Analysing losses and damages from climate change impacts and the evolution of the Loss and Damage debate in international climate negotiations

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that human-induced climate change, including both slow onset and extreme events, has already caused widespread and severe losses and damages to human and natural systems in several regions of the world. As a consequence, in recent years, the debate on Loss and Damage (L&D) has achieved growing importance in both academic and policy arenas. Despite the lack of an official definition under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the resulting plural perspectives on the concept, losses and damages are now commonly understood to refer to the negative impacts of climate change that occur despite mitigation and adaptation efforts. This much-debated topic is at the centre of the analysis conducted in the present thesis. After introducing and examining the main concepts, principles, and notions relevant for a full understanding of losses and damages from climate change impacts, this work aims to illustrate the increasing severity of the issue by presenting empirical evidence and case studies from Small Islands, Africa, and Asia. Moreover, the thesis provides an overview of the evolution of the L&D debate and policy discourse, starting from the first reference to the concept in international climate change talks and analysing the developments in L&D negotiations until the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27). Particular emphasis is placed on Parties’ conflicting positions in the debate and on the negotiation process for the establishment of L&D funding arrangements and of a specific L&D fund to assist vulnerable developing countries that disproportionately suffer from climate change and related losses and damages.