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1 Science forLossandDamage.FindingsandPropositions 11
1.3 TheResearchPerspective:Definitions andConcepts
1.3.1 DefiningLossesandDamages
Manyof the issues associatedwith theL&Ddiscourse are controversial, andgiven
the various perspectives on what exactly L&Dmight refer to, it is unsurprising
that there is no official UNFCCC definition for “Loss and Damage.” There are,
however,someaspectsofL&Dthathavebeenrelativelywidelyaccepted.UNFCCC
documentation consistently states that L&D refers to climate-related impacts and
risks from both sudden-onset extreme events, such as flooding and cyclones, and
slow-onsetevents, includingsea level rise,glacial retreat,desertification,andothers
(UNFCCC2013,2015).Someanalystshavealsomadeadistinctionbetween losses
associatedwith irreversibility, for example, fatalities fromheat-related disasters or
the permanent destruction of coral reefs,whiledamages are referred to as impacts
that canbe alleviatedor repaired, suchasdamages tobuildings (Boydet al. 2017).
Another useful distinction,which has been adopted bymany authors (including in
thisbook),wasmadebyVerheyenandRoderick(2008)betweenavoided,unavoided
andunavoidable lossesanddamages (seeTable1.1).
Avoided losses and damages are those that have been and will be avoided by
DRR andCCA.Unavoided impacts and risks are andwill not be reduced due to
socio-economicconstraintsandtrade-offs (finance,governance,politicaleconomy).
Theseunavoidedlossesanddamagesarealsocalledresidual impactsandrisksinthe
literature (Warner and van derGeest 2013) and are characterised by limits imped-
ingavoidanceand reduction.Lossesanddamagescanbematerial (i.e., physical)or
immaterial, aswell as economic (measurable in financial or economic terms) and
non-economic,with some overlap between these categories (Schäfer andBalogun
2015;Serdeczny2018).Manyconsider theL&Ddiscourse todealparticularlywith
lossesanddamages“beyondadaptation”and limits toadaptation, that is,unavoided
orunavoidableimpactsthatgobeyondadaptationpotentials(VerheyenandRoderick
2008;vanderGeest andWarner2015).Whileadaptationopportunities andbarriers
Table1.1 Classifying lossesanddamages
Avoided Unavoided Unavoidable
Avoidable lossesanddamages
thatcanandwill beavoided
byclimatechangemitigation
and/or adaptationmeasures Avoidable lossesanddamages
that areandwill notbe
addressedby further
mitigationand/or adaptation
measures, even though
avoidancewouldbepossible.
Financial, technical and
political constraints, aswell as
case-specific riskpreferences
narrowdowntheadaptation
space Lossesanddamages that
cannotbeavoidedandadapted
to through furthermitigation
and/or adaptationmeasures,
for instance impacts fromslow
onsetprocesses thathave
kicked-off already, suchas sea
level riseandmeltingglaciers
Classification furtherdevelopedbasedonVerheyenandRoderick (2008)
Loss and Damage from Climate Change
Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Title
- Loss and Damage from Climate Change
- Subtitle
- Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Authors
- Reinhard Mechler
- Laurens M. Bouwer
- Thomas Schinko
- Swenja Surminski
- JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-72026-5
- Size
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 580
- Keywords
- Environment, Climate change, Environmental law, Environmental policy, Risk management
- Categories
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima