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Avoiding the climate crisis and adapting to it in order to prevent damage - that is why the international climate negotiations of the past few years revolved around this, namely: reducing CO2 emissions, building dams and resilient cities.
But at the latest this year at the UNO Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid, the realization will come true: That will not be enough, the climate crisis is already causing damage, some of which is unaffordable.
"Rising sea levels cause our wells and fields to become saline," says Choi Yeeting, the national climate change coordinator for the Pacific Island state of Kiribati, which could become uninhabitable by 2050, according to World Bank calculations. Inhabitants of the island, says Yeeting, have to leave their settlement areas on the coast today, and fishermen are losing their livelihoods. "But to help these people, we lack the means."
Something similar happens all over the world. Three million people in East Africa are currently affected by flooding. Because of a cyclone, 2.1 million people in Bangladesh had to leave their homes. Hurricane Dorian deprived her home of 76,000 people in the Bahamas, causing $ 7 billion in damage and costing 60 lives.
Susana Vera / REUTERS
Delegates to the UN Climate Conference in Madrid: How can climate damage be compensated?
Global warming alone does not account for any of these catastrophes, but the IPCC says they are becoming increasingly destructive.
To mitigate the damage caused by this, the states in Madrid are discussing the so-called "Warsaw International Mechanism" (WIM), which is to provide financial resources. Specifically, it is about losses and damages, where losses include everything that can not be restored and is difficult to quantify financially: a home, traditions, human lives.
"The industrialized nations have long been afraid of compensation claims, but now the climate crisis has progressed so far that there is no other way," says Sabine Minninger, a consultant for climate policy at "Bread for the World".
How can compensations look like?
But how the WIM should be designed, it is argued about. Basically, according to Minninger, there are three approaches: insurance against climate damage, the work of international emergency relief organizations and binding compensation mechanisms.
MIKE ROMAN / RED CROSS AUSTRALIA / EPA / DPA
Situation in Kiribati after Zyklon Pam (Archive picture from March 2015)
The first two principles are widely criticized by civil society groups. Insurances are a private, often expensive instrument that puts poor states before the election to invest their strained budget either in structural adjustment measures or insurance. The rural population of many countries in the global South does not have this option at their disposal.
Humanitarian emergency aid is also not the right principle to absorb the damage, according to Minninger. "International organizations are already underfunded anyway, but we need a binding mechanism into which the polluter states deposit."
Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP
Villagers of the Indian state of West Bengal seek protection from Cyclone Bulbul on November 9, 2019
India is also a country hard hit by the climate crisis. One part of the country is hit by deadly droughts, another by floods. Sanjay Vashist, director of Climate Action Network South Asia, says, "The people who caused these disasters should also be responsible."
India as a whole emits many greenhouse gases, but given the large population they are low. "These are survival, not luxury issues as in the industrialized countries," he says. "We are suffering from a crisis that we did not blame." It is a matter of justice that the countries that have become rich in the fossil age are paying for it. So for example the USA, Japan and also Germany. But so far, it does not look like someone has enough of this responsibility.
Federal Government awards aid payments
According to World Bank estimates, if the world community manages to limit global warming to two degrees, it will incur $ 400 billion in annual losses from 2030 in developing countries.
As a result of disasters that do not provide assistance, disease epidemics and conflicts often occur, which in turn lead to greater costs. Hundreds of thousands can be forced to flee.
Germany seems to have understood that. While other polluter nations continue to block aid commitments, the German government announced at the Climate Change Conference in Madrid that it would provide 500 million euros and is thus playing a pioneering role. Now it will be in the negotiations, whether such payments are not only voluntary, but binding.
Climate shareholder, garbage collector or parent-educator - read here what young people around the world think about climate change:
This article is part of the project Global Society, for which our reporters report from four continents. The project is long-term and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
What is the project Global Society?
Under the title Global Society, reporters from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe will be reporting on injustices in a globalized world, socio-political challenges and sustainable development. The reportages, analyzes, photo galleries, videos and podcasts appear in the Politics Department of SPIEGEL. The project is long-term and will be supported over three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
Are the journalistic contents independent of the foundation?
Yes. The editorial content is created without the influence of the Gates Foundation.
Do other media have similar projects?
Yes. Major European media such as "The Guardian" and "El País" have created similar sections on their news pages with "Global Development" or "Planeta Futuro" with the support of the Gates Foundation.
Was there already similar projects at SPIEGEL ONLINE?
SPIEGEL ONLINE has already implemented two projects in recent years with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The "Expedition The Day After tomorrow" on Global Sustainability Goals and the journalistic refugee project "The New Arrivals" Several award-winning multimedia reports on the topics of migration and escape have emerged.
Where can I find all the publications on the Global Society?
The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL ONLINE on the topic page Global Society.
