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People around the world have been adapting to change since time immemorial, but there is a cost attached to it. While people living in poverty deploy the resources, traditional knowledge and skills that they have, much more is needed. Adaptation finance is needed to support vulnerable countries and poor communities to adapt to the climate crisis.

Governments must build back better low carbon economies post the pandemic to avoid fuelling the climate crisis, warned Oxfam today ahead of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue on 6-7 May. The virtual meeting will bring together government ministers from across the globe to discuss international climate action ahead of this year’s critical UN summit COP26 in autumn.

Climate finance efforts by developed countries are at a critical juncture. There are only two years before the deadline by which developed countries have committed to jointly mobilize $100bn per year to support climate action in developing countries. This briefing paper offers an assessment of progress towards this goal.

Climate-fuelled disasters were the number one driver of internal displacement over the last decade – forcing an estimated 20 million people a year from their homes. While no one is immune, it is overwhelmingly poor countries that are most at risk.

The world has entered a new and dangerous era of climate change impacts, causing huge loss and damage and driving up inequality in the world’s poorest countries that have contributed least to the climate crisis. Yet, new research by Oxfam estimates that nearly half of funding requirements for UN humanitarian appeals linked to extreme weather have gone unmet.

Battered by cyclones and ravaged by extreme drought, poor communities in the Horn of Africa and Mozambique have found themselves on the front line of a climate crisis they did little to create.

Cyclone Eloise, which recently hit Sofala province central Mozambique, compounded by covid-19 and the economic fallout from previous climate-fuelled disasters, has crippled people's ability to recover, and left over 260 thousand people in desperate need of humanitarian aid, said Oxfam.

Ten of the world’s worst climate hotspots – those with the highest number of UN appeals driven by extreme weather events – have suffered a 123% rise in acute hunger over just the past six years, according to an Oxfam report published today.

Responding to the UK Government’s announcement that G7 leaders will agree to new financing for infrastructure projects in developing countries and an increase international climate finance, Oxfam's climate change lead Nafkote Dabi said: "This plan could support green development in poorer countries, but it is lacking in detail including on who will foot the bill."

Thousands of Somali families were displaced to urban centres by the 2017 drought. Research by a group of NGOs indicates that they do not intend to return home anytime soon. It also shows how precarious and limited are the livelihood opportunities for displaced people in Somalia.