Intervention on the Workplan
Thanks to the Co-chairs and the members of the Fund Board for this opportunity to have this DIALOGUE with Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Organizations. I am Grace Balawag of Tebtebba, the Indigenous Peoples International Centre for Policy Research and Education based in the Philippines, and representing the IPO constituency. In this dialogue, we would like to clarify that we are not representing only our respective constituencies but that we have coordinated among the various constituencies and we are covering different issues. So, specifically, I will be intervening on the Workplan:
- We believe that the Workplan is of crucial importance to take all the necessary steps and develop policies and modalities that should lead to a human rights-based and community-centered Loss and Damage Fund.
- The workplan should prioritize urgent operationalization of the fund, direct access to resources for vulnerable countries, and community-centered approaches, with clear timelines and deliverables.
- We highlight the importance of modalities for public participation: There is a strong expectation that participation modalities will go well beyond established modalities for participation in other climate funds such as the need for a comprehensive approach to realizing meaningful participation and inclusion in all levels of the fund, from policy-making at the Board level to implementing and monitoring at the community level.
- We hope the Board will prioritize the setting up of a dedicated community access window that will realize simplification of direct access to small grants funding for affected communities, Indigenous Peoples, and those facing marginalization. Such a dedicated window will confirm the Fund’s intention and ambition to make priority support for those in the most vulnerable situations a central tenet of its funding mission.
- One crucial element is the development of a comprehensive Resource mobilization strategy reflecting the scale required (trillions not millions) and obligation of the developed countries to promptly deliver based on stringent timelines.
- We welcome the development of a dedicated framework for the best practice of environmental and social safeguards to avoid harm to communities and their environment, as well as the operationalization of an independent grievance redress mechanism. We ask the Board to be explicit about the intention to have dedicated mechanisms in place for the Fund.
- In addition, the Fund also needs to develop proactive, dedicated policies such as an Indigenous Peoples policy, a gender policy and a youth policy, which are currently not mentioned in the Workplan. The same counts for putting in place a proactive information disclosure policy.
- Lastly, with regards to the potential operationalization of the Fund as a World Bank Financial Intermediary Fund, we highlight the need for accountability and disclosure, including through the involvement of observers and to the broader public, to secure the independence of the Fund and the full compliance with the 11 conditions set out in the COP/CMA.
- We are aware that the operationalization of all of these modalities in the context of the urgency to delivering funding is a daunting task for the Board. We would however caution against disbursing any funding before the modalities that will ensure the protection and fulfillment of the rights of those the Fund is meant to serve are in place. Civil society and Indigenous Peoples are here to support the development of any of these important modalities.
Grace Balawag of Tebtebba Foundation and representative of the Indigenous Peoples Constituency addressed the board of the Loss and Damage Fund in the ongoing board meeting of the Loss and Damage Fund in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea. Balawag delivered the cross-constituency statement specifically on the Board's Work Plan during observers’ dialogue with the Board.