Page - 195 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

7 LegalResponses toClimateChange… 195 tive and sustained implementation of the Convention” (UNFCCC 2007, Decision 1/CP.13,BaliActionPlan,para.1).Muchattentionwasstarting tobeputonemerg- ing economies and other developing states,whose greenhouse gas emissionswere increasingmuchfaster than thegreenhousegasemissionsofdevelopedstatescould possiblybereduced. In thiscontext,“enhancedactiononadaptation”wasoneof the concessions thatdevelopedstatesagreed inexchangeofan increasecommitmentof developingstates to“enhanced…actiononmitigation” (UNFCCC2007,Decision 1/CP.13,BaliActionPlan,1(b) and1(c)). One of the items listed under “enhanced action on adaption” in theBaliAction Planwas “disaster reduction strategies andmeans to address losses and damages associated with climate change impacts in developing countries that are particu- larly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change” (UNFCCC2007, Deci- sion 1/CP.13,BaliActionPlan, para. 1(c)(iii)). The length of the concept reflected the difficulty of its insertion in aCOPdecision. Therewas no clear understanding onwhether the twobranches of this provision—“disaster reduction” and “loss and damage”—werenecessarilyrelated, that is,whether lossesanddamageswouldnec- essarilystemfrom(sudden-onset)disasters.Norwere thereanyclearunderstanding of thedifferencesbetween“loss,” “damage,” “impacts,” and the“adverse effects of climatechange.”Yet, agreat achievementof theBaliActionPlanwas the insertion of aprovisionhinting to theobligationofdevelopedstates topay reparation for the injurycausedbyexcessivegreenhousegasemissions. TheBaliActionPlan initiated a new streamof negotiations.However, thiswas largelyside-lined, in the followingyears,by intensenegotiationsonclimatechange mitigationand the reluctanceofdeveloped states tovirtually anything (Warner and Zakieldeen 2012:4).Notmuch had been achievedwhen, 3 years later, theCancún Agreementsrecognised“theneedtostrengtheninternationalcooperationandexper- tise inorder tounderstandand reduce loss anddamageassociatedwith the adverse effects of climate change, including impacts related to extremeweather events and slowonset events” (UNFCCC2010,Decision1/CP.16,para. 25). TheCancúnAgreements created a “work programme”were negotiations could be pursued. Thematic areas were defined in 2011 and further explored in 2012 (UNFCCC2011,Decision7/CP.17,paras.6–15;UNFCCC2012,Decision3/CP.18). Morespecifically,COP18expressedacommondesire“toenhanceactiononaddress- ing loss and damage” (UNFCCC2012,Decision 3/CP.18, para. 6). The following year, COP19 established theWarsaw InternationalMechanismonLoss andDam- age(WIM),asubsidiarybodyof theUNFCCC(UNFCCC2013,Decision2/CP.19). Theobjectiveof theWIMwas to“fulfil the roleunder theConventionofpromoting the implementation of approaches to address loss and damage…in a comprehen- sive, integrated and coherent manner,” including through “enhancing knowledge and understanding,” “strengthening dialogue, coordination, coherence and syner- gies among relevant stakeholders,” and “enhancing action and support, including finance, technologyandcapacity-building, to address loss anddamage” (UNFCCC 2013,Decision2/CP.19,para.5).MorespecificarrangementsweremadeatCOP20, including the composition of theExecutiveCommittee of theWIM,basic rules on procedure,anda2-yearworkplan(UNFCCC2014,Decision2/CP.20,para.5).This