Interview: The IPCC, Colombia, and early action in fragile settings

By the Climate Centre

(Seven Colombian scientists will contribute to the next report on the global climate from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – its seventh, known as AR7 – the largest number from that country to date. Among them is the Climate Centre’s Bogota-based Head of Climate and Conflict, Catalina Jaime, who last week gave an interview to El Espectador newspaper, of which this is a translated and abridged version.)

Q You will be part of the working group focused on impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. From your knowledge and experience, is there a specific point you would like to draw attention to?

CJ There’s a reason I was very interested in being a part of the report. I will work on Chapter 20, which covers global evidence on adaptation in the contexts of extreme fragility and poverty, and where livelihoods are precarious or there is displacement.  

The chapter will focus on vulnerability – one of the factors that limits whether people can actually reduce risks or adapt to climate change. I think it’s going to be very interesting to apply all my work from the last 20 years on humanitarian, fragile and conflict contexts to thinking about issues of adaptation to climate change.

Q Given the greater level of participation by Colombian scientists in AR7, will the special concerns of the country be covered?

CJ I imagine that everyone brings their perspective and their own life story. In Working Group II, we will have some baggage from our experience in Colombia. But the IPCC report must have a global focus, so our analysis will need to strike the right balance.

I think the fact that there are more Colombians is not a surprise but a testament to the work done over many years by incredible people who influenced a generation that has grown up thinking about the importance of disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change. 

‘I am going to work with universities and other organizations to understand what is working and what is not’

Q How exactly does climate change affect vulnerability?
 
CJ On one hand, there are places that already have conflict where there are people affected by violence. In these contexts, the level of vulnerability is extreme. That is one of the angles. And it is not fair that they face what in Colombia we call “the double impact”.

There is another part, looking to the future, when we ask ourselves: in what ways could different climatic events influence or exacerbate fragilities, tensions, violence? That is a very delicate issue because there are different views. While some argue that the next wars will be due to climate change, what we see in the humanitarian sector is that the reasons for conflict are political, social, governmental.

In a place where there is already tension or a legacy of conflict, if you add anything that stresses the system, a flood or an earthquake, say, it is going to lead to instability.

Q You have played a key role in defining anticipatory action: why is this relevant?

CJ Anticipatory action is the evolution of early warning systems adapted to the humanitarian sector. We created the concept as a response to the gaps in early warning systems. We asked ourselves: what is needed?

There are key elements, such as financing. It’s possible to know that an El Niño is coming with potential impacts, but if there is no finance to implement actions, what is the use of the forecast? Historically, early warning systems have focused on evacuating people, and this is very important, but there are opportunities for further disaster risk reduction.

Q What are the most urgent humanitarian situations, taking into account the climate emergency.

CJ It is certainly very complex. Part of my job to highlight the importance of being able to invest in and implement actions in the most fragile contexts. There’s a large spectrum: if we talk about Gaza, right now nothing can be done; it’s outside any possibility of climate action, but that’s the most extreme of extremes.

In Sudan, for example, which is also in a very complicated situation, there are things that can be done. The priority is to ensure that the government’s meteorology and risk management departments are supported to continue working. From the perspective of climate change, it is essential to ensure that if there’s a risk of flooding or a heatwave, the forecasts are in place to implement the most basic early actions. Other cases are Myanmar as well as in Colombia itself, Somalia, Yemen, Cameroon.

At the IPCC, my priority will be to find evidence of what is happening in terms of adaptation in these countries. I am going to work with universities and organizations to understand what is working and what is not, focusing on those much more complex contexts.

‘Having a clear understanding of risks, or mapping areas that could be most affected by floods, droughts, heatwaves’

Q And speaking specifically of Colombia, how can these alerts and early actions be realized?

CJ There are several levels of actions. One thing is that, if a forecast is received, actions can be implemented promptly. But there are ways of acting early – for example, having a clear understanding of risks, or mapping areas that could be most affected by floods, droughts, heatwaves.

Are there displaced populations living there or not? Are there people with disabilities? Where are they? Are there areas at risk of flooding or other threats? From all this, it is possible to propose actions to be implemented.

Q You have almost two decades of experience in humanitarian action but you did your first degree in industrial engineering. How did that take you to where you are today and your work in the Red Cross?

CJ It’s a nice story. I am from Tunja but my family and I moved to Bogota. At school I was part of the earthquake simulation team; the Colombian Red Cross trained us and I was in the group that did first aid. Every Saturday, we visited displaced people in the mountains near the school where we did activities with the children.

I ended up studying industrial engineering at the Military University, indeed, but I knew I wanted to work in the humanitarian sector. The first emergency response I saw in Colombia was the 2005 floods in Uraba.

Then I won a scholarship that took me to Europe to do my master’s degree, involving field research in Nepal, and I went to Haiti after the earthquake. I was also in Uganda to help set up the first anticipatory action project in the world, and in the Philippines after a typhoon.

Finally, I went to work at the Climate Centre, where I have been for ten years now and where I am able to connect my research to policy and practice.

In Colombia’s southernmost republic of Leticia, the Colombian Red Cross Amazonas branch and the IFRC launched a dialogue with indigenous communities, involving government agencies and other South American National Societies. Embracing the Amazon’s territorial realities and humanitarian needs, the dialogue centres on regional leadership and locally driven adaption to climate change, reducing risks to “livelihoods, human health, and ecosystems in this unique and vital region”. (File photo:
CRC via IFRC)