Integral Human Development: a Holistic Approach to Restoring Dignity

Caritas Internationalis exhorts the international community and the LDF Board to respond with a sense of urgency to the losses and damages felt everywhere in the world, especially in developing countries. For millions of people across the Earth, Loss and Damage is not just discourse, but a matter of life and death.”

At COP28 in Dubai, the Loss and Damage Fund was formally established, a board was set up, and almost $700m dollars pledged in initial funding. This is now a crucial time, where the board of this new fund must quickly agree how it is going to operate, what types of projects it will fund and who is able to access it. The decisions taken now whether or not this fund can truly deliver climate justice, and meet the needs of those suffering from climate impacts across the Global South.

SCIAF, together with a number of other Caritas agencies, have published a range of resources and research into the issue of Loss & Damage. Working together with Caritas Internationalis and policy experts Joy Reyes and Cecile Stone, we complied this research into a dossier to inform the new board of the Loss and Damage Fund. This document is a high-level summary of the dossier, and draws on Integral Human Development to outline a vision for the fund which will truly deliver holistic solutions for people.