Loss and Damage: A Moral Imperative to Act

The world is not taking enough initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or adapt to climate change. Action and support to developing countries remain inadequate while climate risk increases and its effects increasingly destroy the lives and survival of the most vulnerable countries and communities.

Also, for some populations in different places, it is already too late to adapt to the consequences of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that even if effective measures were taken to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5°C, loss and damage from climate change cannot be prevented, as there is a level of warming that cannot be reversed and is already causing irremediable consequences.

The devastating result of climate change can lead to invaluable loss and damage, especially for many communities and developing countries: loss of life and subsistence, as well as the degradation of territory, fields, cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge, social and cultural identity, biodiversity and environmental services.

Providing a political space for dialogue on credible and predictable support for loss and damage, as well as ensuring meaningful results at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, “will be a litmus test to rebuild trust between developed and developing countries”, says Secretary-General António Guterres.

Prior to the conference, Dr. Adelle Thomas, one of the lead authors of the 2022 IPCC report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, and the Special Report on 1.5°C to shed more light on the problem, what it means for vulnerable populations who are exposed to worsening climate impacts and the growing obligation to address what is at stake.

Q: What do “loss and damage” mean in the context of climate change?

Adelle Thomas: “Loss and damage” can mean different things to each group and there is no set definition for this term within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). However, loss and damage can generally refer to the negative consequences of climate change that occur despite, or lack of, mitigation and adaptation.
Losses and damages can often be categorized as economic or non-economic. Economic losses and damages are the negative outcomes to which a monetary value can be assigned. For example, the cost of rebuilding infrastructure that has been damaged due to flooding, or the loss of income from agricultural crops that have been destroyed by drought.

Non-economic losses and damages are the negative outcomes to which it is difficult or unfeasible to assign a monetary value. For example, the trauma of suffering a tropical hurricane, the loss of community feeling due to the eviction of the population or the loss of biodiversity.

Loss and damage can occur from extreme situations, such as heat waves and storms; as well as slow-evolving phenomena, such as rising sea levels or ocean acidification.

Q: What does the IPCC say about loss and damage, in terms of current and future risks and actions and solutions needed?

Adelle Thomas: The report of IPCC Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (part of the sixth Assessment Report) is the most extensive on loss and damage to date.

Four key messages from the report are as follows:

1. Loss and damage has already been suffered: The existing global warming of 1.1°C has already caused widespread dangerous loss and damage, caused disruptions to nature and affected the lives of millions of people, despite their efforts to adapt.
2. Future losses and damages will appear with the increase in global warming: With the growth of global warming, losses and damages have increased and, increasingly, it is increasingly difficult to avoid them, while occurring, above all, in the poorest and most vulnerable populations.
3. Loss and damage are inevitable and unevenly distributed: Adaptation cannot prevent all loss and damage. Disproportionately, developing countries and the most vulnerable groups; such as people of low socio-economic status, migrants, the elderly, women and children; They suffer the most from these losses and damages.
4. Loss and damage are not dealt with exhaustively through financial, governmental and institutional arrangements: In particular, in the most vulnerable developing countries, there are insufficient international, national and subnational initiatives to address such loss and damage.

Q: What are the limits of adaptation?

Adelle Thomas: An essential point in understanding what loss and damage refer to is that they can occur despite adaptation and even before the limit of that adaptation has been reached.

The limits of adaptation are the point at which adaptive responses cease to offer protection from climate impact. In this way, when the limit is reached, losses and damages intensify, since adaptation stops reducing negative consequences. However, such loss and damage may occur even if the limit has not yet been reached.

The limits can be differentiated between strict and soft:

– Soft limits are those for which there are no viable adaptation options at present, but which may exist in the future. For example, a farmer may not be able to afford the cost of irrigation or drought-resistant crops at this time, but there may be adaptation options for her in the future, if she can increase her financial resources.
– Strict limits are those for which the current adaptation options will cease to be effective and there is no possibility to opt for others. For example, coral reef restoration as an adaptation option for ecosystems faces strict limits, starting at 1.5°C, as ocean acidification and warming are what greatly reduce reef survival.

Q: What findings have been made in specific regions, including small island developing states and Africa?

Adelle Thomas: The IPCC has found that vulnerable and developing countries suffer disproportionately from these losses and damages.

Small island States are one of the regions already facing grotesque loss and damage and where they are expected to be particularly high. In particular, for small island states, 1.5°C is a critical threshold beyond which small island states may be unable to adapt to climate change.

Sea level rise is an existing threat, especially for lower areas at or below the same level. There is a risk of permanent and irreversible losses of terrestrial, marine and coastal biodiversity, as well as the services they provide, such as coastal protection from storms and livelihood support such as fisheries.

There is also a risk of economic decline due to loss and damage, and that the sectors on which these islands depend, such as agriculture and tourism, will collapse. Loss and damage can lead to a reduction in the habitability of the islands, which means that the population will have to move or migrate permanently and, along with this, non-economic losses will be suffered, such as the authenticity of the place, the community and the culture.

In Africa, loss and damage has also already been experienced and will increase with global warming. Some of those expected to occur in the African region are species extinction and reduction, irreversible loss of ecosystems and their services, including freshwater, land and ocean services. Food security and livelihoods are at risk and there is a risk of malnutrition due to declining food production in crops, livestock and fisheries.

These losses and damages can lead to increased mortality and morbidity from increased heat and infectious diseases, inequality and poverty rates, jeopardize water and energy security from drought and heat, and reduced yields and economic growth.

Q: The Secretary-General of the United Nations has stated that it is a moral imperative to deal with the problem of loss and damage. As a scientist, what is your message to COP27 delegates on this issue?

Adelle Thomas: The scientific evidence is clear that losses and damage have already been experienced, which will increase with global warming, that they are inevitable and that they are unevenly distributed, with disproportionate effects on developing countries and vulnerable groups.

Loss and damage is a reality, and there is a clear need for financial, governmental and institutional arrangements at all levels to address this issue.

COP27 is the key moment to recognize and respond to the immense scientific evidence on these losses and damages. There is a clear need for the UNFCCC to accelerate the implementation of initiatives to address them, as the progress that has been made to date has not been completely satisfactory.

Further delays in improvements in financial, governmental and institutional arrangements to address this issue will only result in all those who are most vulnerable and already suffering these consequences facing increasing levels of negative impacts caused by climate change.

Source: United Nations