Page - 155 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

Chapter6 ThePoliticsof (andBehind) theUNFCCC’sLossandDamage Mechanism ElisaCalliari,SwenjaSurminskiandJaroslavMysiak Abstract Despite beingoneof themost controversial issues tobe recently treated within climate negotiations, Loss andDamage (L&D) has attracted little attention amongscholarsofInternationalRelations(IR).Inthischapterwetakethe“structural- istparadox” inL&Dnegotiationsasour startingpoint, consideringhowIRtheories can help to explain the somewhat surprising capacity of weak parties to achieve resultswhile negotiatingwith stronger parties.We adopt amulti-faceted notion of power, drawing fromtheneorealist, liberal andconstructivist schoolsof thought, in order toexplainhowL&Dmilestoneswere reached.Ouranalysis shows that the IR disciplinecangreatlycontribute to thedebate,notonlybyenhancingunderstanding of thenegotiationprocessandrelatedoutcomesbutalsobyoffering insightsonhow theissuecouldbefruitfullymovedforward.Inparticular,wenotethekeyimportance that discursive power had in the attainment of L&Dmilestones: FramingL&D in ethicalandlegal termsappealed tostandardsrelevantbeyondtheUNFCCCcontext, including basicmoral norms linked to island states’ narratives of survival and the reference to international customary law. These broader standards are in principle recognisedbybothcontendingparties and thisbroader framingofL&Dhashelped to prove the need for action onL&D.However,wefind that a change of narrative maybeneeded toavoid turning the issue intoawin-losenegotiationgame. Instead, astrongeremphasisonmutualgains throughadaptationandactiononL&Dforboth developedanddevelopingcountries isneededaswellasclarityonthelimitsof these strategies. Examples of suchmutual gains aremore resilient global supply chains, reductionofclimate-inducedmigrationandenhancedsecurity.Asaresult,actingon E.Calliari (B) · J.Mysiak Euro-MediterraneanCenteronClimateChange (CMCC)andCa’Foscari, UniversityofVenice,Venice, Italy e-mail: elisa.calliari@cmcc.it S.Surminski GranthamResearch InstituteonClimateChangeand theEnvironment, LondonSchoolofEconomicsandPoliticalScience (LSE),London,UK ©TheAuthor(s)2019 R.Mechler et al. (eds.),LossandDamage fromClimateChange,ClimateRisk Management,PolicyandGovernance,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72026-5_6 155