The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced its membership of the Santiago Network, a global initiative that connects technical experts and organizations dedicated to helping vulnerable countries and communities confront the irreversible impacts of loss and damage due to climate change.
Established in 2019, the Santiago Network brings together organizations, networks and experts to facilitate the implementation of solutions that avert, minimize and address loss and damage caused by climate change, with a focus on developing and vulnerable countries. Its secretariat is co-hosted by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Geneva.
‘Loss and damage’ is used to describe the harmful consequences of climate change that cannot be avoided or adapted to. It is an existential crisis for millions of people around the world today. A 2023 analysis found that between 2000 and 2019, the world suffered at least $2.8 trillion in climate-related damages, approximately $16 million every hour.
These impacts disproportionately affect vulnerable countries and communities that have contributed the least to global emissions. The 2022 floods in Pakistan affected 33 million people and caused economic damages near $30 million, while African countries on average are losing 2-5 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to climate extremes like droughts, heatwaves and floods.
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UNDP has extensive experience in providing holistic policy as well as programming support on climate-related loss and damage in vulnerable countries. It has supported 30 countries in enhancing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with an explicit focus on loss and damage solutions.
Through initiatives like the Small Grants Programme, local communities are being empowered to implement resilience projects. UNDP also supports countries in developing financial instruments like insurance and data-driven models to address immediate and long-term climate impacts.
As a member of the Santiago Network, UNDP will be able to expand its outreach and technical assistance to those hit the hardest by climate change, strengthening their climate and disaster resilience through disaster risk reduction, early warning and damage and loss assessments.
The membership will also strengthen UNDP’s engagement with key international mechanisms such as the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, which coordinates global efforts to understand and address climate impacts, and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, established at the COP27 climate summit in 2022 to provide financial support to countries facing climate related impacts. While initial pledges to the fund have reached $700 million, experts estimate that the annual finance needs to address loss and damage could reach hundreds of billions of dollars by 2030.
“Whether it is families rebuilding after devastating floods or farmers coping with prolonged droughts, we see the human cost of climate impacts every day,” said Shoko Noda, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Crisis Bureau Director.
Story was adapted from UNDP.
