Partner Reflections from NELD Peer-Learning Exchanges
CJRF’s grantmaking on Non-Economic Loss and Damage (NELD) has taken an intentional accompaniment approach and is actively sharing what this has looked like in practice. One element of the accompaniment approach partners have truly appreciated has been a series of virtual peer-learning exchanges that use a ‘fireside chat’ model. CJRF organized four peer-learning exchanges between January and March 2026, and will be convening an additional four sessions between July and October 2026.
A collage made by CJRF with the art pieces that were created in the sessions
The four sessions held so far focused on:
An arts-based approach for deepening understanding of NELD
Disability, dignity, and exclusion as NELD
Erasure of culture and sacred spaces as NELD
Displacement, migration, and the meaning of home as NELD
These sessions stemmed from conversations with our partners, who were keen to engage with each other across geographies. Partners identified the topics that resonated with them, and graciously and bravely shared their personal and professional perspectives during these sessions.
Partner feedback highlighted that these exchanges created a trusted and safe space for partners to openly share lived experiences, challenges, and reflections, connecting stories from the Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal, the Maasai Mara in East Africa, and communities across the Pacific, while fostering deeper conversations about loss, dignity, culture, identity and resilience.
The Peer Learning Exchanges were accompanied by graphic illustrations by Rohan Chakravarty, whose artwork captured the lived experiences, reflections, and conversations shared by partners across the exchanges.
Session 1: An arts-based approach for deepening understanding of NELD
This session was held with our partners in the Bay of Bengal and facilitated by Natasha Sharma, an artist and filmmaker from Mumbai, India.
“Creative expression is often the first thing taken away in the name of efficiency or growth. And yet, it is also where voice returns – where people insist on what matters to them the most. A zine can carry a story that statistics cannot – it is memory made visible”.
The cartoons speak to the lived experiences of pollution destroying people’s health, civic inequality and injustice in urban areas, the jargon used in climate spaces, and the invisible erosions accelerated by climate change that funders are often reluctant to address.
Session 2: Disability, dignity, and exclusion as NELD
This peer learning exchange brought together partners from Kenya, India, and Kiribati to explore how climate change disproportionately affects persons with disabilities, deepening existing inequalities while challenging dignity, autonomy, and belonging. Partners reflected on why inclusion must be intentionally planned and resourced, from budgeting for accessibility to ensuring that evacuation routes, higher ground, and relocation sites are safe, dignified, and accessible for persons with disabilities.
“Inclusion is not cheap, and that says a lot about how persons with disabilities are viewed“.
These cartoons highlight how climate change impacts are an outcome of apathy and greed, and the outsized impacts climate change has on those who have contributed least to the problem. They also show how intersectional approaches and honoring cultural practices can strengthen resilience.
Session 3: Erasure of culture and sacred spaces as NELD
Partners from Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, and Kenya reflected on how climate change is reshaping cultural identity, sacred spaces, traditional knowledge, languages, and community practices. The exchange explored the profound non-economic losses that occur when culture, memory, and belonging are threatened, and why protecting cultural heritage is an essential part of climate justice.
“As forest areas disappear, the ritual spaces dedicated to Bonbibi are also being lost“.
This series of cartoons showcases the power of storytelling and cultural practices – including the use of shell money in the Pacific and people’s relationships with the tigers of the Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal. They also highlight the power of both individuals and community collaboration to address climate impacts.
Session 4: Displacement, migration, and the meaning of home as NELD
Through stories from Bangladesh, Fiji, and Uganda, partners explored how displacement reshapes people’s relationships with home, identity, memory, and belonging. The exchange also highlighted how displacement is deeply intertwined with colonial histories, extractivism, militarism, and wider questions of climate justice.
“Loss and damage caused by extractive industries or militarism should not be separated from that caused by climate change“.
The cartoons from this exchange cut to the heart of the injustice of the climate crisis and the practices that cause and compound it – including colonialism, extractive industries, and structural exclusion, marginalisation, and othering.
A Note on Shared Learning
The experiences and insights shared in these reports emerge from the specific contexts, lived realities, and knowledge of CJRF partners. The accompanying reflections and the cartoons are shared as part of CJRF’s commitment to documenting and returning learning generated through these exchanges to partners and wider audiences. We encourage readers to engage with and use these materials with care, recognising the importance of context and the potential for misinterpretation when content is shared or cited in isolation. If you wish to reference, adapt, or circulate any part of the reports or cartoons, and are unsure about its appropriate use, we kindly request that you reach out to CJRF focal points for guidance.
