Reaction to Scotland announcement on Loss and Damage

Oxfam campaigners pose as world leaders playing in a traditional Scottish pipe band near the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, UK on the 1st of November 2021. Oxfam said it is vital that world leaders come up with action and not just ‘hot air’. It said wealthy, polluting nations are cutting greenhouse gas emissions too slowly, and not doing enough to support vulnerable nations facing the devastating impacts of climate change.   (photo by Andy Aitchison / Oxfam)
Responding to the announcement that the Scottish Government has pledged £1m for ‘loss and damage‘, Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said:
“The First Minister’s announcement today is groundbreaking recognition that funding to help certain people adapt to the climate crisis is utterly useless when their entire community has been wiped off the map. 
 
“This announcement is welcome acknowledgement that for some communities around the world, talk of limiting the damage of climate change has already come far, far too late. In many places, climate change has already caused irreversible damage to people’s homes, lives and livelihoods. Despite this grim truth; world leaders have continued to duck calls to establish a new funding mechanism for loss and damage. Other countries must now follow Scotland’s lead and offer dedicated financial support to countries where lives have already been lost and ruined because of climate change.”

/ENDS

For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Oxfam Media and Communications Adviser, Scotland and Wales: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk  / 07917738450