LOSS & DAMAGE: A GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

Whether you live in Bangladesh, Brazil, or Bemidji, climate security is a human right. We hold a moral responsibility to repair harm and offer financial relief from climate damage and loss.

The U.S. is the largest historical emitter of carbon pollution and bears the most significant responsibility of any country for the climate impacts.

Leading into the United Nation's 2022 international climate conference, the U.S. still resisted action. However, as COP27 was about to close in Egypt, negotiators announced that the U.S. had finally agreed to work with the Global South to establish a monetary fund.

MNIPL has been a global leader in the work towards this tremendous moment.

In nationwide coalition spaces, we served as a pilot for how to organize around loss and damage. Through the ways we educated congregations and colleges and moved Minnesotans to action, we brought together youth and BIPOC organizers on the ground at COP27 to share their stories and make global connections. We worked to secure a formal congressional letter of support for U.S. action on loss of damage.

We are heartened by the news from COP27 and hopeful for what the future may bring. And the work continues!

With escalating climate impacts in every country, we must ensure wealthy governments help healing and repair move forward.

Responsibility starts with us.

Take Action!

Host a presentation at your community about loss and damage. MNIPL can offer this in person or on Zoom.

Watch a recording of the October 2022 webinar we hosted about loss and damage. International policy experts and MNIPL staff shared how we can work together to take responsibility.

Join a faith delegation for a potential call with members of the U.S. State Department.

LOSS:  lost forever and cannot be brought back

DAMAGE:  damaged, but can be repaired or restored with a cost

  • Loss of life from a hurricane, flood, or famine driven by drought
  • Loss of income from crops being destroyed by a cyclone or drought
  • Displacement and loss of land due to rising sea levels, desertification, or severe storms
  • Loss of culture from widespread climate displacement of communities
  • Damage to infrastructure by hurricanes, fires, or flooding
  • Loss of livelihoods like when fish species die off due to ocean warming
  • Indigenous communities' loss of sacred land from climate change
  • Loss of farmland, especially for sustenance farmers, from climate change

Learn More:

Loss and Damage in Rajanpur, Bangladesh

MNIPL is supporting the work of Ruhel Islam, a Minneapolis community member and small business owner, who has traveled to his homeland in northeastern Bangladesh. He is there to help with recovery and rebuilding efforts in Rajanpur and other surrounding communities following the devastating floods in June 2022. Download a PDF presentation to learn more. Read the ongoing stories we'll be sharing of Ruhel's work on the frontline of the climate crisis.

Film: "This is Loss and Damage - Who Pays?"

In the powerful piece, climate activist, Vanessa Nakate, and Loss and Damage experts, Professor Saleem Huq and Harjeet Singh, offer a compelling way out of the Loss and Damage finance stalemate: an international mechanism funded by the fossil fuel polluters who caused the crisis.

COP27 Resources

COP or Conference of the Parties is an annual gathering of the 197 nations that agreed to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. The 27th conference was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022, and MNIPL's Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos attended.

Here are resources from this major global event!