7/3/25
The Santiago network for averting, minimising, and addressing loss and damage (Santiago network) was established in 2019 in Madrid under the leadership of the 25th conference of Parties (COP 25) Chilean Presidency. Over the course of the following UN climate change conferences – COP 26, COP 27, and COP 28 – its functions, financing arrangements, governance and institutional structure1 were agreed through complex and challenging negotiations.
The network is designed to catalyse demand-driven technical assistance for addressing loss and damage by assisting developing countries to identify their needs, determine the types of technical assistance required, and access technical assistance from the best suited organisations, bodies, networks and experts (OBNEs). The overarching goal is to support the implementation of loss and damage approaches at the local, national and regional level in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
In 2024, the Advisory Board was formally constituted and commenced its work. At the same time, the co-hosting arrangement for the secretariat became operational, with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) assuming responsibility for interim day-to-day operations of the secretariat until it was fully staffed. This marked the handover from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC/ the Convention) secretariat, which had been managing the network on an interim basis since it was established.
Notably, during this start-up phase the Republic of Vanuatu was the first and only country to make a formal request to the Santiago network, specifically to develop a national Loss and Damage Country Programme and a funding request to the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD/ the Fund). The original request was made in 2023 aligned with and articulated in the Loss and Damage section of Vanuatu’s revised and enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement. In March 2025 the request is still in the process of being fulfilled, although some optimistic progress is now being made. A case study on what happened with the request, what action was taken by the interim secretariat and what action has the permanent secretariat taken – would be informative for gathering lessons learned on how to improve the responsiveness of the network. Loss and damage implementation is needed already, so assistance needs to be delivered quickly.
Key milestones are detailed in L&DC briefs on the Santiago Network Project webpage, including:
With key operational milestones reached in 2024, the Santiago network has now entered a new phase of action where it has been fully operationalised. In 2025, the focus will shift from the technical and procedural work of establishing the network’s governance and institutional structure, meaning we now have an operational Advisory Board and Director to make decisions and a structure to deliver secretariat services and connect countries with OBNEs. The network will now shift to undertaking the practical work of building an accessible, responsive, and trusted institution. This can start with proactively working to begin the flow of requests for assistance and build a membership that can respond. The network must actively foster interest from and engagement with developing countries, ensuring that requests for technical assistance translate into concrete support on the ground – directly benefiting those on the frontlines of climate change.
The Santiago network should also play a catalytic role within the broader Loss and Damage ecosystem, raising awareness, promoting education, and driving targeted interventions. These efforts will help generate interest and requests, unlock further financial pledges, and build a diverse, inclusive, and locally grounded membership of OBNEs capable of delivering high-quality support. To date, approximately USD 40 million has been contributed to the network, with USD 14 million in outstanding pledges, including from the governments of Denmark and the United Kingdom.2
In this critical year, the Santiago network must also establish its distinct identity and comparative advantage within the evolving Loss and Damage architecture – both under and outside the Convention and Paris Agreement. This will be reflected concretely through strong partnerships with its member OBNEs, the Warsaw International Mechanism Executive Committee (WIM ExCom), the FRLD and others.
While the network is now fully operational and open for business, its long-term success will require continuous learning and evolution. Delivering on its mandate in ways that empower countries and communities – rather than burdening them with complexity – will require bold leadership from the new Director, Carolina Fuentes, and a willingness to embrace innovative, fit-for-purpose approaches that meet the mandate, functions and objectives of the network.
Above all, the network must avoid falling into the trap of business-as-usual approaches, where technical assistance becomes a commodified, box-ticking exercise. Technical assistance must both deliver and contribute to mapping real and adequate solutions, including a clear set of options for developing countries to address loss and damage. Technical assistance must also help countries access the finance, technology and expertise to ensure the means of implementation are available - moving from planning into needs-based action is an urgent priority of all developing countries.
Delivering on this ambitious vision will require continuous reflection and proactive steps. In 2025, the Santiago network can rise to the challenge of being a key pillar of an effective and ambitious Loss and Damage landscape. To achieve this, the Santiago network should focus on the following priority actions in 2025:
In 2025, the United Nations system faces immense pressure – from accelerating climate impacts, to deepening geopolitical tensions, to the disproportionate influence of transnational corporations over global and national policy processes. In this context, the Santiago network has both an opportunity and a responsibility to demonstrate leadership – providing rapid, high-quality support. All eyes will be on the new Director and her team to provide this leadership, demonstrating a willingness to take initiative, and a commitment to test new models when necessary – challenging outdated thinking and embracing bold, innovative approaches to technical assistance that is centred on equity, human rights, and justice. The network should demonstrate agility by adapting to the growing “new normals” and find a way to provide assistance to affected communities.
In 2024, UNOPS and UNDRR were presented as the secretariat of the Santiago network. The interim arrangement with the UNFCCC had concluded, however, while UNOPS and UNDRR took on the management of day-to-day operations, the fully independent secretariat arrangement was not yet operating. In 2025, the transition to a fully independent secretariat is to be completed. In this context, the Santiago network secretariat and Advisory Board must be mindful of the need for operational efficiency while ensuring stakeholder confidence and trust in how operations are carried out. This can be achieved by embedding robust accountability and transparency mechanisms across all processes – including the management of financial resources, decision-making processes, outreach to the regional offices and the selection of technical assistance providers as guided by the COP / Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA).
Importantly, the measures implemented by the secretariat and the network must prevent potential and address actual and perceived conflicts of interest, particularly in relation to the overconcentration of the provision and delivery of assistance through or by specific OBNEs, including UNOPS, UNDRR and their partners. The recently approved guidelines on conflict of interest is an important document to be studied by all relevant stakeholders. With approximately USD 40 million already contributed to the network, and substantive outstanding pledges, establishing clear oversight mechanisms will be essential. Transparent financial management and decision-making will help ensure that the actions and decisions taken by the Santiago network foster trust across the full spectrum of its stakeholders. Regular reviews and updates to mechanisms established to enhance transparency and accountability will be necessary to maintain their relevance and effectiveness.
The network must actively and directly engage national governments to assist them to make requests for technical assistance. This includes helping them to understand the process and their own technical assistance needs, nominate their national liaison(s), and match them with relevant and high-quality OBNEs within their regions and countries, recognising the significant capacity constraints of the least developed countries and small island developing States.
As the membership of OBNEs that can respond to requests grows, the secretariat must fulfil its obligation agreed in the guidelines for the designation of OBNEs to ensure adequate outreach to OBNEs, especially local organisations that may not have access to services to submit their expression of interest. In doing so, the secretariat can support diverse OBNEs joining the network, helping to build a network where assistance comes from within countries, enhancing responsiveness to local realities. For example, the Vanuatu request for south-south cooperation prompted national and even local OBNEs to seek and be granted SNLD membership, including indigenous community based organisations (Santo Sunset Environment Network) and private sector entities (Pacific Advisory).
The secretariat serves as the operational backbone of the Santiago network, coordinating efforts, and overseeing the implementation of strategies to provide timely and effective assistance. The Advisory Board and the secretariat have been in close coordination during Advisory Board meetings and intersessionally to ensure there is adequate staffing with diverse backgrounds to service the network, including positions across all UN geographical regions and sub-regions. While there is already substantial progress on this issue, there are decisions still to be made about the way that the regional and subregional offices will operate vis a vis the head office in Geneva, including ensuring that resources are as far as possible directed towards technical assistance and not absorbed by heavy operational costs. Once regional positions begin to be rolled out, there must be a clear set of responsibilities and commensurate support to enable effective and inclusive support to be available across the world.
The secretariat should not only continue to host regional workshops to engage countries in identifying their loss and damage needs, but also support national workshops to identify the needs and gaps. This can help generate more requests for technical assistance by providing countries with the tools to connect with the network. It can also provide an opportunity to bring countries together to build their understanding of the Santiago network and the opportunities for collaboration and shared learning alongside OBNEs in their countries and communities.
Aligning efforts and coordinating closely with UNFCCC / Paris Agreement entities, including the FRLD and the WIM Excom can help avoid duplication, enhance complementarity, and maximise impact across the Loss and Damage landscape. The High-level Dialogue (HLD) established as part of the work of the FRLD and its Board, provides an additional opportunity for the Santiago network, through its Advisory Board, to showcase its unique positioning and further strengthen the network’s breadth and depth.
One issue which may need close interrogation as we approach the fifth meeting of the FRLD Board (B5) is whether planning and technical assistance should form part of the first-phase of interventions of the Fund. Concerns have already been raised of the risk of unhelpful duplication of the Santiago network technical assistance mandate in the Fund, given that the Fund is intended for larger-scale interventions. Coordination between the two bodies is essential to understand the scale of needs of developing countries regarding country planning, including the preparation of programmatic approaches, pre-arranged financing, and technical assistance. These bodies must then assess whether these needs can be adequately serviced by the Santiago network alone, both in respect to how the respective bodies can deliver assistance (direct assistance versus support delivered through intermediaries) and how much finance will be available in the immediate future at least up to the end of 2026.
With an expected increase in requests for technical assistance from developing countries this year, the Santiago network must ensure timely, transparent responses. The Vanuatu request is advancing with several proposals being evaluated by the secretariat for preliminary screening, technical and financial evaluation, and selection of successful OBNE members. The Advisory Board will be updated on the progress with this evaluation. Beyond the request of Vanuatu, we understand a second request has been received by the secretariat which is in the process of being evaluated.
Special focus should be placed on delivering on Vanuatu’s request and sharing lessons learned, as a critical early demonstration of the network’s ability to deliver real results. Vanuatu’s request provides an important opportunity to demonstrate the linkages between the Santiago network and the FRLD, as an expected output of the technical assistance catalysed by the network will be “a formal request to the FRLD with the aim to finance a long-term loss and damage country programme which justifies the use of a direct budget support modality, and outlines the investment into a range of activities to address loss and damage”.
To ensure that technical assistance truly reaches local communities, the Advisory Board should consider carefully its mandate and the opportunity it provides to set a minimum benchmark for resources applied to technical assistance that have a demonstrable direct benefit to local communities within countries – not just national-level institutions. Deeper discussion and brainstorming will be needed on this issue in advance of the fourth Advisory Board meeting, which does not yet have a date and venue set.
To ensure that the Santiago network further delivers on its mandate and meets the needs of developing countries on the frontlines of climate change, the network must focus this year on turning the remaining pledges onto actual contributions and securing new and additional pledges throughout 2025 and beyond. The resource mobilisation strategy also needs to be further developed. During the third Advisory Board meeting, a draft annotated outline was presented to the Board by the interim secretariat. It will continue to be deliberated in 2025.
2025 presents an unmissable opportunity for the Santiago network to solidify its role as a trusted, responsive, and innovative partner for developing countries in addressing loss and damage associated with climate change. The Santiago network can focus on enhancing collaboration and coordination, expanding its membership of OBNEs, establishing a fully independent secretariat, and most importantly assisting vulnerable countries and communities to assess their needs, formulate technical assistance requests, and receive responses to their requests in a timely and evidence-based manner. In doing so, the Santiago network can become one of the pivotal organisations meeting the needs of developing countries facing the harsh realities of climate change impacts.
Continuous active engagement, effective communication and responsive support will be essential in fostering a robust framework that empowers local communities from developing countries and fosters submission of quality assistance requests. As the Santiago network evolves, its commitment to inclusivity, accountability, transparency and responsiveness will be crucial in demonstrating its effectiveness and credibility, ultimately driving effective actions and delivering real solutions for those most affected by climate change.
Heidi White is an Australian Lawyer and independent consultant. She co-hosts monthly , and additional calls and communications as required to consult with the team on key issues unfolding with the Santiago Network. In collaboration with the team, she develops briefs and background papers to support progress in the negotiations. She also is available on an ongoing basis to advise members of the latest developments and provide inputs into external work being developed.
Hyacinthe Niyitegeka co-leads the Santiago Network Project. She develops and contributes to policy briefs, background papers and blogs including on how the Santiago Network can be fit for purpose for African countries.
Funded by the Climate Emergency Collaboration Group, the Climate Ambition Support Alliance, Brot für die Welt, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, the Climate Justice Resilience Fund, Open Society Foundations
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