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52 I.Wallimann-Helmeret al.
particularly vulnerable countries tomanage their increasing financial risks due to
increasingly frequentandsevereextremeweatherevents, and(3)curativemeasures
suchas redressandrehabilitationmechanisms to tackle irreversible impactsdue to
progressive slow-onsetprocesses (e.g. sea level rise, oceanacidification, increasing
landand sea surface temperatures) and sudden-onset extremeevents that cannot or
will notbeavoided.
Factoring in thedistinctionbetweeneconomicandnon-economicL&D, it seems
clear that risk management and risk-financing mechanisms—the intuitively most
plausible tools to deal with L&D—will not be sufficient in all cases (Surminski
et al. 2016).This iswhy, in addition to comprehensive riskmanagement, including
risk-financing tools such as insurance, wemay require curative action for redress
and rehabilitation (Mechler and Schinko 2016). Such action may address a fur-
ther important pillar of L&Dmeasures, namely climate-related impacts that are
deemeduninsurable.This is eitherbecause insurance isnot the right instrument for
tacklingcertainclimate-related impacts,particularly those linkedtoslow-onsetpro-
cesses, suchas lossof territorywithattendanthumandisplacement (Burkett 2014),
orbecausecommercial insurance is justnot economically feasible.
Furthermore, it notonlymakesadifferencewhether risksofclimate impacts are
insurableornot. It alsomakes adifferencewhetherL&Dmeasures aredesigned to
tackle sudden-onset extreme events or slow-onset processes.While risk financing
instruments suchas insurancearea theoretically feasible strategy to tackle extreme
event risks, insurance isnot applicable todealwithpotentialL&Dcausedbyslow-
onset processes. Indeed, insurancemechanisms also have been found to encounter
limitations even in the case of sudden-onset risks (Mechler et al. 2014; chapters
on insurance in thisbookbySchäfer et al. 2018andLinnerooth-Bayer et al. 2018).
Insurancemayonlybeavailableforcertainriskswithinacertainprobabilityrangeor
forwhatwouldbeconsidered“acceptable”bythoseunderwritingtothe“risksbased”
distinction between adaptation andL&Dand, hence,maynot apply toL&D.Risk
transferandsharingschemesdonotdirectly reduce theprobabilityofoccurrenceor
theseverityofnegative impactsfromclimaterisks,althoughtheycanprovideincen-
tives to that end (Linnerooth-Bayer andMechler 2009).Moreover, inappropriately
constructed insurance schemes can have unwanted consequences andmay neither
benefit thepoornor foster climate resilience (VividEconomics2015).
What seems to be needed to appropriately address L&D is something like the
“Multi-Window Mechanism to address loss and damage” suggested by AOSIS
(AOSIS 2008) or what Roderick and Verheyen (2008) as well as Burkett (2014)
call a “CompensationProtocol” anda“Small IslandCompensationandRehabilita-
tionCommission todealwith impactsof slow-onsetprocesses” (alsocf.Boranand
Heath2016).9However,inoursuggestedframingthefocusofsuchinstitutionswould
notonlybeoncompensationandidentifying thewrong-doersbut ratherondistribu-
tive justice.Thiswouldamount to redistributivemechanismsaimingat eveningout
9ThemechanismsuggestedbyAOSISconsistsof three inter-dependent components: (1) an insur-
ancecomponent, (2)arehabilitation/compensatorycomponent,and(3)ariskmanagementcompo-
nent,which taken together aimatenhancingoverall adaptivecapacities inSIDS.
Loss and Damage from Climate Change
Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Titel
- Loss and Damage from Climate Change
- Untertitel
- Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Autoren
- Reinhard Mechler
- Laurens M. Bouwer
- Thomas Schinko
- Swenja Surminski
- JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
- Verlag
- Springer Open
- Datum
- 2019
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-72026-5
- Abmessungen
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Seiten
- 580
- Schlagwörter
- Environment, Climate change, Environmental law, Environmental policy, Risk management
- Kategorien
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima