Loss and Damage: Beyond Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience

Climate change has become a global reality. Many individuals, organisations and countries that were earlier sceptical about the true face of ‘climate change’ has come to their senses. Now, they have, more or less, have accepted the fact that the world’s climate is undergoing changes of profound nature. These changes are causing many natural havocs across the globe. Droughts are becoming longer and more extreme. Cyclonic storms have become more devastating and severe. Moreover, as temperatures rise, sea ice and glaciers are melting fast in the mountain ranges and polar regions. Owing to such devastating realities, concepts and measures like mitigation, adaptation and resilience are gaining currency. 

Bangladesh is the 7th most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. The climate risk management is crucial for Bangladesh. Over the years, the country has earned repute for minimising the negative impacts of climate change. This has been possible because of many years of conscious and planned investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation, leading to some sort of resilience. Still Bangladesh has a long way to go in minimising risks and safeguarding the interest of the poor and marginalised communities living in the coastal regions.

The World Bank has mentioned that the average tropical cyclones cost Bangladesh about $1 billion annually. One thirds of the agricultural GDP may be lost by 2050. It is mentionable that the agriculture sector generates the highest number of employments in the country. It is also projected that due to the negative impacts of climate change, more than 13 million people will have to leave their own areas and may become internal migrants in the next 30 years. Moreover, with the likelihood of severe flooding, the national GDP could fall by about 9 per cent. It is estimated that the country needs to spend about 3 per cent of its GDP which amounts to around US$ 12.5 billion for activities like mitigation and adaptation.    

As mentioned earlier, for countries like Bangladesh climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience are of paramount importance. Here, mitigation means human intervention that reduces the sources of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and enhances its absorption in nature. On the other hand, adaptation means taking appropriate actions in advance to prevent or reduce the damages that climate events can cause in the future. It is, in fact, the process of adjusting to the future changes caused by climate change. Meanwhile, resilience is defined as the capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the impacts of natural disasters while incurring minimal damage to societal well-being, the economy and the environment.

Experiences over the years suggest that the above measures like mitigation, adaptation and resilience are not, in many cases, enough to address or minimise the negative impacts. The other integral element in this context is ‘loss and damage’. Here loss means things that are lost permanently due to climate change such as human and animal lives, species, territories, water sources, ecosystems, livelihoods, heritage sites and languages. On the other hand, “damage” means things that have been affected by climate change but can be restored, for example, impacts on physical and mental health, soils, roads, schools, homes, healthcare centres, and businesses.

Here, it needs to be mentioned that loss and damage occur despite mitigation and adaptation efforts. Mitigation addresses the causes of climate change (like reducing greenhouse gas emissions) while adaptation deals with its impacts (like building sea walls to prevent flooding). On the other hand, loss and damage initiatives are concerned with the unavoidable and irreversible impacts of disasters and crises.

Multiple climate hazards are occurring simultaneously around the globe and resulting in huge losses and damages despite adaptation. According to an analysis done in 2023, between 2000 and 2019, the world suffered at least $2.8 trillion in loss and damage from climate change, costing around $16 million per hour. At Cop28 held in 2023, countries decided to initiate the Loss and Damage Fund with an intent to provide financial assistance to climate-vulnerable countries.

As mentioned earlier, Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Its low-lying coastal landscape and heavily populated delta makes it highly susceptible to catastrophes, including floods, cyclones, and earthquakes. People have been living in this delta despite being trapped in the never-ending cycle of loss and damage. Thus, recognising and addressing loss and damage has become increasingly important, especially for countries like Bangladesh as both monetary and non-monetary losses and damages are quite evident and huge in these countries. It is believed that the claim for loss and damage fund should get focus during any negotiation on issues related to climate change. In case of countries like Bangladesh, mitigation, adaptation and resilience are not enough to offset the fallout effects of climate change. We have to look beyond these and put equal, if not more, emphasis on compensating for loss and damage caused by climate changes.  

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The writer is a former Professor of the Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka