Pushed past coping: IIED animation captures destruction of climate change loss and damage in Sierra Leone

A new animation from IIED – the second in a three-part series of animations on loss and damage caused by climate change in the least developed countries – shows the devastating loss and damage experienced by people of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Meteorologist and UN climate negotiator Gabriel Kpaka describes a time in his youth when the high temperatures and humidity were manageable, and the rains nourished the land. But Kpaka explains how loss and damage from climate change is escalating rapidly, and citizens of Freetown can no longer cope. 

In the two-minute clip, available in English and Sierra Leonean Krio, he urges national and international climate policymakers to recognise that loss and damage from climate change wrecks lives and livelihoods, and calls for urgent financial and technical support from governments across the world. 

17 March 2021

IIED