Exploring Loss and Damage at the International Climate Change Talks

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing need to address loss and damage as a result of climate change through international processes. At the most recent November 2013 international climate change talks in Warsaw, 194 countries negotiated the best way to establish institutional arrangements for loss and damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Such a decision to establish these arrangements was made in 2012 in Doha in a decision known as the “Doha Gateway.” While the 19th (2013) Conference of the Parties succeeded in delivering the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts, there was concern by some negotiators earlier into the conference that this would never transpire given the staunch disagreements between countries and lobbying blocks on a way forward. This article provides a brief historical overview of loss and damage at the climate change talks, and examines the key discourses defining this issue between 2011 and 2013 by analyzing submissions by lobbying blocks and member countries, and final negotiated texts. These discourses revolve around causality and solutions, compensation, and the relationship between loss and damage and adaptation.

Keywords

Adaptation / Climate change / Loss and damage / Mitigation / United Nations

References

[1] Adger WN, Lorenzoni I, O’Brien KL. Adger WN, Lorenzoni I, O’Brien KL. Adaptation now. Adapting to climate change: Thresholds, values, governance, 2009, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1-22

[2] African Group. 2012. Submission by the Kingdom of Swaziland on behalf of African Group on work programme on approaches to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Eighteenth session, Doha, 26 November–7 December 2012.

[3] AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States). 2013. Submission of Nauru on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States: Views and information on elements of an international mechanism to address loss and damage from the adverse effects of climate change. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Nineteenth session, Warsaw, 11–23 November 2013.

[4] Australian Government. 2011. Submission under the Cancún Agreements, August 2011. Further views and information on the agreed themes of the work programme to consider approaches to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in vulnerable developing countries. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Seventeenth session, Durban, 28 November–9 December 2011.

[5] Campbell J. Islandness. Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, 2009, 3(1): 85-97.

[6] Dow K, Berkhout F, Preston BL, Klein RJT, Midgley G, Shaw MR. Commentary: Limits to adaptation. Nature Climate Change, 2013, 3(4): 305-307 10.1038/nclimate1847

[7] Government of Ghana. 2012. Subsidiary Body on Implementation: Submission of Ghana. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Eighteenth session, Doha, 26 November–7 December 2012.

[8] Governments of Bolivia, Ecuador, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Thailand, Philippines, and Nicaragua. 2012. UNFCCC—Subsidiary Body of Implementation, Theme III. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Eighteenth session, Doha, 26 November–7 December 2012.

[9] Huq S, Roberts E, Fenton A. Commentary: Loss and damage. Nature Climate Change, 2013, 3: 947-949 10.1038/nclimate2026

[10] IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2007. Summary for policymakers. In Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, and C.E. Hanson, 7–22. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[11] LDC (Least Developed Countries) Group. 2011. Loss and damage: Submission by Gambia on behalf of the Least developed Countries Group. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Seventeenth session, Durban, 28 November–9 December 2011.

[12] Nelson DR. Adaptation and resilience: Responding to a changing climate. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews—Climate Change, 2011, 2(1): 113-120 10.1002/wcc.91

[13] Norwegian Government. 2011. Submission on approaches to enhance adaptive capacity in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change when addressing loss and damage associated with climate change impacts. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Seventeenth session, Durban, 28 November–9 December 2011.

[14] Norwegian Government. 2013. Institutional arrangements under the UNFCCC for approaches to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change to enhance adaptive capacity: Norway. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Nineteenth session, Warsaw, 11–23 November 2013.

[15] Ott HE, Sterk W, Watanabe R. The Bali roadmap: New horizons for global climate policy. Climate Policy, 2008, 8(1): 91-95 10.3763/cpol.2007.0510

[16] Petheram L, Zander KK, Campbell BM, High C, Stacey N. Strange changes: Indigenous perspectives of climate change and adaptation in NE Arnhem Land (Australia). Global Environmental Change, 2010, 20(4): 681-692 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.05.002

[17] Pielke R Jr Prins G, Rayner S, Sarewitz D. Climate change 2007: Lifting the taboo on adaptation. Nature, 2007, 445(7128): 597-598 10.1038/445597a

[18] Rowling, M. 2013. Climate loss and damage talks in disarray after G77 walks out. Sustainability, Thomson Reuters, 20 November 2013. http://sustainability.thomsonreuters.com/2013/11/20/climate-loss-damage-talks-disarray-g77-walks/. Accessed 24 July 2014.

[19] Shamsuddoha Md, Bijoy MR. Loss and damage negotiation at the UNFCCC: An era of liability and compensation (Briefing paper), 2013, Dhaka: Center for Participatory Research and Development

[20] UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). 2007. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its thirteenth session, held in Bali from 3 to December 2007, Addendum, Part Two: Action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth session. FCCC/CP/2007/6/Add.1.

[21] UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). 2010. Decision 1/CP.16: Report of the Conference of the Parties on its sixteenth session, held in Cancún from 29 November to 10 December 2010, Addendum Part Two: Action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its sixteenth session. FCCC/CP/2010/7/Add.1.

[22] UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). 2012. Approaches to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change to enhance adaptive capacity. Revised proposal by the President. Draft decision -/CP.18. Conference of the Parties, Eighteenth session, Doha, 26 November–7 December 2012. FCCC/CP/2012/L.4/Rev.1.

[23] UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). 2013. Warsaw international mechanism for loss and damage associated with climate change impacts. Decision 2/CP.19. Conference of the Parties, Nineteenth session, Warsaw, 11–23 November 2013.

[24] USA Government. 2012. Submission by the United States of America: The role of the Convention in addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change. Submission to Conference of the Parties, Eighteenth session, Doha, 26 November–7 December 2012.

[25] Warner K, Zakieldeen SA. Loss and damage due to climate change: An overview of the UNFCCC negotiations, 2011, Oxford: European Capacity Building Initiative