Loss and Damage (L&D) refers to the impacts of severe climate change on human and natural systems, encompassing both slow-onset and extreme weather events. These impacts often result in unavoidable losses, posing a significant challenge to global communities.
Understanding Regional Perspectives
Each region presents unique challenges, demanding tailored yet collectively cohesive strategies to prevent and address L&D. A nuanced exploration of their shared concerns and distinctive priorities reveals a complex landscape of climate impacts.
The United Nations Environment Programme's Global Adaptation Network (GAN) organized a series of regional webinars from July 2022 to October 2023 in Asia-Pacific, Africa, and LAC. These sessions focused on understanding the science, policy dimensions, and mechanisms to avert, minimize, and address L&D impacts. The webinars drew a total of 762 participants, indicating a high level of interest.
Here are some of the common messages and key takeaways from across all three regions:
- Immediate Reality of Risks: The acknowledgment that L&D is not a distant prospect but an immediate reality is a rallying point across regions. Africa and Asia-Pacific, in particular, are in the throes of severe climate events, signaling an urgent call to treat L&D as an imminent, tangible risk demanding immediate attention.
- Comprehensive Response: The urgency to respond comprehensively is evident, transcending mere acknowledgment of risks. The call is for a twofold approach – an acceleration of investments in both mitigation and adaptation and the mobilization of assistance that matches the scale of crises faced by countries and communities.
- Role of Private Sector and Risk Management: Private sector's critical role in L&D, highlighting the need for its judicious integration and emphasizing robust national risk management plans.
- Holistic Approach and International Mechanisms: The necessity for a holistic approach that recognizes cultural, ecological, and non-economic impacts, alongside utilizing international mechanisms like the Warsaw International Mechanism and Santiago Network.
- Urgency of Action and Collaboration: Emphasis on L&D as a current reality requiring urgent action, and the importance of collaborative strategies involving various sectors and stakeholders.
- Localized Actions and Knowledge Enhancement: The importance of local and national actions, acknowledging knowledge gaps particularly in non-economic losses, and emphasizing the need for regional solutions.
- Adaptive Governance and Investment in Long-term Solutions: The need for adaptive governance structures and prioritizing long-term solutions, focusing on empowering local communities and equitable resource allocation.
- Global Unified Responsibility and Collaboration: The emphasis on a unified global response and international collaboration to effectively tackle L&D, recognizing the interconnectedness of regional efforts.
For more insight into how the perspectives on loss and damage differ across the regions, see here.
