Loss and Damage from Climate Change

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

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2. Setting the Stage: Key Concepts, Challenges and Insights

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 1. Science for Loss and Damage. Findings and Propositions

      • Open Access

      Reinhard Mechler, Elisa Calliari, Laurens M. Bouwer, Thomas Schinko, Swenja Surminski, JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer, Jeroen Aerts, Wouter Botzen, Emily Boyd, Natalie Delia Deckard, Jan S. Fuglestvedt, Mikel González-Eguino, Marjolijn Haasnoot, John Handmer, Masroora Haque, Alison Heslin, Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, Christian Huggel, Saleemul Huq, Rachel James, Richard G. Jones, Sirkku Juhola, Adriana Keating, Stefan Kienberger, Sönke Kreft, Onno Kuik, Mia Landauer, Finn Laurien, Judy Lawrence, Ana Lopez, Wei Liu, Piotr Magnuszewski, Anil Markandya, Benoit Mayer, Ian McCallum, Colin McQuistan, Lukas Meyer, Kian Mintz-Woo, Arianna Montero-Colbert, Jaroslav Mysiak, Johanna Nalau, Ilan Noy, Robert Oakes, Friederike E. L. Otto, Mousumi Pervin, Erin Roberts, Laura Schäfer, Paolo Scussolini, Olivia Serdeczny, Alex de Sherbinin, Florentina Simlinger, Asha Sitati, Saibeen Sultana, Hannah R. Young, Kees van der Geest, Marc van den Homberg, Ivo Wallimann-Helmer, Koko Warner, Zinta Zommers

      Abstract

      The debate on “Loss and Damage” (L&D) has gained traction over the last few years. Supported by growing scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change amplifying frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related hazards as well as observed increases in climate-related impacts and risks in many regions, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage” was established in 2013 and further supported through the Paris Agreement in 2015. Despite advances, the debate currently is broad, diffuse and somewhat confusing, while concepts, methods and tools, as well as directions for policy remain vague and often contested. This book, a joint effort of the Loss and Damage Network—a partnership effort by scientists and practitioners from around the globe—provides evidence-based insight into the L&D discourse by highlighting state-of-the-art research conducted across multiple disciplines, by showcasing applications in practice and by providing insight into policy contexts and salient policy options. This introductory chapter summarises key findings of the twenty-two book chapters in terms of five propositions. These propositions, each building on relevant findings linked to forward-looking suggestions for research, policy and practice, reflect the architecture of the book, whose sections proceed from setting the stage to critical issues, followed by a section on methods and tools, to chapters that provide geographic perspectives, and finally to a section that identifies potential policy options. The propositions comprise (1) Risk management can be an effective entry point for aligning perspectives and debates, if framed comprehensively, coupled with climate justice considerations and linked to established risk management and adaptation practice; (2) Attribution science is advancing rapidly and fundamental to informing actions to minimise, avert, and address losses and damages; (3) Climate change research, in addition to identifying physical/hard limits to adaptation, needs to more systematically examine soft limits to adaptation, for which we find some evidence across several geographies globally; (4) Climate risk insurance mechanisms can serve the prevention and cure aspects emphasised in the L&D debate but solidarity and accountability aspects need further attention, for which we find tentative indication in applications around the world; (5) Policy deliberations may need to overcome the perception that L&D constitutes a win-lose negotiation “game” by developing a more inclusive narrative that highlights collective ambition for tackling risks, mutual benefits and the role of transformation.

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   3. Chapter 2. The Ethical Challenges in the Context of Climate Loss and Damage

      • Open Access

      Ivo Wallimann-Helmer, Lukas Meyer, Kian Mintz-Woo, Thomas Schinko, Olivia Serdeczny

      Abstract

      This chapter lays out what we take to be the main types of justice and ethical challenges concerning those adverse effects of climate change leading to climate-related Loss and Damage (L&D). We argue that it is essential to clearly differentiate between the challenges concerning mitigation and adaptation and those ethical issues exclusively relevant for L&D in order to address the ethical aspects pertaining to L&D in international climate policy. First, we show that depending on how mitigation and adaptation are distinguished from L&D, the primary focus of policy measures and their ethical implications will vary. Second, we distinguish between a distributive justice framework and a compensatory justice scheme for delivering L&D measures. Third, in order to understand the differentiated remedial responsibilities concerning L&D, we categorise the measures and policy approaches available. Fourth, depending on the kind of L&D and which remedies are possible, we explain the difference between remedial and outcome responsibilities of different actors.

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   4. Chapter 3. Observed and Projected Impacts from Extreme Weather Events: Implications for Loss and Damage

      • Open Access

      Laurens M. Bouwer

      Abstract

      This chapter presents current knowledge of observed and projected impacts from extreme weather events, based on recorded events and their losses, as well as studies that project future impacts from anthropogenic climate change. The attribution of past changes in such impacts focuses on the three key drivers: changes in extreme weather hazards that can be due to natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change, changes in exposure and vulnerability, and risk reduction efforts. The chapter builds on previous assessments of attribution of extreme weather events, to drivers of changes in weather hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Most records of losses from extreme weather consist of information on monetary losses, while several other types of impacts are underrepresented, complicating the assessment of losses and damages. Studies into drivers of losses from extreme weather show that increasing exposure is the most important driver through increasing population and capital assets. Residual losses (after risk reduction and adaptation) from extreme weather have not yet been attributed to anthropogenic climate change. For the Loss and Damage debate, this implies that overall it will remain difficult to attribute this type of losses to greenhouse gas emissions. For the future, anthropogenic climate change is projected to become more important for driving future weather losses upward. However, drivers of exposure and especially changes in vulnerability will interplay. Exposure will continue to lead to risk increases. Vulnerability on the other hand may be further reduced through disaster risk reduction and adaptation. This would reduce additional losses and damages from extreme weather. Yet, at the country scale and particularly in developing countries, there is ample evidence of increasing risk, which calls for significant improvement in climate risk management efforts.

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   5. Chapter 4. The Risk and Policy Space for Loss and Damage: Integrating Notions of Distributive and Compensatory Justice with Comprehensive Climate Risk Management

      • Open Access

      Thomas Schinko, Reinhard Mechler, Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler

      Abstract

      The Warsaw Loss and Damage Mechanism holds high appeal for complementing actions on climate change adaptation and mitigation, and for delivering needed support for tackling intolerable climate related-risks that will neither be addressed by mitigation nor by adaptation. Yet, negotiations under the UNFCCC are caught between demands for climate justice, understood as compensation, for increases in extreme and slow-onset event risk, and the reluctance of other parties to consider Loss and Damage outside of an adaptation framework. Working towards a jointly acceptable position we suggest an actionable way forward for the deliberations may be based on aligning comprehensive climate risk analytics with distributive and compensatory justice considerations. Our proposed framework involves in a short-medium term, needs-based perspective support for climate risk management beyond countries ability to absorb risk. In a medium-longer term, liability-based perspective we particularly suggest to consider liabilities attributable to anthropogenic climate change and associated impacts. We develop the framework based on principles of need and liability, and identify the policy space for Loss and Damage as composed of curative and transformative measures. Transformative measures, such as managed retreat, have already received attention in discussions on comprehensive climate risk management. Curative action is less clearly defined, and more contested. Among others, support for a climate displacement facility could qualify here. For both sets of measures, risk financing (such as ‘climate insurance’) emerges as an entry point for further policy action, as it holds potential for both risk management as well as compensation functions. To quantify the Loss and Damage space for specific countries, we suggest as one option to build on a risk layering approach that segments risk and risk interventions according to risk tolerance. An application to fiscal risks in Bangladesh and at the global scale provides an estimate of countries’ financial support needs for dealing with intolerable layers of flood risk. With many aspects of Loss and Damage being of immaterial nature, we finally suggest that our broad risk and justice approach in principle can also see application to issues such as migration and preservation of cultural heritage.

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3. Critical Issues Shaping the Discourse

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 5. Attribution: How Is It Relevant for Loss and Damage Policy and Practice?

      • Open Access

      Rachel A. James, Richard G. Jones, Emily Boyd, Hannah R. Young, Friederike E. L. Otto, Christian Huggel, Jan S. Fuglestvedt

      Abstract

      Attribution has become a recurring issue in discussions about Loss and Damage (L&D). In this highly-politicised context, attribution is often associated with responsibility and blame; and linked to debates about liability and compensation. The aim of attribution science, however, is not to establish responsibility, but to further scientific understanding of causal links between elements of the Earth System and society. This research into causality could inform the management of climate-related risks through improved understanding of drivers of relevant hazards, or, more widely, vulnerability and exposure; with potential benefits regardless of political positions on L&D. Experience shows that it is nevertheless difficult to have open discussions about the science in the policy sphere. This is not only a missed opportunity, but also problematic in that it could inhibit understanding of scientific results and uncertainties, potentially leading to policy planning which does not have sufficient scientific evidence to support it. In this chapter, we first explore this dilemma for science-policy dialogue, summarising several years of research into stakeholder perspectives of attribution in the context of L&D. We then aim to provide clarity about the scientific research available, through an overview of research which might contribute evidence about the causal connections between anthropogenic climate change and losses and damages, including climate science, but also other fields which examine other drivers of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Finally, we explore potential applications of attribution research, suggesting that an integrated and nuanced approach has potential to inform planning to avert, minimise and address losses and damages. The key messages are

      • In the political context of climate negotiations, questions about whether losses and damages can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change are often linked to issues of responsibility, blame, and liability.
      • Attribution science does not aim to establish responsibility or blame, but rather to investigate drivers of change.
      • Attribution science is advancing rapidly, and has potential to increase understanding of how climate variability and change is influencing slow onset and extreme weather events, and how this interacts with other drivers of risk, including socio-economic drivers, to influence losses and damages.
      • Over time, some uncertainties in the science will be reduced, as the anthropogenic climate change signal becomes stronger, and understanding of climate variability and change develops.
      • However, some uncertainties will not be eliminated. Uncertainty is common in science, and does not prevent useful applications in policy, but might determine which applications are appropriate. It is important to highlight that in attribution studies, the strength of evidence varies substantially between different kinds of slow onset and extreme weather events, and between regions. Policy-makers should not expect the later emergence of conclusive evidence about the influence of climate variability and change on specific incidences of losses and damages; and, in particular, should not expect the strength of evidence to be equal between events, and between countries.
      • Rather than waiting for further confidence in attribution studies, there is potential to start working now to integrate science into policy and practice, to help understand and tackle drivers of losses and damages, informing prevention, recovery, rehabilitation, and transformation.

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   3. Chapter 6. The Politics of (and Behind) the UNFCCC’s Loss and Damage Mechanism

      • Open Access

      Elisa Calliari, Swenja Surminski, Jaroslav Mysiak

      Abstract

      Despite being one of the most controversial issues to be recently treated within climate negotiations, Loss and Damage (L&D) has attracted little attention among scholars of International Relations (IR). In this chapter we take the “structuralist paradox” in L&D negotiations as our starting point, considering how IR theories can help to explain the somewhat surprising capacity of weak parties to achieve results while negotiating with stronger parties. We adopt a multi-faceted notion of power, drawing from the neorealist, liberal and constructivist schools of thought, in order to explain how L&D milestones were reached. Our analysis shows that the IR discipline can greatly contribute to the debate, not only by enhancing understanding of the negotiation process and related outcomes but also by offering insights on how the issue could be fruitfully moved forward. In particular, we note the key importance that discursive power had in the attainment of L&D milestones: Framing L&D in ethical and legal terms appealed to standards relevant beyond the UNFCCC context, including basic moral norms linked to island states’ narratives of survival and the reference to international customary law. These broader standards are in principle recognised by both contending parties and this broader framing of L&D has helped to prove the need for action on L&D. However, we find that a change of narrative may be needed to avoid turning the issue into a win-lose negotiation game. Instead, a stronger emphasis on mutual gains through adaptation and action on L&D for both developed and developing countries is needed as well as clarity on the limits of these strategies. Examples of such mutual gains are more resilient global supply chains, reduction of climate-induced migration and enhanced security. As a result, acting on L&D would not feel as a unilateral concession developed countries make to vulnerable ones: it would rather be about elaborating patterns of collective action on an issue of common concern.

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   4. Chapter 7. Legal Responses to Climate Change Induced Loss and Damage

      • Open Access

      Florentina Simlinger, Benoit Mayer

      Abstract

      Legal issues are central to ongoing debates on Loss and Damage associated with climate change impacts and risks (L&D). These debates shed light, in particular, on the remedial obligations of actors most responsible for causing climate change towards those most affected by its adverse impacts. The aim of this chapter is to take stock of the legal literature on the topic, to identify potential legal approaches to L&D, identify challenges and to explore possible directions for further research. It looks at the feasibility of private and administrative climate change litigation while providing examples from around the world. Subsequently, we explore how human rights issues have been applied in international law to address L&D. The discussion particularly addresses the question whether the no-harm rule can be applied to climate change and would in fact trigger legal responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, we examine relevant legal actions with relevance for L&D taken under the UNFCCC and the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage. The chapter concludes with a synopsis of the various legal responses to L&D highlighting their premises, specific challenges and proposed remedies.

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   5. Chapter 8. Non-economic Loss and Damage and the Warsaw International Mechanism

      • Open Access

      Olivia Serdeczny

      Abstract

      Non-economic Loss and Damage (NELD) forms a distinct theme in the documents outlining both the initial 2-year workplan that concluded in 2017 and the future work areas as outlined in the next 5-year rolling workplan of the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (WIM Excom). NELD refers to the climate-related losses of items both material and non-material that are not commonly traded in the market, but whose loss is still experienced as such by those affected. Examples of NELD include loss of cultural identity, sacred places, human health and lives. Within the context of the WIM the goal is to raise awareness of the kinds of NELD that occur and, for an expert group, to “develop inputs and recommendations to enhance data on and knowledge of reducing the risk of and addressing non-economic losses” (UNFCCC Secretariat 2014). Initial analysis shows that the two main characteristics of non-economic values are their context-dependence and their incommensurability. These attributes need to be preserved and respected when integrating measures to (i) avoid the risk and (ii) address NELD by a central mechanism under the UNFCCC. While (i) will rely on integrating NELD into existing comprehensive risk management approaches, (ii) requires thorough understanding of lost values and the functions they fulfilled for those affected.

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   6. Chapter 9. The Impacts of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services and Resulting Losses and Damages to People and Society

      • Open Access

      Kees van der Geest, Alex de Sherbinin, Stefan Kienberger, Zinta Zommers, Asha Sitati, Erin Roberts, Rachel James

      Abstract

      So far, studies of Loss and Damage from climate change have focused primarily on human systems and tended to overlook the mediating role of ecosystems and the services ecosystems provide to society. This is a significant knowledge gap because losses and damages to human systems often result from permanent or temporary disturbances to ecosystems services caused by climatic stressors. This chapter tries to advance understanding of the impacts of climatic stressors on ecosystems and implications for losses and damages to people and society. It introduces a conceptual framework for studying these complex relations and applies this framework to a case study of multi-annual drought in the West-African Sahel. The case study shows that causal links between climate change and a specific event, with subsequent losses and damages, are often complicated. Oversimplification must be avoided and the role of various factors, such as governance or management of natural resources, should be at the centre of future research.

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   7. Chapter 10. Displacement and Resettlement: Understanding the Role of Climate Change in Contemporary Migration

      • Open Access

      Alison Heslin, Natalie Delia Deckard, Robert Oakes, Arianna Montero-Colbert

      Abstract

      How do we understand displacement and resettlement in the context of climate change? This chapter outlines challenges and debates in the literature connecting climate change to the growing global flow of people. We begin with an outline of the literature on environmental migration, specifically the definitions, measurements, and forms of environmental migration. The discussion then moves to challenges in the reception of migrants, treating the current scholarship on migrant resettlement. We detail a selection of cases in which the environment plays a role in the displacement of a population, including sea level rise in Pacific Island States, cyclonic storms in Bangladesh, and desertification in West Africa, as well as the role of deforestation in South America’s Southern Cone as a driver of both climate change and migration. We outline examples of each, highlighting the complex set of losses and damages incurred by populations in each case.

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4. Research and Practice: Reviewing Methods and Tools

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 11. The Role of the Physical Sciences in Loss and Damage Decision-Making

      • Open Access

      Ana Lopez, Swenja Surminski, Olivia Serdeczny

      Abstract

      This chapter reviews the implications of Loss and Damage (L&D) for decision-making with a special focus on the role of the physical sciences for decision support. From the point of view of climate science, the question regarding the estimation of losses and damages associated with climate change can be thought of in terms of two temporal scales: the present and the future. In both cases the aim is to establish the links between human-induced changes in climate and climate variability, the probability of occurrence of extreme meteorological events (e.g., rainfall), and the resulting hazard that causes losses and damages (e.g., flood). We review the approaches used to assess the hazard component of risk, with a special emphasis on identifying sources of uncertainty and the potential for providing robust information to support decision-making. We then discuss tools and approaches that have been developed in the context of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) to deal with uncertainty from climate science in order to avoid a ‘wait and see’ mentality for decision-making. We argue that these can be applied to some parts of L&D decision-making, in the same way as suggested for CCA, since the challenges presented by the need to reduce and manage climate change losses and damages are not very different from the ones presented by the need to adapt to climate change and variability. However additional challenges for decision-makers, particularly in the context of the underlying science, are posed by the compensation and burden-sharing components of L&D for climate impacts that are beyond mitigation and adaptation’s reach.

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   3. Chapter 12. Integrated Disaster Risk Management and Adaptation

      • Open Access

      W. J. Wouter Botzen, Laurens M. Bouwer, Paolo Scussolini, Onno Kuik, Marjolijn Haasnoot, Judy Lawrence, Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts

      Abstract

      This chapter discusses integrated approaches to the management of risks related to extreme weather and climate change. This is done with the Loss and Damage (L&D) mechanism of the UNFCCC in mind. Relevant insights are provided for climate policy negotiators and policymakers on how risk management and adaptation interact with L&D solutions, and vice versa, on how L&D-related activities can support risk reduction and adaptation in vulnerable countries. Particular attention is devoted to how risk management can help society confront the impacts of weather disasters in relation to anthropogenic climate change. A holistic view of risk management is presented by discussing: the state-of-the art of risk assessment methods; (cost-benefit) evaluations of risk management options; household-scale risk reduction strategies; insurance schemes for residual risk and their relations with risk reduction; and the design of adaptation pathways to cope with uncertain timing and intensity of climate change impacts. Each topic is illustrated with concrete case studies. Finally, conclusions are drawn on the links between disaster risk management, climate adaptation and the L&D mechanism.

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   4. Chapter 13. Exploring and Managing Adaptation Frontiers with Climate Risk Insurance

      • Open Access

      Laura Schäfer, Koko Warner, Sönke Kreft

      Abstract

      This chapter aims to inform the Loss & Damage debate by analysing the degree to which insurance can be used as a tool to explore and manage adaptation frontiers. It establishes that insurance can be used as a navigational tool around adaptation frontiers in three ways: First, by facilitating the exploration of adaptation frontiers by contributing to a framework for signalling the magnitude, location, and exposure to climate-related risks and providing signals when adaptation limits are approached. Second, by supporting actors in moving away from adaptation limits by improving ex-ante decision making, incentivising risk reduction and creating a space of certainty for climate resilient development. Third, by aiding actors in remaining in the tolerable risk space by facilitating financial buffering as part of contingency approaches. However, we also find that insurance against the risks of climate change in market terms possesses several limitations. We therefore suggest the embedding of insurance in a comprehensive climate risk management approach accompanied by other risk reduction and management strategies as key principle for any international cooperation approach to respond to climate change impacts.

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   5. Chapter 14. Integrated Assessment for Identifying Climate Finance Needs for Loss and Damage: A Critical Review

      • Open Access

      Anil Markandya, Mikel González-Eguino

      Abstract

      This chapter looks at what we can learn about possible Loss and Damage (L&D) and finance needed to address it using economic Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs), which calculate economically optimal responses to climate change mitigation and adaptation in terms of maximising welfare (GDP) a few decades into the future. Interpreting modelled residual damages as unavoided L&D, a few results emerge from the analysis. First, residual damages turn out to be significant under a variety of IAMs, and for a range of climate scenarios. This means that if adaptation is undertaken optimally, there will remain a large amount of damages that are not eliminated. Second the ratio of adaptation to total damages varies by region, so residual damages also vary for that reason. Third, residual damages will depend on the climate scenario as well as the discount rate and the assumed parameters of the climate model (equilibrium climate sensitivity) as well as those of the socioeconomic model (damage functions). These uncertainties are very large and so will be any projections of residual damages in the medium to long term. The chapter raises other aspects that could influence estimates of L&D. An important one is that, since actual adaptation is very unlikely to be optimal, the amount of Loss and Damage may be influenced by the sources from which adaptation and Loss and Damage programs are financed. The level and structure of current limited financial resources is likely to result in adaptation that is significantly below the optimal level and thus result in significant L&D.

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5. Geographic Perspectives and Cases

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 15. Understanding Loss and Damage in Pacific Small Island Developing States

      • Open Access

      John Handmer, Johanna Nalau

      Abstract

      Pacific Island states occupy the top categories in the World Risk Index for natural hazards, with Vanuatu consistently at the Number One spot. For some low-lying island states climate change poses an existential threat, and the region is increasingly recognized as the most immediately vulnerable area to potential mass migration and relocation due to climate change. This chapter aims to localise the global debate by focusing on the issue of Loss and Damage in Pacific SIDS. It also provides a commentary regarding the risk and options space in the Pacific SIDS context where many of the livelihood activities are subsistence-based, reliant on the current climate and its variability, and already seriously disrupted by extreme weather events.

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   3. Chapter 16. Climate Migration and Cultural Preservation: The Case of the Marshallese Diaspora

      • Open Access

      Alison Heslin

      Abstract

      Potential land loss in Pacific island countries from rising sea levels raises many concerns regarding how nation states will continue to function politically and economically in the event of climate-induced relocation of their populations. This piece expands that conversation, addressing the impacts of relocation on cultural heritage, drawing on data from interviews with migrants from the Marshall Islands to the United States. The study seeks to understand the challenges and opportunities of cultural preservation among the Marshallese diaspora. Marshallese accounts of life in the United States indicate many opportunities for cultural preservation, particularly for those living in communities with large Marshallese populations, while also presenting challenges based on social, economic, and geographic differences between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands. Understanding the means through which Marshallese migrants maintain cultural traditions and the challenges current migrants face, can help us address potentially irreversible, but avoidable losses of cultural traditions in the event of mass displacement.

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   4. Chapter 17. Supporting Climate Risk Management at Scale. Insights from the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance Partnership Model Applied in Peru & Nepal

      • Open Access

      Reinhard Mechler, Colin McQuistan, Ian McCallum, Wei Liu, Adriana Keating, Piotr Magnuszewski, Thomas Schinko, Finn Laurien, Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler

      Abstract

      There has been increasing interest in the potential of effective science-society partnership models for identifying and implementing options that manage critical disaster risks “on the ground.” This particularly holds true for debate around Loss and Damage. Few documented precedents and little documented experience exists, however, for such models of engagement. How to organise such partnerships? What are learnings from existing activities and how can these be upscaled? We report on one such partnership, the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, a multi-actor partnership launched in 2013 to enhance communities’ resilience to flooding at local to global scales. The program brings together the skills and expertise of NGOs, the private sector and research institutions in order to induce transformational change for managing flood risks. Working in a number of countries facing different challenges and opportunities the program uses a participatory and iterative approach to develop sustainable portfolios of interventions that tackle both flood risk and development objectives in synergy. We focus our examination on two cases of Alliance engagement, where livelihoods are particularly being eroded by flood risk, including actual and potential contributions by climate change: (i) in the Karnali river basin in West Nepal, communities are facing rapid on-set flash floods during the monsoon season; (ii) in the Rimac basin in Central Peru communities are exposed to riverine flooding amplified by El Niño episodes. We show how different tools and methods can be co-generated and used at different learning stages and across temporal and agency scales by researchers and practitioners. Seamless integration is neither possible, nor desirable, and in many instances, an adaptive management approach through, what we call, a Shared Resilience Learning Dialogue, can provide the boundary process that connects the different analytical elements developed and particularly links those up with community-led processes. Our critical examination of the experience from the Alliance leads into suggestions for identifying novel funding and support models involving NGOs, researchers and the private sector working side by side with public sector institutions to deliver community level support for managing risks that may go “beyond adaptation.”

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   5. Chapter 18. Loss and Damage in the Rapidly Changing Arctic

      • Open Access

      Mia Landauer, Sirkku Juhola

      Abstract

      Arctic climate change is happening much faster than the global average. Arctic change also has global consequences, in addition to local ones. Scientific evidence shows that meltwater of Arctic sources contributes to sea-level rise significantly while accounting for 35% of current global sea-level rise. Arctic communities have to find ways to deal with rapidly changing environmental conditions that are leading to social impacts such as outmigration, similarly to the global South. International debates on Loss and Damage have not addressed the Arctic so far. We review literature to show what impacts of climate change are already visible in the Arctic, and present local cases in order to provide empirical evidence of losses and damages in the Arctic region. This evidence is particularly well presented in the context of outmigration and relocation of which we highlight examples. The review reveals a need for new governance mechanisms and institutional frameworks to tackle Loss and Damage. Finally, we discuss what implications Arctic losses and damages have for the international debate.

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6. Policy Options and Other Response Mechanisms for the L&D Discourse

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Chapter 19. Towards Establishing a National Mechanism to Address Losses and Damages: A Case Study from Bangladesh

      • Open Access

      Masroora Haque, Mousumi Pervin, Saibeen Sultana, Saleemul Huq

      Abstract

      This chapter presents a case study of setting up a national mechanism to address losses and damages in Bangladesh—a highly climate vulnerable country facing significant losses and damages, putting its domestic resources and expertise together to respond in a way that looks ahead and beyond the conventional responses to climate change. The efforts underway to establish the national mechanism build upon existing institutions and frameworks and are an example of collaboration across ministries, and a break-away from working in silos. The proposed mechanism is an attempt to embed climate change perspectives into disaster policymaking, to address the gaps in the current policy framework and to design a comprehensive system to for a stronger response to losses and damages from climate impacts. A national mechanism to address losses and damages not only responds to the needs within the country, it also reaffirms Bangladesh’s commitment to the national targets and indicators within the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. Furthermore, the functions of the national mechanism replicate the work areas of the WIM, signalling Bangladesh’s commitments to the Paris Agreement. For a resource constrained LDC country, the efforts made by researchers, the development community and policymakers show resourcefulness, proactiveness and agency that can be replicated in countries facing similar vulnerabilities and resource constraints.

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   3. Chapter 20. The Case of Huaraz: First Climate Lawsuit on Loss and Damage Against an Energy Company Before German Courts

      • Open Access

      Will Frank, Christoph Bals, Julia Grimm

      Abstract

      The civil law case brought forward in 2016 by the Peruvian Saúl Luciano Lliuya with the support of the NGO Germanwatch against the German energy company RWE is the first climate lawsuit in Germany. It addresses the question whether and how the biggest greenhouse-gas emitters, such as energy suppliers, may be held liable for losses and damages caused by climate change. Specifically, the plaintiff sued the company for a contribution to safety measures that help avoid the outburst of a glacial lagoon fuelled by glacial retreat linked to anthropogenic climate change. The requested support for necessary risk management measures at the lake to reduce the risk of flooding are commensurate with the causal contribution of the company’s share in historical CO₂ emissions, approximately 0.5%. After having been rejected by a district court in November 2017, the Court of Appeals accepted the case and took it forward to the evidentiary phase. This decision marks the first time that a court acknowledged that a private company is in principal responsible for its share in causing climate damages. The lawsuit has raised the issue of responsibility of large energy companies, and other emitters of greenhouse gas emissions, for climate change in terms of liability for nuisance caused to private property. The acceptance of the case and its entering into the evidentiary phase has written legal history and the case may act as a model for lawsuits in other countries. Comparable legal bases for similar cases exist in numerous countries around the world. The decision thus may have implications for the responsibility of great emitters all around the globe in terms of communicating the relevant litigation risks to shareholders and building adequate financial reserves.

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   4. Chapter 21. Insurance as a Response to Loss and Damage?

      • Open Access

      JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer, Swenja Surminski, Laurens M. Bouwer, Ilan Noy, Reinhard Mechler

      Abstract

      This chapter asks whether insurance instruments, especially micro-insurance and regional insurance pools, can serve as a risk-reducing and equitable compensatory response to climate-attributed losses and damages from climate extremes occurring in developing countries, and consequently if insurance instruments can serve the preventative and curative targets of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM). The discussion emphasises the substantial benefits of both micro-insurance programs and regional insurance pools, and at the same time details their significant costs. Beyond costs and benefits, a main message is that if no significant intervention is undertaken in their design and implementation, market-based insurance mechanisms will likely fall short of fully meeting WIM aspirations of loss reduction and equitable compensation. Interventions can include subsidies and other types of support that make insurance affordable to poor clients; interventions can also enable public-private arrangements that genuinely catalyse risk reduction and adaptation. Many such interventions are already in place, and the chapter highlights two potential success stories for insurance instruments serving the most vulnerable: the African R4 micro-insurance program and the African Risk Capacity (ARC) regional insurance pool. While support to these and other insurance programs continues to be framed as humanitarian aid based on the principle of solidarity, discussions on the G7 initiative to insure vulnerable households, as well as on ARC’s initiative to link international payments to climate risks, raise the question whether the narrative will evolve from solidarity to responsibility based on the principle of developed country accountability.

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   5. Chapter 22. Technology for Climate Justice: A Reporting Framework for Loss and Damage as Part of Key Global Agreements

      • Open Access

      Marc van den Homberg, Colin McQuistan

      Abstract

      Technology plays a critical role in the ability to retain, reduce or transfer climate risk or address impacts. However, vulnerable communities do not fully benefit from existing technology, whereas they are disproportionally impacted by climate change. This chapter assesses how technology can shape limits to adaptation and how to report on this injustice as part of key global agreements. We develop an access, use and innovation of technology framework. As a case on a relevant technology, we test it on transboundary early warning systems in South Asia. We find that only a limited set of the state-of-the-art technologies available globally is accessed and used. Insufficient capacity and funding result in the bare minimum, largely copycat type of technology. As climate change progresses, demands on technology increase, whereas, if no action is taken, the technology remains the same widening the adaptation deficit. A better understanding of the crossover from disaster risk reduction to climate adaptation and the emerging policy domain of loss and damage allows trade-offs in terms of reducing risks through greater investment in technologies for adaptation versus absorbing risks and then financing curative or transformative loss and damage measures. We argue that attention to especially distributive, compensatory and procedural climate justice principles, in terms of distributing technology, building capacity and providing finance, can help to motivate support for widening the technology spectrum available to developing countries. We propose as part of comprehensive risk management that, first, an inventory should be developed how of technologies shape soft and hard adaptation limits. Second, technology for climate justice might be included in the adaptation communications to support reporting on the expected and experienced impact of measures on loss and damage, at a sufficiently disaggregated level. Third, soft adaptation limits should be levelled by making technology research, innovation and design equitable between those countries having capacity and those not, recognising the commitment to leave no one behind.

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7. Backmatter

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