Enhancing Community Access Must Be Central to the FRLD already in Its Start-Up Funding Phase

Some 75 civil society and Indigenous Peoples groups and networks from around the world are asking the Board and Secretariat of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) in a joint submission to support and enhance access to FRLD funding for communities - particularly through community-led organizations, local civil society organizations (CSOs), Indigenous Peoples organizations, Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs) and organizations representing groups experiencing marginalization which are also often the most impacted by the climate crisis.

Local organizations should be implementing partners in their own right, important actors of the ‘strategic partnerships’ the FRLD seek. Supporting them in fulfilling this role, including from the beginning in the start-up financing phase under the ‘Barbados Implementation Modalities’ (BIM) approved at the 5th FRLD Board meeting, is crucial. This submission was shared in the lead up to the 6th meeting of the FRLD Board in Cebu, Philippines in early July 2025, where how to advance start-up financing is discussed.

Community access is important to respond to the needs and priorities of people at the front line of the climate crisis in a way top-down funding approaches cannot. It ensures those most affected by loss and damage can lead on decisions that impact them. It also strengthens the capacities and agency of the people most affected by the climate crisis, while promoting innovation. Affected communities and community leadership are uniquely positioned to identify problems and implement solutions that ensure resilience and sustainability. Relevant groups include, but are not limited to: women in all their diversity; people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression; children and youth; older people; Indigenous Peoples; Afro-descendant communities; migrants; displaced persons and refugees; racialized people; persons with disabilities; ethnic minorities; people living in poverty; peasants and people living in rural areas; people living in conflict-affected areas (including situations of apartheid and occupation); and individuals in communities facing impoverishment and dispossession.

Community access is not just a matter of climate justice and human rights, but also essential to ensure effectiveness, sustainability and inclusiveness of loss and damage responses. This is because those who are most impacted are also the first responders in times of crisis and know best about solutions needed to address the loss and damage they have suffered. Local organizations have the trust of the community or can build on it fast due to proximity and innate understanding of social, cultural and political contexts. They are often able to speedily adapt to the community’s changing needs and priorities. They are best placed to facilitate inclusive community participatory processes for collective needs assessment and prioritization of responses needed, including those the FRLD should support. Ensuring equitable and consistent access to resources for communities can therefore lead to more sustainable, cost-efficient and inclusive outcomes.