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Oxfam listened to women and men from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste who shared their stories on how the climate crisis caused loss and damage to their lands and impacted their lives.
The stories demonstrate that land ownership is a key factor in determining people’s eligibility to receive assistance to overcome loss and damage. Those who can prove land ownership receive compensation, alternative land or relocation benefits, while it proves challenging to access these benefits for those who do not own land and hold proof of their rightful ownership and tenure. Similarly, land ownership gives access to membership of farmer societies through which government extension services relating to climate adaptation and mitigation as well as climate finance are channelled. These stories show the importance of secure land tenure to avoid, minimize and address loss and damage, particularly for the most vulnerable, and to increase their climate resilience.