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222 K.vanderGeest et al.
implicationsforlossesanddamagestopeopleandsociety.It introducesaconceptual
frameworkforstudyingthesecomplexrelationsandappliesthisframeworktoacase
studyofmulti-annualdrought in theWest-AfricanSahel.Thecasestudyshows that
causal linksbetweenclimatechangeandaspecificevent,withsubsequent lossesand
damages, areoftencomplicated.Oversimplificationmustbeavoidedand the roleof
various factors, suchasgovernanceormanagement of natural resources, shouldbe
at thecentreof future research.
Keywords LossandDamage ·Climatechange ·Ecosystemservices
Livelihoods ·Adaptation limits andconstraints ·Sahel ·Africa
9.1 Introduction
Climate change amplifies extremeweather events such as heatwaves and extreme
rainfall,with implications for losses anddamages affectingvulnerable populations
around theworld.Global surface temperature has increased alreadyon average by
0.85 °C relative to pre-industrial temperature (IPCC 2014), and there is evidence
that evenwithveryambitiousmitigationmeasures, theEarth’s atmospheric system
mayalreadybecommitted towarmingofapproximately1.5°Cabovepre-industrial
levels by2050 (WorldBank2014).Whilemitigation continues tobeof paramount
importance to limit lossesanddamages, theextentandmagnitudeofclimatechange
impactswillalmostcertainly increase in thefuture.Decisionmakerswillneed tobe
prepared to implement both adaptation and risk reductionmeasures to avoid losses
anddamagesandasuiteofotherapproacheswithincomprehensiveriskmanagement
frameworks toaddress lossesanddamages that arenot averted (see introductionby
Mechler et al. 2018).
DefiningLossesandDamages
No universally agreed-upon definition of losses and damages as part of the Loss
andDamagedebate exists, and afit-for-purposeworkingdefinition varies by scale
and purpose. This chapter refers to losses and damages as the adverse effects of
climate-related stressors that cannot be or have not been avoided throughmitiga-
tionormanagedthroughadaptationefforts (adaptedfromVanderGeestandWarner
2015).Lossesanddamagesoccurwhenadaptationmeasuresareunsuccessful, insuf-
ficient, not implemented, or impossible to implement; when adaptationmeasures
have unrecoverable costs; orwhenmeasures aremaladaptive,making ecosystems
andsocietiesmorevulnerable (WarnerandvanderGeest2013).
Verheyen (2012) makes an important and policy-relevant distinction between
avoided, unavoided and unavoidable losses and damages (see alsoMechler et al.
2018).Avoided losses and damages refer to impacts and risks that have been pre-
ventedthroughmitigationandadaptationmeasures.Forexample, ifanAfricanrain-
fedfarmerhasplanteddrought-resistantcropvarietiesthatyieldedwellinaseasonof
extremely lowrainfall, heor shehasavoidedadverseeffectsofdrought.Unavoided
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