Climate Finance Needs To Work For Communities And Be Debt Free - Caritas

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is calling for more effective and transparent climate finance channels to deliver funds and results directly to the local level in the Pacific, prioritising the poorest and most vulnerable, and not adding to debt burdens.

It joins six other members of the Caritas Oceania regional network to release the report, Twin clouds on the horizon: averting a combined climate and debt crisis in the Pacific through locally-delivered climate finance.

The report will be released on Tuesday at the network's annual forum, being held this week in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand Director Mena Antonio is there along with about 25 Caritas delegates from around the region.

"Communities need to be able to directly access climate-related funds to support solutions they have identified themselves," says Ms Antonio. "Local groups and civil society also need to be actively involved to deliver, monitor and evaluate climate finance projects. We've seen the value of local involvement in design and implementation for our long-term development programmes. It's not only valuable, it's necessary.

"Accountability works two ways: funders need to be assured that money is going to the purposes intended, while local communities need to be assured that climate-related projects meet their needs, can adapt to changing circumstances and provide for their future."

The report includes the story of Manus Island (PNG) organisation Marine Environment Awareness and Response Team. It is working with communities to build traditional seawalls from stones and logs to protect against coastal flooding, and to plant mangroves to prevent coastal erosion. But such organisations struggle to get necessary funding to support their work – and need to go through many hoops and hurdles to get them.

The report also shows the multiple benefits of smaller organisations working with larger NGOs to access funds, such as Caritas Samoa partnering with a US-based Catholic Relief Services, to access a USAID grant for a water project; and strengthen its own financial and accountability systems.

Twin Clouds builds on a decade of environmental monitoring across the Pacific, led by Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand through the Caritas State of the Environment for Oceania series. This series tracked climate finance trends, along with how local communities were experiencing and responding to extreme weather, coastal erosion and sea level rise, access to safe food and water, and mining and drilling of the ocean floor. Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand continues to share these stories and community resilience and restoration efforts through "The Oceanian Monitor" map and other online resources.

The report and map have been released shortly before the next United Nations climate conference – COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt (7-18 November).

"The real fight against climate change is happening at the grass roots and coastal edges, where people are protecting their lives and livelihoods as best they can," says Ms Antonio. "We just need key decision-makers to recognize the value of local solutions, and get in behind to support that. COP21 in Paris was a breakthrough moment in climate action. We are hoping for another breakthrough moment around COP27 to provide for the real needs of the poor. We will never let go of that hope."

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