Page - 87 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

4 TheRiskandPolicySpace forLossandDamage… 87 Table4.1 Classifying lossanddamage Avoided Unavoided Unavoidable Avoidable lossanddamage thatcanandwillbeavoidedby climatechangemitigation and/or adaptationmeasures Avoidable lossanddamage thatwill notbeaddressedby furthermitigationand/or adaptionmeasures, even thoughtheavoidancewouldbe possible.Financial, technical andpolitical constraints as well ascase-specific risk preferencesnarrowdownthe adaptationspace Lossanddamage that cannot beavoided through further mitigationand/or adaptation measures, e.g. lossand damagedue to slowonset processes thathavekicked-off already, suchas sea level rise, andextremeevent riskwhere noadaptationeffortswould helppreventing thephysical impacts SourceTablebasedonVerheyenandRoderick (2008) While there is no official definition, losses in this context have been associated with irreversibility,e.g. fatalities fromdisastersorhouseholdsstuck inpoverty traps post-event,while damages havebeen referred to as impacts that canbe rectified in principle. A useful distinctionmade that we build on has been between avoided, unavoided and unavoidable loss and damage (Verheyen and Roderick 2008) (see Table4.1). Intheliterature, thissamedistinctionhasalsobeendiscussedwithregard towhetherclimate-related impactscannotorwillnotbeaddressedbymitigationor adaptation (cf.MaceandVerheyen2016). Anexampleforunavoidable impactsorlossanddamagethatcannotbeaddressed eitherbymitigationoradaptationareextremeeventriskswherenoadaptationefforts wouldhelp preventing the physical damage (Verheyen andRoderick 2008).A rea- son that someadaptationmeasureswill not be takenor losses anddamages remain unavoided is that actorsmay be subject to socio-economic constraints, especially internationalfinancing, and/or implementation constraints, althoughat least in the- ory these measures could have been taken (Chambwera andMohammed 2014). Further constraints to adaptation planning and implementation comprise a lack of technological or knowledge resources and institutional characteristics that impede action. 4.2.1 RiskIdentification:Analytics forDefiningAvoidable andUnavoidableLossesandDamages Over the last fewyears,with consequences of climate changebecomingvisible on allcontinentsandinalloceans(IPCC2014),assessmentsofclimatechangeimpacts have changed in focus from an initial analysis of the problem to the assessment of actual observed and potential future impacts, and finally, to the consideration of specific risk analyticalmethods to assess andmanage future increases in risks. Originally focussed on incremental risk induced by anthropogenic climate change to identifydangerous levelsofglobal risk (IPCC’sfive reasons forconcerns), a risk perspectivehasprominentlygainedtractioninrecentIPCCreportswhereclimaterisk