Inuit want access to loss and damage fund, Inuit Circumpolar Council president says – National Observer

April 28th 2023

Inuit want direct access to a global fund dedicated to addressing destruction caused by climate change, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council’s Canadian arm says.

Lisa Koperqualuk says loss and damage funding is needed in Inuit Nunangat, the homeland for Inuit, which is warming four times faster than the global average. Canada’s National Observer spoke with the ICC president last week while she was in New York City at the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, a UN body focused on the concerns and rights of global Indigenous Peoples.

The loss and damage fund Koperqualuk referred to is a major agreement to come out of COP27, last year’s UN climate conference. How exactly the fund will work is still being negotiated, but it’s expected wealthy developed countries will pay into its coffers and vulnerable developing countries can then tap the money to deal with loss and damages caused by climate change, like when heat waves destroy crops that farmers depend on for livelihoods.

Read More: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/04/28/news/inuit-want-access-loss-and-damage-fund-inuit-circumpolar-council-president