Strengthening loss and damage response capacity in the Global South (STRENGTH)

After mitigation and adaptation, loss and damage emerged as the third pillar for international climate negotiation. Loss and damage refer to irreparable losses (such as loss of species, or land taken over by rising seas) and recoverable damages (damaged buildings, roads, power lines, etc.) from climate change. Research investments in the Global South that inform global negotiations on loss and damage are limited, resulting in a lack of evidence to support policy development and a lack of clarity on how vulnerable countries can formulate policy responses at the national level.

It is critical for loss and damage to be addressed with a greater sense of clarity at the 2023 global stocktake of the Paris Agreement. This requires a large-scale effort to systematically document a vast number of losses and damages associated with climate change extremes and slow-onset events. There is a risk that many important facets of losses and damages will be missed, such as how slow-onset events are causing loss of culture and human health, or how the species loss of plants and animals will jeopardize rural women’s livelihoods.

This project will support the development of country-level loss and damage policy and implementation mechanisms in the Global South. It will use a three-pronged collaborative research strategy: critical review of documented knowledge and discourse; country-level diagnostic studies and collaborative pilot policy actions; and a series of dialogues and knowledge exchange forums. The project will illuminate how strategies of loss and damage can be instituted in different policy and socio-environmental contexts, including lessons that can be learned from pre-existing risk governance systems.