Loss and Damage

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A woman scoops water in a dry river bed near Kataboi in remote Turkana County in northern Kenya (September 2013)

The English term Loss and Damage (dt. Loss and damage , officially mostly loss and damage , also loss and destruction ) is a frequently used catchphrase in environmental and climate policy : It describes the effects of climate-related stressors that occur despite efforts to To reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide in general and to adapt to climate change .

Losses are permanent, they cannot be restored. These include the loss of human life, the extinction of biological species or the loss of cultivated land due to rising sea levels. Damage is reversible, such as monetary losses or damage to roads.

Losses and damage can occur as a result of sudden events ( extreme weather such as hurricanes , typhoons or cyclones ) or as a result of slow onset and progressive processes such as the global rise in sea levels ; both in man-made systems such as settlement structures as well as in natural such as z. B. biodiversity . The focus in research and politics is on human influences. In the area of ​​losses and damage to human systems, a distinction is made between economic and non-economic losses: the main difference between the two is that non-economic losses concern things that are not traded as often in the markets.

Affected

Those affected by such losses and damage are, for example, farmers who can no longer grow grain as food or grass to feed their cattle because their soil has become too salty ( -> salinization ), as well as fishermen who have lost their livelihood because Rivers have dried up.

A qualitative data analysis of what the 5th assessment report of the IPCC says about loss and damage surprisingly shows that the term is used much more frequently in statements about the "Appendix 1" countries such as B. Australia , the European countries or the USA was used as in the text about the "Non-Appendix 1 countries", that is, most of the countries in Africa , Asia , Latin America and the Pacific region , which are much more susceptible to the effects of climate change are.

development

In 1991, while the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was still being drafted, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) called for losses and damage from climate change to be taken into account. They proposed the establishment of climate insurance to compensate victims of sea level rise.

The Bali Roadmap , the result of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in 2007 , called for funds to be made available for losses and damage in particularly vulnerable developing countries. In 2009, at COP 15 in the “ Copenhagen Agreement ”, a Green Climate Fund (GCF) for financial support for countries affected by climate change was mentioned; The fund was actually founded and set up within the framework of the UNFCCC one year later during the UN climate conference in Cancún (COP 16).

At the COP 18 , of 18th UN Climate Change Conference ( United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , UNFCCC) in 2012 Doha ( Qatar ) it took negotiations 36 hours duration between the participating 195 nations to a plan to create how to counter losses and damage caused by the negative effects of climate change, especially in countries that are particularly susceptible to climate change: the Climate Vulnerable Forum ( Round of Climate Vulnerable , CVF) was launched, and a corresponding website was created:

"The first dedicated site for news, resources and opinion on the issue of loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change
(the first dedicated site with the negative effects of climate change for news, resources and opinions on the issue of loss and damage ) "

- Climate & Development Knowledge Network 2012 : cdkn.org, NEWS: Loss and damage website launched

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has developed a work program for the topic of loss and damage: It aims to locate the problem in developing countries, which are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of climate change. From September 12-14, 2013, a meeting in Fiji was supposed to examine how best to define losses and damage from gradual events. Especially Bangladesh is already suffering from the corresponding consequences due to the rise in sea levels due to the flat topography in its coastal regions.

At COP 19 , the 19th conference of the parties to the UNFCCC in 2013 in Warsaw ( Poland ), the discussion on the topic almost led to the failure of the summit, the environmental groups Greenpeace , WWF , Oxfam, due to the tough and defensive stance of the industrialized countries and BUND left the meeting as before. Finally that was Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts -Institut ( International mechanisms for loss and damage associated with climate change impacts created) into life.

At COP 20 , the 20th Conference of the Parties in 2014 in Lima , Peru , a work plan of the board of the Warsaw International Mechanisms Institute was approved.

At the 22nd UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech in November 2016, the 196 states involved were able to agree on a way to achieve the target of 100 billion dollars annually in 2020 for financing climate protection and adaptation . In addition to the importance of avoiding and reducing damage, the participating countries also recognized losses and damage that can no longer be avoided and that they want to address in the future.

The 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 2013/2014 did not yet have a specific chapter on losses and damage, but “WG2” Chapter 16 on adapting to limits and constraints is very important for those who are interested in loss of damage.

It has not yet been decided whether the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report will have a chapter on loss and damage.

reception

In the popular press and in the declarations of some of those involved in climate negotiations, the term is often associated with the question of liability and possible financial compensation. This explains why the issue is causing heated debates and is helping to widen the gap between developed countries, historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions, and developing and emerging countries , which are more vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change . For endangered countries, the term primarily means discussing this past and focusing on current efforts: avoiding dangerous climate change and recognizing the limits and restrictions on possible adaptations.

See also

Portal: Climate Change  - An overview of the topic can be found in the Wikipedia portal Climate Change

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b deutschlandfunk.de , Interview , November 23, 2013, Achim Steiner in conversation with Jürgen Liminski : At some point the world will sign a climate treaty (November 20, 2016)
  2. ↑ Saleemul Huq, Erin Roberts and Adrian Fenton: Loss and Damage . In: Nature Climate Change . tape 3 , November 2013, doi : 10.1038 / nclimate2026 .
  3. ↑ K. Warner, K. van der Geest (2013), geest.socsci.uva.nl: Loss and damage from climate change: Local-level evidence from nine vulnerable countries ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . International Journal of Global Warming , Vol 5 (4): 367-386 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / geest.socsci.uva.nl
  4. ↑ A current exception is the paper Zommers et al., 2014, ehs.unu.edu: Loss and damage to ecosystem services  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. UNU-EHS Working Paper Series , No. 12, Bonn, United Nations University Institute of Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ehs.unu.edu  
  5. ↑ unfccc.int , Technical Paper, 2013: Non-economic losses in the context of the work program on loss and damage
  6. ↑ BBC Medienaktion, (bbc.co.uk), Arid Al Mamun: bbc.co.uk: "Loss and damage from climate change": a view from Bangladesh, accessed September 30, 2013
  7. ↑ K. van der Geest, K. Warner, 2015: What the IPCC 5th Assessment Report has to say about loss and damage ( What has to say the IPCC 5th Assessment Report on loss and damage ). UNU-EHS Working Paper, No. 21, Bonn, United Nations University Institute of Environment and Human Security
  8. ↑ UNFCCC - Subsidiary Body for Implementation (Ed.): Views and information from Parties and relevant organizations on the possible elements to be included in the recommendations on loss and damage in accordance with decision 1 / CP.16 . November 2012, p. 7 ( unfccc.int [PDF; 761 kB ]).
  9. ↑ UNFCCC: Report of the Conference of the Parties on its sixteenth session, held in Cancun from 29 November to 10 December 2010: Addendum Part Two: Action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its sixteenth session, Decision 1 / CP.16 ( PDF; 188 kB) Accessed April 19, 2013.
  10. ↑ loss-and-damage.net: Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries Initiative ( Initiative losses and damages in vulnerable countries )
  11. ↑ unfccc.int : Work program on loss and damage , called September 30, 2013
  12. ↑ Ainun Nishat, Nandan Mukherjee, Anna Hasemann, Erin Roberts, lossanddamage.net: Loss and Damage from the Local Perspective in the Context of a Slow Onset Process: The Case of Sea Level Rise in Bangladesh ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 30, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lossanddamage.net
  13. ↑ spiegel.de , November 21, 2016, Markus Becker: Industrialized countries duped poor countries at the climate summit (November 20, 2016)
  14. ↑ unfccc.int : Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts
  15. ↑ spiegel.de , November 20, 2016, Axel Bojanowski : Germany promises billions for global climate protection (November 20, 2016)
  16. ↑ unfccc.int : PDF
  17. ↑ badische-zeitung.de , Brennpunkte , November 18, 2016: End of the climate conference: poor countries want coal to be phased out ( memento of the original from November 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (November 20, 2016) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.badische-zeitung.de
  18. ^ Chronology - Loss and Damage. UNFCC Loss and Damage Workstream, accessed November 21, 2016 .
  19. ↑ Warner et al., 2013, ehs.unu.edu: Pushed to the limits: Evidence of climate change-related loss and damage when people face constraints and limits to adaptation ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info : The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report No. 11, Bonn, United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ehs.unu.edu