Santiago Network

The Santiago Network for Loss and Damage was established at COP25 in Madrid in 2019 (under a decision named after the originally planned host city, Santiago, Chile) as part of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM). Its core function is to catalyze technical assistance — connecting vulnerable developing countries with the organizations, networks, and experts that can help them respond to both extreme weather events and slow-onset climate impacts such as sea-level rise, desertification, and ocean acidification.

For its first years the Network existed largely on paper while Parties negotiated its structure. At COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh (2022), Parties agreed on the institutional arrangements, including a Secretariat and an Advisory Board with balanced representation between developed and developing countries. At COP28 in Dubai (2023), the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) were selected to jointly host the Secretariat.

Key features delegates should know:

• It is a matchmaking and capacity-building body, not a financing instrument. Money for loss and damage flows primarily through the separate Loss and Damage Fund agreed at COP27 and operationalized at COP28.
• It works through a roster of Organizations, Bodies, Networks and Experts (OBNEs) that provide assistance on request.
• It is governed jointly by the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA).
• Eligible recipients are developing country Parties, with particular attention to those particularly vulnerable to climate change — small island developing States (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs).

In Model UN and policy debates, the Santiago Network is frequently invoked alongside the Loss and Damage Fund as the two operational pillars of the post-Paris loss and damage architecture: one delivers expertise, the other delivers finance.