Climate Loss & Damage as Direct Cash Transfers: Evidence From Malawi
Climate loss and damage cost developing countries $400 billion a year and could rise to $1 trillion a year by 2050. In March 2023, Cyclone Freddy dropped six months’ worth of rainfall in six days in Malawi’s densely populated southern region, triggering floods and mudslides that displaced 659,000 people, destroyed 440,000 acres of farmland, and led to the loss of 1.4 million livestock.
Title
Climate Loss & Damage as Direct Cash Transfers: Evidence From Malawi
Author(s)
GiveDireclty
Published
September 2024
Website
This low-lying area, prone to flooding, is frequently affected by extreme weather, prompting the Government of Malawi to declare some land uninhabitable and relocate over 23,500 families to safer locations.
In support of this government initiative, GiveDirectly and Scotland’s Climate Justice Fund provided $750 as direct unconditional cash transfers through mobile money to over 2,600 families from the 50 villages hardest hit in Malawi’s Nsanje District. These families, living in temporary displacement camps, could use the cash to relocate and rebuild their lives and livelihoods. The project aims to demonstrate how direct cash works as a solution for loss and damage and promote climate justice on a global scale.
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