IMPACT
CLIMATE JUSTICE
The wave is our headrest.
The ocean is our bed. We live with the ocean – that is how the Bajo people live.
”We use arrow fishing gear, fishing rod and a net. That’s it. When we put down the traps, fish used to swarm around. We could get hundreds of big or small fish. But now – where can we catch fish?“
- Tasman
Tasman, 63 years of age, lives on the island of Flores, Indonesia. He has been a spear fisherman all his working life. His people, the Bajo, an indigenous Indonesian group, have relied on the ocean for centuries.
But as sea levels rise, they are seeing the ocean come closer, and fish moving farther away. While Tasman and others are trying to adapt and adopt agriculture instead, they are having to abandon a part of their culture.
Climate crisis threatens ways of life and traditions as well as environments. And the threat to livelihoods is creating new battles against poverty.
OUR WORK
Climate action led by those hit hardest
Climate change is a human-induced crisis that is reversing progress made in the fight against poverty and inequality, and worsening conflicts and disasters worldwide.
The voices of feminist organizations and young and indigenous people must be amplified in climate negotiations and lead the transition to greener and fairer social and economic models.
Oxfam’s work on climate in 2022–23 focused on keeping those most responsible for climate degradation accountable and in ensuring we move towards justice for those at the frontline of the crisis.
For decades, Oxfam and partners have been advocating globally for recognition of the unequal burden of the climate crisis on already vulnerable communities in the world. This year, our advocacy effort resulted in a breakthrough towards climate justice, with the approval of at COP27 of a loss and damage fund. Link to loss and damage story Oxfam’s June 2022 report Footing the Bill: fair finance for loss and damage in an era of escalating climate impacts was instrumental in informing civil society decision makers on the urgent need for the fund.
Ahead of COP 27, we organized the African Climate Caravans, a digital ‘road show’ that involved 170 African civil society organizations. It called for climate justice for those least responsible for crisis but most affected, in over 25 African countries.
Oxfam is recognized as a key player on inequality and climate finance.
This year, we launched two reports that were instrumental in shifting the terms of debate and in informing decision makers on who is responsible for climate crisis and who should be footing the bill to support communities to adapt. Our October 2022 briefing paper, Climate Finance Short-changed: The real value of the $100 billion commitment in 2019–20 showed that rich countries are failing on their climate finance promise, and warned that this failure will undermine trust needed in collectively addressing the crisis. This brief and our work on climate finance provided us access to key influencing spaces, including the 5th High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Finance at COP27.
Our November 2022 report, Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people, showed how the richest people are largely responsible for climate crisis, through their consumption and investment emission.
The report was launched ahead of COP27 and informed the public debate on the priorities of tackling inequality and the emissions of the richest and in raising finance for those at the frontline of climate crisis.
Oxfam is recognized as a key player on inequality and climate finance.
This year, we launched two reports that were instrumental in shifting the terms of debate and in informing decision makers on who is responsible for climate crisis and who should be footing the bill to support communities to adapt. Our October 2022 briefing paper, Climate Finance Short-changed: The real value of the $100 billion commitment in 2019–20 showed that rich countries are failing on their climate finance promise, and warned that this failure will undermine trust needed in collectively addressing the crisis. This brief and our work on climate finance provided us access to key influencing spaces, including the 5th High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Finance at COP27.
Our November 2022 report, Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people, showed how the richest people are largely responsible for climate crisis, through their consumption and investment emission.
The report was launched ahead of COP27 and informed the public debate on the priorities of tackling inequality and the emissions of the richest and in raising finance for those at the frontline of climate crisis.
OUR WORK ACROSS THE WORLD
COP 27
A monumental win (if funded properly)
Following three decades of pressure, the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, concluded with a massive win for countries at the frontlines of climate crisis. The loss and damage fund, agreed at COP27, addresses the principle that wealthy countries that have contributed most to climate breakdown should pay for the losses of communities who are being hit the hardest by a crisis not of their making.
The campaign at COP27 was led by Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti, who wrote an open letter on the need for a new financing for loss and damage. Oxfam mobilized people around the world to add their names to the letter, amplifying Elizabeth’s story through billboard advertising and social media. We supported Elizabeth to take her message to decision-makers around the world, including negotiators at the Bonn Intercessional conference and meetings at the European Parliament and Commission. We placed advertisements in influential publications and attended COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, where the letter was handed to the COP27 president.
Following COP27 in November 2022, Oxfam warned of the need to mobilize substantial resources to make the loss and damage fund a reality. We also stressed the imperative for rich countries to provide a roadmap on how to deliver the $600 billion they have promised between 2020 and 2025.
CAMBODIA
Adaptation on the shores of a changing lake
The fishing community in Kampong Khleang, like many others on Cambodia’s freshwater Tonle Sap Lake, is suffering from a declining fish population due in part to inconsistent rainfall, deforestation and pollution – symptoms of climate breakdown. But a sustainable water purification system is now helping people to adapt to higher temperatures, lower water levels and fewer fish.
The filtration plants use charcoal and UV light, and are being installed by Oxfam partner Teuk Saat 1001, with the help of the Cambodian Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Rural Development. They provide people in local communities with water in reusable plastic bottles, for 45 cents each. Schools and elderly and disabled people receive them free.
The filters are part of a larger project funded by the European Union, which delivers water, sanitation and hygiene, education and livelihood support to the most vulnerable communities in the Tonle Sap. For example, Oxfam’s partner Wetlands Work! provides eco-friendly toilets to the ‘floating villages’ in the Tonle Sap to reduce sewage flowing directly into the lake; combating the effects of water-borne diseases that often impact young children.
We are helping communities diversify their livelihoods away from fishing, supporting eco-tourism and new handicraft businesses. People are learning to run restaurants, drive tour boats and host visitors in their homes. This reduces the pressures on fishing and spreads awareness of the sensitive environment around the Tonle Sap Lake.
KENYA
Local communities lead the charge against climate crisis
Oxfam has been working with local government and civil society organizations in Kenya to increase spending on climate programs and to influence how money is spent in an accountable way.
The 2022 drought in Kenya was the worst in 40 years. Kilifi County, a coastal region and one of the areas classified as the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, was severely hit, and ongoing practices contributed to the problem. For example, around 80% of the households in the region used charcoal and firewood to cook and light their homes; this contributed to greenhouse gas emissions and climate breakdown but was the only cost-effective way for people to survive. Oxfam’s objective was to create more awareness of climate crisis, adaptation and mitigation measures, to increase resources to address it and to set guidelines and a framework to use such resources.
Every county in Kenya is required by law to set aside at least 1.5% of their budget towards climate action and preparedness. However, many counties like Kilifi had not established a framework for the fund. Oxfam and partner Arid Lands Information Network – with funding from the Danish Democracy, Climate Justice and Public Education for All Fund – collaborated with the county government of Kilifi. With civil society organizations and academics, we produced regulations to guide the operations of a new Kilifi County Climate Change Fund through community-led committees. The fund will receive 70% of the total budget for climate action and will provide an accountable avenue for implementing locally led climate actions and solutions.
NEW ZEALAND
Food Not Fuel!
In a significant victory for the Don’t Burn Our Future campaign, the New Zealand government dropped its proposed biofuels mandate.
The government planned to mandate that from 2024 fuel companies would have to add biofuels (produced using organic material) to the fossil fuels in petrol and diesel fuel for transport. While biofuels are promoted as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this is disputed, and some biofuels are even worse for the climate than the fossil fuels they replace.
Biofuel mandates increase competition between food and fuel. They use the same crops (corn, soy palm oil) as those for food – in vehicles. Around 90% of the world’s palm oil, for example, is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, where plantations are established by clearing wetland forest. Massive land grabs to secure land for biofuels leave communities displaced and destroy the rainforest. Biofuel production is, essentially, burning our food.
Through our website petition, supporters sent persuasive messages to New Zealand government ministers, backed up by statistics and research from a 2022 Oxfam briefing paper, Don’t Burn Food. In early 2023 the government scrapped the mandate, focusing instead on solutions to reducing emissions and preparing for climate impacts.
VANUATU
Seeking climate justice in court
In March 2023, a campaign supported by Oxfam passed a milestone: the UN General Assembly in New York voted for the issue of profound climate change to be referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the world’s highest court.
Oxfam had been working in close partnership with the Vanuatu Climate Action Network and civil society organizations from all over the world, who pledged to support the Vanuatu government’s ICJ initiative. Oxfam also supported the climate campaign march in New York in September 2022, which called on country leaders to vote for the advisory opinion.
Vanuatu is one of the countries that suffers most from climate impacts, while contributing least. In 2022 the Vanuatu government declared the country as a state of climate emergency, reaffirming that climate crisis is the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the people of Vanuatu.
Widespread co-sponsorship of the ICJ resolution sent a strong message that nations are united in their commitment to abide by existing climate obligations under international law. The ICJ will be hearing evidence about climate crisis issues and their legal and human rights implications. It is expected to hand down an advisory opinion in 2024. This could set authoritative baselines for action by states to reduce emissions and meet their human rights responsibilities.
Image: Roy fishes off the coast of his home, Molpoe village in Vanuatu
COP 27
A monumental win (if funded properly)
Following three decades of pressure, the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, concluded with a massive win for countries at the frontlines of climate crisis. The loss and damage fund, agreed at COP27, addresses the principle that wealthy countries that have contributed most to climate breakdown should pay for the losses of communities who are being hit the hardest by a crisis not of their making.
The campaign at COP27 was led by Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti, who wrote an open letter on the need for a new financing for loss and damage. Oxfam mobilized people around the world to add their names to the letter, amplifying Elizabeth’s story through billboard advertising and social media. We supported Elizabeth to take her message to decision-makers around the world, including negotiators at the Bonn Intercessional conference and meetings at the European Parliament and Commission. We placed advertisements in influential publications and attended COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, where the letter was handed to the COP27 president.
Following COP27 in November 2022, Oxfam warned of the need to mobilize substantial resources to make the loss and damage fund a reality. We also stressed the imperative for rich countries to provide a roadmap on how to deliver the $600 billion they have promised between 2020 and 2025.
CAMBODIA
Adaptation on the shores of a changing lake
The fishing community in Kampong Khleang, like many others on Cambodia’s freshwater Tonle Sap Lake, is suffering from a declining fish population due in part to inconsistent rainfall, deforestation and pollution – symptoms of climate breakdown. But a sustainable water purification system is now helping people to adapt to higher temperatures, lower water levels and fewer fish.
The filtration plants use charcoal and UV light, and are being installed by Oxfam partner Teuk Saat 1001, with the help of the Cambodian Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Rural Development. They provide people in local communities with water in reusable plastic bottles, for 45 cents each. Schools and elderly and disabled people receive them free.
The filters are part of a larger project funded by the European Union, which delivers water, sanitation and hygiene, education and livelihood support to the most vulnerable communities in the Tonle Sap. For example, Oxfam’s partner Wetlands Work! provides eco-friendly toilets to the ‘floating villages’ in the Tonle Sap to reduce sewage flowing directly into the lake; combating the effects of water-borne diseases that often impact young children.
We are helping communities diversify their livelihoods away from fishing, supporting eco-tourism and new handicraft businesses. People are learning to run restaurants, drive tour boats and host visitors in their homes. This reduces the pressures on fishing and spreads awareness of the sensitive environment around the Tonle Sap Lake.
KENYA
Local communities lead the charge against climate crisis
Oxfam has been working with local government and civil society organizations in Kenya to increase spending on climate programs and to influence how money is spent in an accountable way.
The 2022 drought in Kenya was the worst in 40 years. Kilifi County, a coastal region and one of the areas classified as the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, was severely hit, and ongoing practices contributed to the problem. For example, around 80% of the households in the region used charcoal and firewood to cook and light their homes; this contributed to greenhouse gas emissions and climate breakdown but was the only cost-effective way for people to survive. Oxfam’s objective was to create more awareness of climate crisis, adaptation and mitigation measures, to increase resources to address it and to set guidelines and a framework to use such resources.
Every county in Kenya is required by law to set aside at least 1.5% of their budget towards climate action and preparedness. However, many counties like Kilifi had not established a framework for the fund. Oxfam and partner Arid Lands Information Network – with funding from the Danish Democracy, Climate Justice and Public Education for All Fund – collaborated with the county government of Kilifi. With civil society organizations and academics, we produced regulations to guide the operations of a new Kilifi County Climate Change Fund through community-led committees. The fund will receive 70% of the total budget for climate action and will provide an accountable avenue for implementing locally led climate actions and solutions.
NEW ZEALAND
Food Not Fuel!
In a significant victory for the Don’t Burn Our Future campaign, the New Zealand government dropped its proposed biofuels mandate.
The government planned to mandate that from 2024 fuel companies would have to add biofuels (produced using organic material) to the fossil fuels in petrol and diesel fuel for transport. While biofuels are promoted as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this is disputed, and some biofuels are even worse for the climate than the fossil fuels they replace.
Biofuel mandates increase competition between food and fuel. They use the same crops (corn, soy palm oil) as those for food – in vehicles. Around 90% of the world’s palm oil, for example, is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, where plantations are established by clearing wetland forest. Massive land grabs to secure land for biofuels leave communities displaced and destroy the rainforest. Biofuel production is, essentially, burning our food.
Through our website petition, supporters sent persuasive messages to New Zealand government ministers, backed up by statistics and research from a 2022 Oxfam briefing paper, Don’t Burn Food. In early 2023 the government scrapped the mandate, focusing instead on solutions to reducing emissions and preparing for climate impacts.
VANUATU
Seeking climate justice in court
In March 2023, a campaign supported by Oxfam passed a milestone: the UN General Assembly in New York voted for the issue of profound climate change to be referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the world’s highest court.
Oxfam had been working in close partnership with the Vanuatu Climate Action Network and civil society organizations from all over the world, who pledged to support the Vanuatu government’s ICJ initiative. Oxfam also supported the climate campaign march in New York in September 2022, which called on country leaders to vote for the advisory opinion.
Vanuatu is one of the countries that suffers most from climate impacts, while contributing least. In 2022 the Vanuatu government declared the country as a state of climate emergency, reaffirming that climate crisis is the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the people of Vanuatu.
Widespread co-sponsorship of the ICJ resolution sent a strong message that nations are united in their commitment to abide by existing climate obligations under international law. The ICJ will be hearing evidence about climate crisis issues and their legal and human rights implications. It is expected to hand down an advisory opinion in 2024. This could set authoritative baselines for action by states to reduce emissions and meet their human rights responsibilities.
Image: Roy fishes off the coast of his home, Molpoe village in Vanuatu
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