You might have heard some chanting in the Bonn corridors – “No more blah blah blah, loss and damage finance now!” – but let it be clear, it’s not just ECO in support. At Saturday’s action, TUNGO said it loud and clear: “Loss and damage is a trade union issue!” So, we invited them to explain this a little more.
In April, intense rains hit the eastern coast of South Africa, causing floods and landslides. More than 400 people died as a result of the floods, which also destroyed more than 12,000 houses and forced an estimated 40,000 people from their homes.
In July last year, unprecedented rains hit the Rhine basin, with devastating consequences in Germany and Belgium. At least 243 people died, tens of thousands of homes were flooded and power supplies disrupted.
While the mud that comes in through the floods might be very much the same in South Africa and Germany, the trail it leaves is very different.
Every life lost and every home destroyed is a human tragedy. However, the people who got injured or sick in Germany may benefit from medical coverage. Those who lost their jobs (maybe temporarily) due to the closure of their workplace, will have unemployment benefits, guaranteeing their livelihoods. This is not a given. More than four billion people in the world do not have any social protection at all; they often work in informal jobs. When the heat wave strikes and they cannot go to work, they have no pay. If floods take away their jobs, they have no unemployment benefits.
ECO agrees with the unions: social protection is a part of just transition, and it’s a part of the answer to meaningfully address loss and damage. When Parties are talking about the buzzword ‘just transition’, they should know what this means: including social protection in the New Collective Quantitative Goal, the Global Goal on Adaptation, and in the Loss and Damage Finance Facility that should be established at COP27.