As the impacts of climate change become more visible each year, the annual UN climate conferences (COPs) take on new political weightiness. 2024 is on track to the be the hottest year in the post-industrial period, slamming a record set only last year. This year’s COP, COP29, takes place against a turbulent backdrop of catastrophic weather events worldwide, from Hurricane Milton in the US to a historic drought in southern Africa.
Recognising these escalating impacts of climate change, ‘Loss and Damage’ (L&D) has emerged as a central focus of COP negotiations in the past 2 years – a policy area intended to address harms to people, property, places, and cultures inflicted by climate change. COP29 is poised to make significant decisions about Loss and Damage, including what L&D programming ‘looks like’ – in other words, how the UN intends to finance recovery from harmful weather events.
In my own research in Malawi, the complexity of such recovery was thrown into sharp relief. Affectionately known as the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’, Malawi is a small country in southern Africa which has been affected by repeated cyclones in the past five years and an acute drought this year. As shown by the World Weather Attribution group, these cyclones and droughts are caused and/or exacerbated by climate change.
In February 2023, Cyclone Freddy swept through southern Malawi, destroying lives, homes, and agricultural fields with floods, extreme winds, and mudslides. Recovery in the immediate aftermath was an immense challenge, particularly for people living in rural villages: people have fought cholera outbreaks whilst living in evacuation centres, searched for alternative income sources to rebuild homes, and grappled with how to grow food for their families in waterlogged fields.
