While governments negotiate, communities are already leading the real solutions. Through the Community-Led Research on Loss and Damage initiative, communities in Mongolia, Mexico, Colombia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe have documented the lived realities of climate impacts—and the care, knowledge, and resistance emerging from the frontlines.
From herders in Mongolia facing worsening droughts and dzuds, to river communities in Sonora-Bacanuchi (Mexico) rebuilding after mining disasters, and defenders in Colombia protecting rivers and territories—each project shows that climate justice starts from below. In Lake Bogoria (Kenya), the Endorois Indigenous Women Empowerment Network (EIWEN) is exposing how climate change threatens ecosystems and Indigenous land rights, while in Zimbabwe, the Chimanimani Land and Environmental Defenders are documenting the lingering impacts of Cyclone Idai, from the trauma of loss and displacement to land grabs and environmental degradation driven by mining.
Together, these community-led efforts are reframing loss and damage from a policy debate into a lived reality—and building people’s evidence for justice, reparations, and recovery rooted in their own knowledge and leadership. | 
