Framing the Loss and Damage Debate: A Thought Starter by the Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries Initiative

Abstract

Loss and damage refers to the negative effects of climate variability and climate change that people have not been able to cope with or adapt to. Loss and damage is already a significant -and in some places growing -consequence of an inadequate ability to adapt to changes in climate patterns across the world. Potential future loss and damage depends on emissions, vulnerability, and exposure variables of the impacted human (or natural) system. Today, loss and damage arising from climate change impacts is mostly a local problem, with changes in extreme weather events and slow-onset impacts. Future loss and damage is potentially of inconceivable magnitudeespecially considering non-economic values and the interconnectivity leading to cascading, transnational effects. Addressing loss and damage is important because it will affect how society manages the negative impacts of climate change while pursuing other goals, such as resilient and low-emission development. The potential impacts of unmitigated anthropogenic climate change have significant implications for the current social organisation. Future loss and damage can be limited through the mitigation and adaptation choices that are made today. Mitigation ambitions will largely influence the degree to which loss and damage is averted, particularly from around 2030 * This article has been prepared in the context of the Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries Initiative, which is part of the Climate Development Knowledge Network. Responsibility for the content lies solely with the authors. The text is an output from a project funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in the text are not necessarily those of or endorsed by DFID or the members of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, which can accept no responsibility or liability for such views, completeness or accuracy of the information, or for any reliance placed on them.

Assessing Loss and Damage of Low Exposed Sudden Onset Disasters: Evidence from the Marginal Salt Cultivators of KutubdiaIsland, Bangladesh

“…But at the local level, 'L&D' has been specified as the impacts of climate change that households and communities cannot adapt within their existing capacity (Warner et al, 2012;. Correspondingly, this argument has reinforced calls for increased mitigation ambition and incremental financing for adaptation (Huq et al, 2013;Kreft et al, 2013;Roberts and Huq, 2013;Roberts and Pelling, 2018). L&D also presents a range of ethical and global political issues as it narrates the questions of liability and compensation for climate change-induced losses and damages (James et al, 2019).…”

Compensating for Climate Change Loss and Damage

“…The UNFCCC defines ‘climate losses’ as ‘negative impacts in relation to which reparation or restoration is impossible ’, whereas climate damages are ‘negative impacts in relation to which reparation or restoration is possible ’ (UNFCCC, 2012: 3 – emphasis added). Some have interpreted this as a distinction between a ‘loss’ (which is permanent) and a ‘damage’ (which is in theory reversible) (see Kreft et al, 2012). This is a significant distinction for normative purposes.…”

Climate change-related loss and damage: translating the global policy agenda for national policy processes

“…At the global level, loss and damage is often conceptualised as the impacts of climate change that are not avoided through mitigation and adaptation efforts Verheyen, 2012). This argument has underpinned calls for greater mitigation ambition, increased funding for adaptation as well as the establishment of Loss and Damage as a third pillar under the UNFCCC (Huq, Roberts, & Fenton, 2013;Kreft, Warner, Harmeling, & Roberts, 2013;. At the local level, loss and damage has been defined as the impacts of climate change that households and communities are not able to adapt to Warner et al ( , 2013a.…”