Page - 224 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

224 K.vanderGeest et al. erallyquitewellcoveredindisaster lossassessments(Gall2015;chapterbyBouwer 2018).Bycontrast, indirect lossesanddamagesarehardertoquantifyorestimate,so theyareoftenunderreported(UNFCCC2012).Indirectlossesanddamagesareasso- ciatedwiththemeasuresactorsimplementtoadapttoorcopewithdirectimpacts.For example, ifacommunityisdisplacedbyfloodingandhastoliveinaschoolbuilding for sixmonths, therewill be indirect effects of thefloodon the students’ education level(Opondo2013).Whencopingmeasuresarebeneficialintheshorttermbuthave adverse effectson livelihoodsustainability in the longer-term,wespeakof ‘erosive coping’ (vanderGeest andDietz2004). ResearchGapsandOutlineofChapter There isa long traditionof scholarlyworkonassessingdisaster losses, andasmall, but emergingbodyof literature on losses anddamages fromclimate change.More researchhasbeendoneaboutlossesanddamagesfromsuddenonsetdisasters—such as cyclones and floods—than from slow onset processes—such as sea level rise, ocean acidification and drought.While scientific conceptualisations and empirical work onLoss andDamage has focused primarily on human impacts (Warner and van der Geest 2013;Wrathall et al. 2015), little attention has been given to the loss of ecosystemservices and the cascading impacts onhuman societies resulting from this (Zommers et al. 2014). Yet, according to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, “evidence of climate-change impacts is strongest andmost comprehensive fornatural systems” (IPCC2014).Moreover, adaptationoptions forecosystemsare limited (IPCC2014) and in the case of progressive andpermanent change, current measuresareunlikely toprevent lossanddamage toecosystemsand their services. This chapter1 tries to enhance understanding of how impacts of climate change onecosystemservicesresult in lossesanddamages topeopleandsociety.Thishelps in determiningwhat kind of interventions could reduce such losses and damages now and in the future.We first present a conceptual framework for studying how impacts of climate change on ecosystemservices can result in losses anddamages tohumansystems.Thenext sectiondiscussescurrentknowledgeofclimatechange impactson four typesof ecosystemservices—provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural. A case study followswhere we present how losses and damages to ecosystem services affects humanwell-being in the drylands of theWest African Sahel.Theconclusionsectionof thischaptersummariseskeyfindingsanddiscusses policy options. As well, we identify two important areas for future research and evidencegathering. 1This chapter builds on a report published by theUnitedNationsEnvironment Program, entitled “LossandDamage:The roleofEcosystemServices” (UNEP2016).