DIIS Event

Losses and damages to social cohesion in vulnerable settings: Exploring new data and possible next steps

Name: Losses and damages to social cohesion in vulnerable settings: Exploring new data and possible next steps
Location: Losses and damages to social cohesion in vulnerable settings: Exploring new data and possible next steps

In vulnerable areas of the Global South, climate change is undermining the social relations that are central to functioning, flourishing societies. What is going on, and how can policy and programming respond? This webinar shares new knowledge from a cooperation between DIIS, the Danish Red Cross, and partners in Ghana and Niger

Illustration © ROY Philippe / Hemis / Alamy Stock Photo

Find the recording of the webinar here

Climate change is undermining livelihoods and economies in vulnerable areas of the Global South especially. Increasingly, it is also clear that climate impacts can undercut the social cohesion, or ‘togetherness’, that is central to many societies.

Our recent findings document that losses and damages to social cohesion are in some areas considerable, with major effects for material as well as social well-being. Findings also reveal surprising social cohesion outcomes, which run counter to prevailing wisdom.

This webinar presents these and other results from the study ‘Displacement, climate change and social cohesion: Exploring loss and damage dynamics.’ The study provides groundbreaking new data on the linkages between climate change, forced mobility and social cohesion in highly vulnerable areas of northern Ghana and western Niger. Its findings offer a major contribution to research, policy and programming engaging with social cohesion and loss and damage – a field in which data has been limited.

The webinar will also include policy and programming reflections. This includes how the study findings relate to current policy developments, particularly within Loss and Damage, and possible steps forward to address losses to social cohesion in practice.

The webinar will bring together researchers and practitioners from the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) in Denmark; SD Dombo University of Integrated Business and Development Studies in Upper West Region, Ghana; Danish Red Cross staff in Denmark and in Niger; and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

You can find key findings and detailed analysis in our DIIS Report ‘Loss, Damage and Social Cohesion: Impacts and Next Steps for Policy and Programming’. Our Policy Brief with the latest data from the study will be launched at the webinar.

Speakers

Lily Salloum Lindegaard, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies

Francis Jarawura, Senior Lecturer, SD Dombo University of Integrated Business and Development Studies

Laura Bonanomi, Resilience Programme Delegate, Danish Red Cross, Niger

Mary Friel, Senior Climate Officer, Policy and Diplomacy, IFRC

Olivier Mugwaneza, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Delegate, Danish Red Cross, Niger

Programme

14.30-14.40 Welcome and key findings
14.40-14.50 Social cohesion and loss and damage: Dynamics in Ghana
14.50-15.00 Social cohesion and loss and damage: Dynamics in Niger
15.00-15.10 Considerations from a Loss and Damage policy perspective
15.10-15.30 Q&A