; and our contributions to operationalizing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s loss and damage fund. Nearly half the money we have influenced has been at the global level, working with a range of stakeholders over many years to influence global dialogues and national commitments to fund adaptation.  

At the same time, we are proud of the impact of our spending wins at the local, sub-national, and national levels. In particular, many of our individual funding wins are small from the global point of view, but within their contexts are highly meaningful. For example, in Kenya, the Tana River County government committed to increasing the allocation for DRR in the county’s budget from 2 to 10%.  

Furthermore, 1.4% of the total disaster budget was allocated specifically to flood preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. This increase in the budget allocation for DRR is a result of Concern Kenya’s community advocacy work around the need to increase funding for DRR, as well as the importance of earmarking funds specifically for flood resilience, rather than disasters in general. 

Beyond the numbers  

Of course, these figures don’t tell the whole story; the capacity for change is not always quantifiable in terms of people impacted or funding influenced. Smaller-scale, local wins indicate shifts in behaviour that our Alliance teams have reported as impactful for the communities they work with, and suggest early indications of bigger change to come. For example:  

• During Cyclone Freddy in 2023, Concern Worldwide’s work in Malawi proved invaluable for communities and governments in Nsanje district. This included effective communication of early warning messages, setting up temporary shelters, and ensuring the most vulnerable were prioritized for evacuation. 
• In El Salvador, Plan International supported communities to gather information on rainfall, floods, and overflows in the river basin, and use them to develop risk scenarios. During the 2023 rainy season, this training enabled those communities to monitor and pre-emptively evacuate risk-prone areas, optimizing response times and saving lives. 
• In Nepal, ​​Mercy Corps worked with community advocacy champions to build their capacity, skill, and knowledge for advocacy. The champions used what they had learned to actively engage in local participatory policy processes, which resulted in the integration of community rights, voices, and choices into local development plans. These plans had a cascading influence on local government budgeting decisions to allocate funds for proposed community initiatives. 

What’s next 

We are encouraged that the impact of many of the Alliance’s actions is measurable, and that individuals, groups, communities, and institutions across all scales are seeing, experiencing, and creating changes on the ground. Even where changes are not yet quantifiable, significant changes that indicate deeper shifts in support of resilience are nonetheless being observed and reported by many of those we work with. 

Our plans for the future include adopting a broader climate resilience lens, and focusing more intentionally on systems change and scaling. From the foundation of what our teams have accomplished so far, we aim to achieve beneficial change for 70 million people by 2035. Keep an eye on our website in 2024 to find out more about the exciting next stage of the Alliance! 

For more information and to explore additional case studies, read the Alliance’s latest Progress Report. 

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Just as the June UN Climate Meetings (or SB 60) were getting underway in Bonn, catastrophic floods were hitting Southern Germany. Attendees were given a timely reminder of the impact that flood events can have, and the need for climate action. Not that one should have been needed, of course, after the devastation already witnessed this year in Brazil, Sudan and elsewhere. 

Against this backdrop, negotiations in Bonn on issues including adaptation and loss and damage pointed to the need for increased ambition. This was true on all fronts, including in conversations around the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance.  

Discussions around what the figure (or quantum) should feature in the new goal are ongoing, with estimates putting the needs of developing countries between $2.4 trillion and $5.9 trillion per year by 2030. The NCQG must therefore be resourced to the value that meets these needs.

For more on why a bold new climate finance goal is essential for turning the corner on the climate crisis, and what it should look like, read our guide to the NCQG or watch our explainer videos. 

Red lines hindering progress on NCQG 

The technical discussions in Bonn concerning the NCQG were just the latest in a process that has already been running for more than two years. Yet despite broad agreement from both developed and developing countries on the need to drastically increase the quantity of climate finance, how that should be done remains very unclear. Bonn delivered no breakthrough on the most contentious issues, and with less than five months until COP29 in Baku, we are running out of time for Parties to meaningfully advance the NCQG process. 

Many parties did not shift from mutually incompatible positions related to the quantum, the contributor base, the recipient base and the role of the private sector, to name just a few.  

Developed countries’ ongoing abdication of responsibility to deliver sufficient money to developing countries remains particularly problematic and disappointing, not to mention incompatible with the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ that underpins the Paris Agreement, the climate convention and the UNFCCC process itself.

How do we get to a strong NCQG from here? 

Of course, events like the Bonn conference are not just about disagreements; they are opportunities to present new ideas and perspectives that have the potential to move parties closer to agreement.  

One of the more contentious points was whether a loss and damage sub-goal should be included in the NCQG. Most developed countries have been reluctant, if not completely opposed, to include loss and damage in the goal. The agreement to establish a Loss and Damage Fund was a hard-won victory, and it is essential to solidify loss and damage as the third pillar of climate action, alongside mitigation and adaptation, so should be automatically included in the NCQG.  

In Bonn, our team engaged deeply with this issue, and received legal advice from Legal Response International which argued that there is in fact no reason not to include loss and damage within the new goal. This was then shared with negotiators from developed and developing countries, as well as during the Glasgow Dialogue. We hope this advice can inform parties as they continue their deliberations. 

The Alliance’s side event on ‘making climate finance work for all’ stirred some interesting and relevant conversation about what a burden sharing mechanism within the new goal would look like, and how to learn the lessons from the $100bn. We were also heartened to see our ‘Fair Share’ research with ODI referenced by China’s lead climate finance negotiator, who pointed to ODI’s methodology while underlining the need for developed countries to continue to provide financial resources. 

Failure is not an option in Baku 

As the Bonn Conference concludes, it’s clear that calls for increased ambition on climate finance need to be translated into action. It is more critical than ever to keep the pressure on all developed country governments to recognize their obligations, and act decisively on them. The Alliance will continue to push for an ambitious NCQG, with new research set to be published in September and ongoing contributions to the technical and political discussions. 

The last two weeks have revealed that developed countries are shying away from their responsibility to provide climate finance, even while still calling for ambitious reductions in emissions – yet the two are inextricably linked. And it should go without saying that those most responsible for the climate crisis should provide the finance, based on agreed principles of equity. It is critical that the new climate finance goal to be agreed at COP29 learns the lessons from past failures, prioritizes the needs of developing countries over political compromises, and sufficiently supports communities to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.

Debbie Hillier, Mercy Corps

The world needs a successful COP to deliver the radical shift in climate finance to fund action such as countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which will be key to addressing climate change. For more details on what a fit-for-purpose NCQG would look like, see Mercy Corps’ submission.  

Despite two weeks of climate negotiations in Bonn, progress has been slow. With only a few months left before COP29 we urge developed countries to show greater ambition in Baku. Advancing climate finance is crucial to rebuilding trust within the negotiations. Agreeing a fit-for-purpose new collective quantified goal is not only essential from a climate justice standpoint, but it will also send the right signal to countries as they formulate their NDCs for COP30 and ultimately ensure we stay on course to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Sally Tyldesley, Concern Worldwide UK

A bold and impactful agreement is also necessary for restoring trust in international climate negotiations, made fragile by the failure to meet the existing $100 billion goal on time. Failure to make significant progress at COP29 could jeopardize future climate action and the global commitment to a sustainable, resilient future.  

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What is climate finance?  

The United Nations defines climate finance as any monetary contribution that “seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change”. This includes money that climate-vulnerable developing countries receive from developed countries who bear more historical responsibility for the climate crisis.  

In 2009, at COP15 in Copenhagen, developed countries pledged to collectively mobilize $100 billion per year to support climate action in developing countries. However, this target has been consistently missed. In partnership with ODI, the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (of which Plan International is a member) has spent the last few years tracking contributors’ contributions, and identifying who is most to blame for the persistent underfunding that has characterized the effort since its inception.  

It’s clear today that even if this goal had been met, it would still fall far short of what is needed to adequately meet the urgent needs of developing countries. The global cost of mitigation efforts is expected to reach around $4 trillion by 2030, while the annual figure required for adaptation is between $160-340 billion by 2030, rising to between $315-565 billion by 2050. Then there are the costs of climate-induced losses and damages, estimated to reach over $1 trillion by 2050.  

How can climate finance improve gender equality?  

The climate crisis has worsened the frequency and intensity of natural hazards such as storms, floods, and droughts. When extreme weather events significantly impact a community, they tend to have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, particularly those living in poverty.   

During extreme weather events, disruption to health services further increases the chances of unplanned pregnancies and sexual and reproductive health complications. Additionally, a lack of comprehensive sexuality education before, during and after extreme weather events can limit girls’ understanding of and access to sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) information and services. 

Evidence shows that adolescent girls also face protection issues after disasters and when migrating as they are particularly susceptible to violence and exploitation – including rape, sexual and gender-based violence and abuse, and trafficking. Unsustainable livelihoods putting pressure on family income can also lead to negative coping strategies, including child, early and forced marriage.  

When resources are stretched in the aftermath of a climate-induced disaster, girls’ education is deprioritized in favour of that of boys. Girls’ lack of access to education – a denial of their rights – compounds their vulnerability as they have limited access to timely and lifesaving early warning mechanisms, as well as general information about what to do in a disaster. The domestic workload for female members of the household also increases dramatically. 

Social norms often result in women and girls being left out of the decision-making process during planning for climate hazards, resulting in action that does not take their specific needs and vulnerabilities into account, exacerbating existing inequalities further still.  

Providing climante financing tailored to meet the particular needs and priorities of women and girls, as well addressing the root causes of gender inequality, has multiplier effect of supporting development and reducing the impacts of the climate crisis. Gender responsive climate finance can therefore make a significant positive and lasting impact to the lives of women and girls in climate-vulnerable communities.  

What’s going wrong? 

Despite making commitments to promote gender equality in climate finance, developed countries consistently fail to deliver. For example, it’d be reasonable to expect all providers of climate finance to ensure that it includes gender equality as an objective by default – especially as there is already a mechanism in place for doing this, in the form of the OECD’s gender markers.   

However, in 2021, out of a total of $28.2 billion in adaptation funding provided by developed countries, less than half was reported to also have gender equality as an important but not principle objective, with only 2.9% having gender equality as the principle purpose.  Of the remaining projects, some explicitly did not have gender equality as an objective or were not screened. 

Lack of transparency presents one of the biggest obstacles to improving gender equality though climate finance. Boldly-worded commitments to pursuing gender equality in the climate context are easy to find – Sustainable Development Goal 5, 2010’s Cancun Agreements, and some individual countries’ self-described ‘feminist’ approaches to international development – but true accountability will only come when all countries commit to increasing climate finance addressing the specific gender relate challenges and barriers, and screen all projects using OECD’s gender markers.

How does it get fixed?

A positive take-away from the findings of our recent research into gender equality in climate adaptation finance is that some countries like Canada, the Netherlands and Luxembourg show how countries can screen 100% of the climate adaptation finance they provide to developing countries. Moreover, all three have targeted gender equality in more than 80% of the funds provided for climate adaptation. The countries that are falling behind, including France, Germany and Japan, can begin by following their example.  

This year’s negotiations to determine a new collective goal for climate finance, replacing the target set at COP15, present a significant opportunity to drive progress on this issue. While there is much to be ironed out before the deadline of the COP29 climate summit in November, there’s no reason that the agreement can’t include gender-responsiveness as a priority, and outline ways to make it work in practice.   

This is a watershed moment for the international community; getting this right will have a monumental impact on the lives of women and girls all over the world, especially those already highly vulnerable to climate disasters.  

What can I do?

The gap between what has been provided so far by developed countries, and what is actually required to address the climate crisis, is vast – and it will take significant public pressure to address this. 

You can play your part by contacting your representatives in government and urging them to engage with the issue of gender equality in climate finance – especially if you live in a country that is currently underperforming. When it comes to determining the new climate finance goal at COP29, there is a real risk that political considerations will hinder developed countries’ levels of commitment and ambition – but for the sake of communities already bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, that can’t be allowed to happen.   

You can also connect with your friends, family, colleagues and community groups, and encourage them to learn more about the unmissable opportunity that this year offers for improving the lives of women and girls around the world.   

Global attention on the issue of climate finance is expected to build as we approach COP29, but with the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events continuing to increase, there is no time to lose. Decision-makers must deliver the radical change that climate-vulnerable communities – and women and girls in particular – desperately need.  

This article was originally published by Girls Globe on 4th June 2024. You can view the original here.

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