Anthropogenic climate change is causing widespread losses and damages to what people value. To date, non-economic loss and damage assessments are commonly guided by predefined ‘types’ of non-economic losses, similar to those proposed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Instead, we draw from studies conducted in Bangladesh and Fiji to emphasize the benefits of a values-based assessment …

Bangladesh has been striving for years to shift its narrative from being climate vulnerability to resilience. Over the years, it has managed to build itself as one of the climate-resilient countries, despite the geographical vulnerability, through building efficient early warning systems, community-led disaster management, and women’s leadership in resilience efforts. However, communities in Bangladesh continue to face existential crisis due …

In June this year, we published the working paper centering local values in assessing and addressing climate-related losses and damages. The report includes a critical analysis of ‘non-economic’ loss and damage research. We mentioned how these studies assessing or conceptualising ‘non-economic’ losses and damages – which are highly culturally- and context-dependant and mostly occur in the Global South – are …

Back in the early 1990’s the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, a founding member of the Alliance of Small Island States AOSIS, called on what would become the United Framework Convention on Climate Change: “help us pay for addressing the impacts from sea level rise.” Essentially, the first global call for finance to address loss and damage. Back then, when …

Learnings from past efforts of climate and development financing “Those who are most affected by climate change today – women, girls and marginalised communities – must be involved in the design and implementation of climate response actions to ensure the equal sharing of benefits.” – UN Women, 2022 Why are gender issues important to be considered in Loss and Damage …

The most salient signal of progress from COP27 was the decision to establish a new fund and funding arrangements for loss and damage, something sought by climate-vulnerable countries over 30 years ago. While the terms of how this fund will work have yet to be resolved this year at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, the decision represents a historic …

Globally, people are disproportionately affected by climate change consistently and are enforced to adapt, with or without external assistance. Nonetheless, the current mitigation and adaptation efforts have been deemed insufficient to resist losses and damages (L&D), particularly in vulnerable countries from the Global South. It is also reported that vulnerable countries have gone beyond their ability to adapt due to …

Climate Tribune | October 2023 Articles in the series FOREWORD ADAPTATION VULNERABILITY INDEX FINANCING VANUATU AND BEYOND LOSS AND DAMAGE PARTNERSHIPS NATIONAL AND LOCAL STORIES

As climate change exacerbates displacement and loss in Bangladesh, Saleemul Huq and Lutfor Rahman call for a collaborative global effort to address loss and damage funding. The upcoming COP28 in Dubai may be a game changer. The world has entered a new era of climate change reality. It is not a theoretical concept or a distant future possibility anymore, but …

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guitterez, has been holding an annual Climate Action Summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September each year. He invites world leaders to come and share what they are doing to tackle climate change, the biggest human-induced global crisis. Over the years, his language to describe the situation has become …