Minimising Loss and Damage by Addressing Soft Adaptation Limits

When: Friday 8 December at 14:00-14:45 (GST)

Where: UNEP Pavilion (Zone B7, Building 87), COP28

Evidence continues to show that losses and damages associated with climate change are occurring across all regions around the globe, in all economic sectors and particularly in vulnerable communities. This is caused by impacts of climate change that are beyond the limits of adaptation. According to the IPCC, soft limits represent the point where no options are currently available to avoid intolerable risks. With the ground-breaking outcome of COP27, and the following work delivered by the transmission committee on the financing arrangements to address loss and damage, it is more and more important to work on developing and improving the knowledge and technology options and removing the associated barriers in order to shift soft limits to adaptation and advert, minimize and address economic and non-economic losses and damages across regions.

In this context, this session will build from the 2023 UNEP Adaptation Gap Report and ongoing work by the World Adaptation Science Programme’s (WASP) Working Group on Loss and Damage. It will address the soft limits to adaptation to avert and minimize losses and damages. Experts will provide an overview of the issue and discuss the topic with the audience, providing further clarity on the soft limits to adaptation.

Panelists: 

• Henry Neufeldt, UNEP-CCC (moderator)
• Emily Boyd, Lund University
• Vasiti Soko, National Disaster Management Office, Government of Fiji
• Karma Dupchu, National Centre of Hydrology and Meterology Institute, Royal Government of Bhutan
• Janine Felsen, the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute