Loss and damage from climate change impacts: a political science perspective

Abstract

Despite being one of the most controversial issues to be recently treated within climate negotiations, Loss & Damage (L&D) associated to climate change impacts has attracted little attention among International Relations (IR) scholars. Yet, the 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. The work is structured as a collection of four individual papers, aiming at bringing an IR/political science perspective on L&D at different scales of analysis. The first one is a theory application paper, and employs 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. The second paper performs a Critical Discourse Analysis of Parties’ positions in Climate Change Negotiations to i) reconstruct the emergence, evolution and interaction of L&D discourses; ii) get insights on Parties’ negotiating strategies; and iii) identify potential stumbling blocks. In the third paper interviews with key L&D negotiators are undertaken to i) investigate sensitive and contentious elements in L&D discussions under the UNFCCC and ii) identify ways to build common ground across competing positions. The fourth paper is a case study and assesses institutional constraints to adaptation in a vulnerable coastal lagoon system through social network analysis.