The recent creation of a loss and damage fund under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was heralded as a major breakthrough for Global South negotiators. As details of the fund are currently being negotiated, some analysts are calling for ‘objective’ means through which funding would be allocated to ‘particularly vulnerable’ developing countries. On the basis of a …

The planned relocation of entire communities to less hazard-exposed destinations is an increasingly salient climate change adaptation strategy but often results in maladaptive livelihood outcomes. There needs to be understanding of how planning decisions affect outcomes—relocated people’s access to sustainable livelihoods, including physical, economic, natural, human, social and cultural assets. Here, drawing on data from 14 completed flood-related relocation cases, …

Climate-induced displacement has direct implications for non-economic loss and damage, including threats to health and wellbeing and loss of culture and agency. Displacement due to extreme events is particularly challenging for small island developing states (SIDS) given their high exposure and vulnerability to tropical cyclones. Devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean in 2017 exposed non-economic loss and damage associated with prolonged …

Global biodiversity loss has been disproportionately driven by consumption of people in rich nations. The concept of ‘loss and damage’ — familiar from international agreements on climate change — should be considered for the effects of biodiversity loss in countries of the Global South. For decades, countries across the Global South have been calling on rich countries to accept responsibility …

Abstract Despite mitigation and adaptation efforts, the residual risks of climate change will continue to impact the most vulnerable communities globally. Highly exposed regions, such as the Pacific Islands, will continue to experience profound negative loss and damage as a result of climate change, which will challenge current ways of life. Knowledge on the extent to which regional and national …

Climate change is fundamentally reshaping patterns of human migration and displacement, triggering movement internally and internationally, and leaving many vulnerable people trapped in place. Migration in the face of climate change can be a positive choice, if done voluntarily and in an orderly manner. But it can also be unsafe and forced, creating problems for people who move and their …

Anthropogenic climate change loss and damage (L&D) is a key area of climate policy. Much of the L&D governance has been situated within the international climate regime. A major gap in L&D governance is the lack of understanding of how institutions are dealing with L&D policy and decision-making at national and industry scales. This study examines L&D governance with an …

ABSTRACT After decades of pressure from vulnerable developing countries, the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (the WIM) was established at the nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 19) in 2013 to address costly damages from climate change. However, little progress has been made towards establishing a mechanism to fund loss and damage. The WIM’s Executive Committee issued its …

This study highlights the pressing need to mainstream human (im)mobility into climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction policy and strategy. It also raises important questions relevant to the ‘climate migration as adaptation’ debate. The paper evaluates the role of human (im)mobility in climate adaptation in Bangladesh, a nation experiencing some of the worst effects of climate change. Drawing on over …

In the context of climate policy, “loss and damage” refers to unavoided climate change impacts, including those from extreme weather events and slow-onset events such as sea-level rise, increasing temperatures, and loss of biodiversity. Some argue that focusing on loss and damage distracts industrialized countries from attempts to avoid losses and damages in the first place through decarbonization and adaptation. …