The Scottish Government announced on May 31 that it would be making available £3 million through the newly-launched Climate Justice Fund to support projects to improve access to water in countries such as Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia...
The Scottish Government announced on May 31 that it would be making available £3 million through the newly-launched Climate Justice Fund to support projects to improve access to water in countries such as Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia.
Speaking at the launch, Mary Robinson said “Creating a new narrative based on climate justice, which amplifies the voices of the vulnerable, can inject the necessary urgency and ambition into the international negotiations to reach a new legally binding agreement by 2015. We will know that we have achieved an equitable solution when the human rights of the most vulnerable are upheld and protected.”
The fund is also supported by the 2020 Climate Group, and the Network of International Development Organisations of Scotland (NIDOS), and has attracted cross-party support from the Scottish Parliament.
First Minister Alex Salmond said: “The huge injustice of climate change is that it is those who have done the least to cause the problem – the most vulnerable from the world’s poorest communities – who are hardest hit by it. That is why Scotland is committed to supporting climate justice and why we are launching Scotland’s Climate Justice Fund.
“In launching this fund we are all too aware that one country cannot win the battle against climate change alone. Collective action is not an option but an imperative, and we need to ensure our actions and our message inspires others to act.
Speaking in support of action on climate justice, Professor Alan Miller, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission said: “We welcome the launch of the Climate Justice Fund today. There must be broad recognition that the people who have contributed the least to climate change are suffering the most through extreme weather, desertification, crop failures, water shortages and newly spreading diseases – this situation violates their human rights and simply cannot continue.”
Groups such as Christian Aid, Oxfam Scotland, Amnesty International, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and environmental groups WWF Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland are also backing the scheme, which will provide £1m a year to aid projects for the next three years.
Further Reading:
Scotland announces ‘climate justice’ fund for world’s poorest – The Guardian, 06 June 2012