Seite - 138 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

138 R.A. Jameset al. toconsidersocialscienceresearchtounderstandlossesfromdisastersatalocal level (e.g.WarnerandvanderGeest2013). Perhapsthegreatestopportunityfor integrationwithattributionresearchlieswith “disasterforensics”andrelatedfieldswhichseektoexaminepastdisasters,anddraw lessons for future disaster riskmanagement (e.g.Keating et al. 2016). Techniques include root-cause analysis (Blaikie et al. 2014),meta-analytical reviews (Mitchell 1999),longitudinalanalysisofmultipledisastersinaspecificlocation(Erikson1976; Oliver-Smith andHoffman1999;Kreibich et al. 2017), and retrospective scenarios (Joneset al. 2008). 5.4 Policy Implications:HowMightAttributionScienceBe Applied toSupportActions toAddressLosses andDamages? Todate, ithasbeenchallenging to initiatedetailedconversations in thepolicyarena about the potential relevanceof attribution science toL&D: inpart due to the con- troversy surroundingL&D, and the associationwhich is oftenmadebetween attri- butionandresponsibility,blame,andliability (seeSect.5.2). In thischapterweseek to highlight that attribution science itself does not aim to establish responsibility; and tooutline someof themotivations,methods, andfindingsofdifferent formsof attribution research, also consideringhow the integrationof thesefields could lead toa fullerunderstandingof the influenceofanthropogenicclimatechangeon losses and damages (Sect. 5.3).Now, having reviewed the available attribution evidence, weconsiderwhetherthissciencemighthaveanyusefulapplicationstosupportL&D mechanisms,policies, andpractice. Many attribution scientists have suggested that their research could be useful for adaptation and/orL&D(e.g. Pall et al. 2011;Mitchell et al. 2016; Parker et al. 2017b). Parker et al. (2017a)’s literature review highlighted that climate scientists frequentlyrefer tothepotentialapplicationsofPEA.However, theyfoundthat inthe L&D literature itself, including, for example, publications fromnon-governmental organisations, therewaslittlementionofattributionscience.Thissuggests that there isaneedforscience-policydialogue toexplorepotential applications (inagreement withe.g.Stott andWalton2013); and to this end, therehavealreadybeenanumber of studies involving interviews with decision-makers about the potential uses of attributionscience (e.g.Sippel et al. 2015). One potential barrier in identifying applications for L&D is that it is not yet clearexactlywhatactionstoaddress lossesanddamageswouldentail,withdifferent stakeholdersholdingdifferentperspectivesandpriorities(Boydetal.2017;Fig.5.1). Previous literaturehasalreadyhighlighted that thepotential role for science in rela- tiontoL&Dmightbedifferentdependingonwhat ismeantbyL&D,andwhatL&D mechanismsaimtodo(SurminskiandLopez2015;Huggeletal.2015a;chaptersby Lopez et al. 2018 andSchinko et al. 2018).Hereweexplore potential applications