Loss and Damage from Climate Change: Building Knowledge and Capacity in the Most Vulnerable Countries

Fig 1. A timeline of key events related to L&D in the UNFCCC system (Source: based on Boyd et al.,
2021; Mechler et al., 2019; Appadoo, 2021; Taub et al., 2016)
Defining the problem
1. Should L&D be based primarily on the principle of compensation, or should it rather be based on the principles of charity and solidarity?
2. Can there be a reasonable / acceptable basis of attribution and quantification of losses and damages for financing where relevant data is scarce?
3. How can non-economic losses and damages be categorised and assessed?
4. How would L&D narratives pave ways into existing national climate governance landscapes?
Formulating responses
1. What are the most feasible risk management options and modalities of financing within different country contexts?
2. How can solidarity-based L&D be agreed upon and advanced as global policy?
3. How can institutional architecture for climate adaptation and L&D be synergised and optimised?
4. How can an L&D system be integrated with and built upon disaster risk reduction architecture?
5. How can public-private-community partnerships be fostered for L&D?
6. How can L&D be culturally compatible when personal matters become the subject of public assessment and financing?
7. How can the voices of the most vulnerable groups in the most vulnerable countries be heard in the L&D process?
Barriers
1. Climate policies focusing on mitigation and adaptation
2. Inadequate research to track and report L&D
3. Limited technical capacity to contextualise L&D approaches, methodologies, and strategies
4. Uncertainty about uneven distribution of impacts across time and space
5. Limited financing
6. Weak and fragmented institutional arrangements to deal with L&D
7. Need to address development aspirations, resilience building and L&D in an integrated way
8. Fragmented approaches towards addressing L&D
Opportunities
1. Glasgow Dialogue
2. First Global Stocktake 2023
3. Integrating lessons from country level work such as in Bangladesh, Vanuatu and Nepal
4. Relevant lessons from disaster risk work, within each country and across the developing world
5. Functioning network for sharing knowledge on L&D
6. Emerging funding champions to support L&D
7. Ongoing debate/practices on climate risk pooling, risk insurance facilities and other relevant insurance options

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