Page - 161 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

6 ThePoliticsof (andBehind) theUNFCCC’sLoss… 161 facilitativebasis” to“enhanceunderstanding,actionandsupport” inareas including earlywarningsystems,comprehensiveriskassessmentandmanagement, risk insur- ance facilities, climate riskpooling, andnon-economic losses (UNFCCC2015). 6.3 ActorsandPositions in theL&DDebate The inclusionofL&Dasadistinct concept fromadaptation in theParisAgreement was the result of a series of politically charged negotiations, fuelled by a range of actorswithavarietyofviewpoints.Theroleplayedbyeachoftheseactors, including theirnegotiationpositions, isbrieflydiscussed in this section. 6.3.1 DevelopingCountriesandTheirRepresentativeGroups Asrecognisedabove,developingcountriesandtheir representativegroupshavepro- videdmuchof the impetusfor therecognitionofL&Dwithin theUNFCCC.AOSIS hasbeenparticularlyimportant,havingfirstcampaignedfor theinclusionofL&Din climatechangenegotiationsintheearly1990sandcontinuingtodosoinconjunction withother representativegroups.Otherkeyeventshave included: • In 2005 atCOP11,Bangladeshonbehalf of theLDCGroup called for the com- pensationofclimatechangedamages (VanhalaandHestbaek2016); • In2013,G77with support fromAOSISandLDCspushed for (andachieved) the adoptionof theWIM(Calliari 2016a); and • Prior to the commencement of COP21, members of the G77, China bloc, the ClimateVulnerable Forum,LDCs,AOSIS and theAfricaGroup all emphasised the importanceofL&Dto theParisnegotiations (Hoffmeister andHuq2015). The negotiating position of developing countries in general has been to (i) con- sider L&Das distinct fromadaptation; (ii) treat climate change negotiations as an appropriate forum to discuss L&D; (iii) hold developed countries liable for L&D; and (iv) call for compensation (Huq andDe Souza 2016). At the same time, they haveraisedconcerns that theemphasisofL&Ddiscourseonfinancialcompensation could have a trivialising effect on addressing the underlying needs of developing countries (Hoffmaister et al. 2014). 6.3.2 DevelopedCountries Developedcountrieshavegenerallybeencriticalandprovidedtheoppositestanceto developing countries on negotiations aroundL&D.Particular resistancewasmade in recognising L&Das distinct from adaptation. This is reflected, for instance, in