Representatives of communities in the Global South attended a meeting with the First Minister on Wednesday. Following this roundtable discussion, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland has released a statement that praises Scotland’s efforts in a number of areas but calls for further urgent action to be taken to address global warming and climate injustice.

By Stop Climate Chaos Scotland

Global South representatives have urged Nicola Sturgeon to deepen her climate leadership in the last few days of COP26. They demand that the first minister urge other rich countries to make funds available to support developing countries, heavily reduce Scotland’s emissions and oppose new fossil fuel projects such as that planned at the Cambo oil field.

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, a coalition of over 60 organisations from across the climate movement, hosted a roundtable with the First Minister in Glasgow on Wednesday 9 November.

Participants, who have travelled to Glasgow from Panama, Zambia, Philippines, Malawi and Peru, and Canada, strongly welcomed the Scottish Government’s financial pledge to support communities facing the devastating impacts of irreversible climate related damage. The announcement makes Scotland the first rich, developed nation to explicitly commit such funding.

The First Minister characterised the £1m allocation from the Climate Justice Fund as an act of “reparation” for Scotland’s contribution to the climate crisis, “not an act of “charity.” She went on to voice concern that the draft ‘cover text’ released the UK Presidency “must be strengthened” and include financial provisions to address irreversible damage from the climate crisis.

Speaking on the need for real progress to be made by rich nations, Clémence Abbès Castillo, who works with indigenous communities in Peru as Oxfam’s Climate Justice Programme Officer, said:

“My grandparents lived in the Andes, but if they were alive they wouldn’t recognise their land as the glaciers are melting and deforestation is increasing. What has been lost will never come back.

Jocabed Solano, from Panama, in Glasgow for COP26 (photo by Chris Hoskins).jpg

“Shamefully, many rich nations are blocking progress to address the damage from irreversible climate impacts, so Scotland’s announcement is really important. Yet the truth is, it will only really matter if other rich nations use COP26 to raise the new money that’s so badly needed.

“But rich nations, like Scotland, must also stop making this crisis worse, and that means cutting emissions in line with promises and ending the use of dirty fossil fuels. Every new oil platform that opens condemns my country and communities on the frontline and delays will cost lives.”

The Scottish Government’s finance pledge has been welcomed by the Least Developed Countries Group – which represents 46 countries and 1 billion people – and the UN Secretary General singled out the Scottish Government for praise in this area. However, there is rapidly growing concern that COP26 will fail to secure meaningful progress on Loss and Damage globally.

While much rests on the leadership of the UK Presidency, Global South representatives told the First Minister that COP26 must establish a new finance facility for climate related damage and help drive sustained progress by making it a permanent agenda item at future UN climate conferences.

Speaking on the imminent and existential threat that the climate crisis to his community, Jocabed Solano, an indigenous rights and climate change activist from Panama said:

“The sea levels are rising all around our islands and people are losing their homes. This is the land of our grandmothers and we want to stay. Indigenous people care for 80% of the world's biodiversity in the lands in which we have lived for centuries. To protect the earth you must protect our human rights.

“What will you say to your children and grandchildren when they ask how you cared for the earth? My people say we are united with mother earth and we must defend her.”

Musamba Mubanga, Programme Specialist with Caritas Zambia, urged the First Minister to continue Scotland’s leadership on Loss and Damage between now and COP27 in Egypt:

“One of the legacies from Glasgow’s COP26 has to be Scotland taking a leading role in bringing together countries and key regions and cities in Europe, to have a dialogue with Global South experts and for communities to push forward on wider Loss and Damage funding. I hope that the First Minister will rise to the challenge and help present ideas at the next COP taking place in Africa in 2022.”

Responding to attendees, the First Minister said that “Scotland is not a paragon of virtue, we have massive things we need to reckon with and change, and we’ve got much to do and we’ve got to keep ourselves under pressure to do that.

“I fully recognise the obligation Scotland has, we’re amongst the leading countries in the world in terms of reducing emissions but the bar is too low, it’s too easy to claim leadership.” She said that action to transition from oil and gas is “a key responsibility.”

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is urging the First Minister to oppose the proposed Cambo oil field. The decision on the proposed development off Shetland rests at UK level, but the coalition says the First Minister should urge the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to intervene and block the proposal – setting a powerful example to all rich nations on the need to end the use of fossil fuels.