Climate action must include people with disabilities: Representing CBM at the Bonn Climate Conference

It was a privilege to represent CBM UK during the the Bonn Climate Conference of the UNFCCC. Alongside our friends from the European Disability Forum we hosted a side event which provided a great opportunity to launch our newest publication “Disability Rights and Climate Change: Does the climate crisis impact implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?”

View a recording of CBM UK’s side event on YouTube here. 

Read the CBM’s new publication, “Disability Rights and Climate Change” here.

This paper, written by my colleague Ursula Grant is based on a study carried out in conjunction with a small group of students from the The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on the impact of the climate crisis on the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The recommendations from the paper provide a firm foundation for positive ways to make climate action disability inclusive.

In Bonn we highlighted the need for the inclusion of people with disabilities across every area of climate action and to reinforce this in the light of the wider discussions on some key issues in the build up to COP28, including the first Global Stocktake on the implementation of the Paris Agreement, and whether we are on track for a safer future for now and generations to come.

There is a clear need to ensure fair, just and transparent funding to address the loss and damage suffered by countries and frontline communities who are the most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. CBM UK and CBM Global Disability Inclusion are clear on our call that all processes, policies and practices in averting, minimising, and addressing loss and damage must include people with disabilities and their representative organisations. This includes discussion on how these are, or can be, funded both within and without the UNFCCC process.

I am grateful to Gurpreet Kaur, Lien Vandamme, Gordon Rattray, Shitaye Astawes, Vashkar Bhattacharjee, Mary Keogh and Dr Ian Fry, for their support.

Read more about Disability Inclusion in Climate Action here.