CLIMATE AND GENDER JUSTICE - ANALYSEN - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
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ANALYSEN SUSTAINABILITY CLIMATE AND GENDER JUSTICE WHAT‘S NEEDED TO FINANCE LOSS AND DAMAGE? JULIE-ANNE RICHARDS
CONTENTS 1 Introduction 2 2 What is Loss and Damage? 3 2.1 Gender Implications 3 3 Politics of Loss and Damage 7 4 What Is Needed for Loss and Damage? Solidarity and finance! 11 4.1 An Example. Fiji: Cyclones and Rising Sea Levels 12 5 What Would a Climate and Gender-Just Approach to Loss and Damage Finance Look Like? 17 5.1 Enough funds should be mobilized in a fair way: 17 5.2 Money Should Be Managed Transparently, with Vulnerable People in Control: 18 5.3 Money Should Help Vulnerable People Facing Climate Impact and Empower Them 18 6 Do Options for Loss and Damage Finance Meet a Climate and Gender-Just Criteria? 21 6.1 Sources of Finance 21 6.1.1 Climate Damages Tax 21 6.1.2 Carbon Pricing for International Aviation and Maritime Transport 21 6.1.3 Global Carbon Tax 24 6.1.4 Existing aid commitments 24 6.2 Financial instruments 25 6.2.1 Insurance 25 6.2.2 Contingency finance 26 6.2.3 Catastrophe bonds 26 7 Conclusions and Recommendations 28
2 1 INTRODUCTION
Loss and damage (L&D) is the poster solidarity. Meanwhile rich countries
child for climate injustice. The inevitable have denied the very existence of loss
outcome of rampant neoliberal capi- and damage, arguing that having your
talism built on a system of making profits community destroyed in a climate fueled
by exploiting the natural world and storm, your farmland turned into desert
increasing inequality. L&D is the ‘exter- or your home inundated with sea level
nality’ of fossil fuels and other polluting rise can somehow be covered by ‘adap-
industries visited upon the people and tation’, and they have resisted all calls for
communities who have done the least to compensation.
cause climate change. Loss and damage has been a long
Those with the least power and the running and deeply unfair battle, with
least resources are the worst impacted. island countries and least developed
This, of course, means that commu- countries calling for climate justice
nities made vulnerable due to gender, on one side, and the most powerful,
sexuality, race, class, age, legal status polluting countries denying their respon-
and other intersections, are in the worst sibility for paying for the climate damage
position to deal with the impact, and the on the other. A feature of the climate
little they have is further eroded by loss negotiations since the beginning, a half
and damage, more firmly entrenching decade of intense negotiations may be
their inequality. Those dealing with L&D on the final stretch to address some of
are desperately in need of international this injustice.2 WHAT IS LOSS AND DAMAGE? 3
Loss and damage is when climate Loss and damage is being felt around
change impact goes beyond the limits the world, including in rich countries.
of adaption. If your island home disap- The string of devastating storms in the
pears under rising seas you cannot US, the now year-round wildfire season
adapt. If desert has encroached upon in California, the ‘sunny day floods’ in
your ancestral land making it impossible Miami and other low-lying cities show
to grow crops, you can’t adapt to that that even the most powerful nation on
either. If an extreme storm destroys your earth cannot bend nature to its will.
house and your community, we have But it is the poor countries and commu-
moved beyond adaptation and into loss nities that suffer the greatest loss and
and damage. damage. Africa is the most vulnerable
Loss and damage is now considered continent, facing extreme tempera-
the ‘third pillar’ of climate change, the tures, erratic rainfall, desertification and
first being mitigation and the second flooding. Likewise, South and South-East
adaptation. The Climate Action Network Asia face more extreme storms, more
suggests three criteria, or guiding erratic monsoons – dumping immense
questions, to help determine whether an amounts of water in short periods of
impact is loss and damage: time – and sea level rise. And it is poor
1. Was the impact likely caused, or communities, with the fewest resources
made worse or more pronounced, by to cope, who are most impacted.
climate change? One measure would
be if some or all impacts fall outside 2.1 Gender Implications
of normal, historical parameters or if If a group has fewer resources and less
they can be attributed either wholly or power it is likely to be more vulnerable
partially to climate change based on to climate impact. Women and other
established science. structurally disadvantaged groups are
2. Does it involve losses, including live- more vulnerable to the effects of climate
lihood assets, loss of something the change than men and suffer greater loss
community values and depends on, and damage. And they are frequently
such as loss of fishing resource, loss of overlooked in planning solutions.
ancestral land, loss of culture associ- To start with, women are more likely to
ated with traditional activities and loss be poor and they therefore have less
of the ability to undertake an activity resources to cope with the changing
like the inability to herd cattle? climate. Women grow much of the
3. D oes the impact require a signifi- family food but are likely to have access
cant change in traditional or existing to the most degraded land with less
livelihoods or way of life, going access to input like seeds, fertilisers and
beyond adjustments that could
be considered to be adaptation
and instead require an altogether 1 UN Women (2018) ‘Turning Promises into Action: Gender
different reaction outside of the Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’,
available at ‘http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/
realm of traditional approaches? sdg-report’, p. 119.4 water1 and often without control over the they often suffer the worst impact, they
land they till.2 also frequently step up to adopt roles
Their place in society, and the gender as activists and leaders in responding
norms that define it, increase women’s to climate impacts. For example, many
vulnerability to climate impact. The role displaced or relocated women take
of primary caregiver means that women on significant leadership roles in their
are less able to react to disasters than communities and have become the main
men. For instance, in the case of extreme breadwinners for their families. Whilst
events women who are more likely to these roles can offer opportunities for
have responsibility for children and the female empowerment, it is important to
elderly move more slowly out of harm’s recognize that new leadership respon-
way. They may also have less access sibilities can mean increased burdens
to information about the impending on women, in addition to their already
disaster, and less crucial skills, such as onerous responsibilities of both paid and
knowing how to swim.3 This leads to poor unpaid work.8 Women work an hour a
women and children being 14 times more day more than men and undertake three
likely to be killed in a disaster such as a quarters of unpaid work in developing
hurricane, typhoon or cyclone than men.4 countries under normal circumstances.9
Women are also more likely to be displaced Women and LGBTQI communities
by extreme flooding, or other climate deserve more focus and more access to
events, and when displaced they face an financing to address loss and damage so
increased risk of violence.5 The needs of that they can play a leading role in devel-
women, and LGBTQI communities, are oping and implementing solutions.
often not taken into account in disaster
planning. For example, care packages 2 Women make up 43% of the agricultural labour force in
routinely provided during disasters often developing countries and around 50 % in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, only 15 % of land in sub-Saharan Africa is owned
do not include female hygiene products, or managed by women, 13 % of landholders in India are
although a ‘dignity package’ is sometimes women, 11 % in the Philippines and 9 % in Indonesia. Burns,
B. ,European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi) (2017), available
provided for women despite the fact that at ‘https://wedo.org/pocket-guide-gender-equality-unfccc/’,
p. 4. 3 Huyer, S. (2016) ‘Gender Equality in National Climate
women are often the most frequent recipi- Action: Planning for Gender-Responsive Nationally Deter-
ents of care packages.6 mined Contributions’, UNDP, available at ‚http://www.undp.
org/content/dam/LECB/docs/pubs-reports/undp-Gender-
LGBTQI communities are also often Responsive-Equality-National-Climate-Action-20161114.
worse off than the rest of the population. pdf?download’. 4 UN Women (2018) ‘Turning Promises into
Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Sometimes bullied and blamed for the Development’, available at ‘http://www.unwomen.org/
en/digital-library/sdg-report’, p. 119. 5 Richards, J. and
climate disaster by local religious figures, Bradshaw, S. (2017) ‘Uprooted by Climate Change’, Oxfam,
or excluded from disaster responses that 2 November 2017, available at ‘https://www.oxfam.org/en/
research/uprooted-climate-change’. 6 UN Women (2018)
are narrowly targeted at heterosexual ‘Crisis Update: Restoring Dignity and Livelihoods after Storms
families, special effort is necessary to in the Caribbean’, 15 August 2018, available at
‘http://www.
unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/8/feature-caribbean-
ensure that loss and damage activities humanitarian-update’. 7 Dwyer, E. and Woolf, L. (2018) ‘Down
by the River: Addressing the rights, needs and strengths of
reach these groups who often suffer Fijian sexual and gender minorities in disaster risk reduction
systematic discrimination that can be and humanitarian response’, Oxfam Australia, February 2018,
available at ‘https://www.oxfam.org.au/oxfam-disaster-risk-
amplified in times of disaster.7 reduction-report-down-by-the-river/’. 8 Richards, J. and
Bradshaw, S. (2017). 9 UN Women (2016) ‘Redistribute
Women should not be seen as passive Unpaid Work’, available at ‘http://www.unwomen.org/en/
victims of loss and damage. Whilst news/in-focus/csw61/redistribute-unpaid-work’.5 Shaila Shahad, Bangladesh, Senior farmers there has been a feminisation Programme Coordinator (Gender and of agriculture. As climate impact forces Climate Change) at International Centre migration to the city, it is men that move for Climate Change and Development whilst women stay behind to care for (ICCCAD) family, with their mobility discouraged. Bangladesh is a highly climate vulner- Although mobile phones are popular able country, where women and men and prominent, even in rural areas, and have different levels of vulnerability before a disaster the government sends to climate change. Women have warning messages over the mobile unequal access to resources and deci- network, women don’t have their own sion-making processes, with limited mobiles, they use their husbands’ or mobility in rural areas. Socio-cultural sons’. Information is also shared at norms also limit women from acquiring the market or tea stall, but women the information and skills necessary to don’t frequent them. Women clearly escape, avoid or cope with hazards. have less access to disaster or climate Frequent disasters and increasing water change related information. salinity damage water points and sani- The Bangladesh Government has taken tation facilities, increasing the time for steps to improve disaster management women to collect water from two to five broadly and gender discrimination hours a day. Salinity in soil and water in specifically. There are Union Parishad coastal region also impedes growing Disaster Management Committees set crops. Menstrual hygiene management up at the local government level. They is an issue in these conditions. A key must ensure a representation of women reason for girls to drop out of school is of at least 30 %. However, it is very that they don’t have access to safe water rare for women to be represented in to manage their menstrual situation. leadership positions, like that of Chair, In Bangladesh women are not formally Treasurer or Secretary. recognised as farmers, which creates Gender differences play roles in obstacles for women to gain access to non-economic loss and damage. A institutional support. The government significant portion of women’s contri- provides support for small farmers, butions are non-monetary: household including input support (for seeds, and neighbourhood farming, rainwater fertilisers and so on), but their lack harvesting, household work and care of a legally recognised status means work. In Bangladesh women’s roles they are not eligible in most cases. The are very dynamic, very robust and they Bangladesh Government has an agricul- have to manage a variety of things, tural strategy to distribute land to poor with little or no leisure time. When a people. In the coastal belt of Satkhira disaster occurs, the household support and adjacent areas we didn’t find a women have built can be destroyed single woman who has received land or lost, for example household seed from the government as a crop farmer. storage. In cost analysis immediately Despite this lack of recognition as after a disaster, these are not counted.
6
An assessment of loss and damage promises made under the Warsaw
based only on monetary quantifications International Mechanism for Loss and
may not take into account the value of Damage to mobilise finance, thinking
women’s contribution. It is essential to beyond just disaster risk insurance,
include qualitative indicators, like face- and agree on an innovative source of
to-face interviews with women to get finance to address the impact of loss
the full picture of how quality of life is and damage on vulnerable countries
being impacted or hampered by climate like Bangladesh. Space must be built for
change disasters and risks. women’s capacity-building and lead-
Bangladeshi women need the inter- ership, using an equity and empower-
national community to live up to the ment approach.3 POLITICS OF LOSS AND DAMAGE 7
The politics of loss and damage is a denial campaign, 13 designed to sow
microcosm of broader climate change seeds of doubt on climate science and
politics: an ideological battle between undermine policy action, has meant
a neoliberal ‘green growth’ perspective that despite being responsible for 70 %
that sees capitalism as an overall positive of emissions,14 an agreement to end the
force requiring modest adjustments, extraction and use of fossil fuels has
and a more reformist climate justice 10 never been discussed within the inter-
perspective, that sees rampant capi- national climate talks. Fossil fuels, coal,
talism as the problem and seeks a system oil and gas are not even mentioned in the
change. Climate justice demands the UN Framework Convention on Climate
reconsideration of neoliberalism and its Change, 15 the Kyoto Protocol 16 or the
built-in exploitation of nature and each Paris Agreement.17 This demonstrates the
other, identifying the fossil fuel industry power and subtle tactics of this industry,
as a key part of the problem. It sees and their state backers, to ensure
addressing inequality, including gender that attention is directed elsewhere.
inequality, that is driving an unequal
society and excess consumption simul- 10 We used the Bali Principles of Climate Justice as articulated
here: https://corpwatch.org/article/bali-principles-climate-
taneously as essential. justice’. 11 Corneloup, I. and Mol, A. (2013) ‘Small Island
These two competing perspectives have Developing States and International Climate Change
Negotiations: the power of moral ‘‘leadership’’’, International
formed the backdrop for a battle between Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics,
the rich, industrialised traditional colonial November 2013, available at ‘http://link.springer.com/article
/10.1007%2Fs10784-013-9227-0’; Parks, B. C. and Timmons
powers of the ‘global north’ and the Roberts, J. (2010) ‘Climate Change, Social Theory and
Justice’, Theory, Culture & Society, Nr. 27 (2–3), pp. 134–166,
poorer, industrialising countries of the DOI: 10.1177/0263276409359018, p. 151. 12 Roberts,
‘global south’. The US and other wealthy J.T. (2011) ‘Multipolarity and the New World (Dis)order: US
Hegemonic Decline and the Fragmentation of the Global
countries have presented climate change Climate Regime’, Global Environmental Change, Nr. 21, pp.
through a neoliberal lens, framing it as 776–784. 13 Greenpeace (2002) ‘Denial and Deception: A
Chronicle of ExxonMobil’s Corruption of the Debate on Global
an economic and energy issue that can Warming’, available at ‘https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/
wp-content/uploads/2015/11/exxon-denial-and-deception.
be solved with technocratic solutions.11 pdf?a1481f’; Union of Concerned Scientists (2007) ‘Smoke,
They avoid reference to their historical Mirrors and Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s
Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science’,
emissions, or the economic model of available at ‘https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/
rampant capitalism based on fossil legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/exxon_report.
pdf’; Centre for International Environmental Law (2017) ‘Smoke
fuels, as the source of the problem. Rich and Fumes: The Legal and Evidentiary Basis for Holding Big
Oil Accountable for the Climate Crisis’, available at ‘https://
countries have instead emphasised that www.ciel.org/news/smoke-and-fumes-2’. 14 Griffin, P.
all countries have a responsibility to act.12 (2017) ‘The Carbon Majors Database. CDP Carbon Majors
Report 2017’, available at ‘https://6fefcbb86e61af1b2fc4-
These incredibly powerful countries c70d8ead6ced550b4d987d7c03fcdd1d.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/
would have us believe they are helpless cms/reports/documents/000/002/327/original/Carbon-Majors-
Report-2017.pdf?1501833772’. 15 Other than in relation to
to change their emission pathways, and ‘response measures’, fossil fuels are only mentioned to caution
against applying measures to countries whose economies
only market solutions are capable of rely upon fossil fuels. A reduction in coal, oil and gas is not
solving the problem of climate change. mentioned. 16 Oil, gas and solid fuels (coal) are only mentioned
in relation to the need to reduce their fugitive emissions, the
This manipulation has been enabled emissions accidentally emitted on extraction, not in relation to
by the most polluting industry on reducing their use. Kyoto Protocol: https://unfccc.int/resource/
docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf. 17 Paris Agreement: https://unfccc.
earth: fossil fuels. A well-documented int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf.8 Instead market-based solutions such as institution to deal with L&D the following
emissions trading and offsetting have year.20
been favoured that have resulted in Just as the 2013 climate summit in
continued emissions growth. Loss and Warsaw (COP19) was opening the
damage negotiations have followed a hugely destructive Typhoon Haiyan 21
similar path. decimated the Tacloban region in the
Loss and damage was raised at the very Philippines, killing at least 6,300 people.
beginning of the climate negotiations. It was the strongest typhoon to ever
In 1991 Vanuatu, on behalf of the Asso- make landfall.22 Yeb Sano, the lead Phil-
ciation of Small Island States (AOSIS), ippines negotiator, opened the meeting
proposed compensating small island with a powerful statement that his family
countries for damages from rising sea had been caught up in the typhoon and
levels.18 Small island countries and the he was still waiting to hear from some
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of them. He pleaded for action, asking
continued over the following decades to ‘if not now, then when? If not us, then
make the case for compensation from who?’, declaring he would fast in soli-
the worst impact of climate change, darity with his nation for the two weeks
framing climate change as an issue of of the conference until a successful
climate justice. Rich countries, on the outcome was agreed.23 This emotional
other hand, have refused to entertain the statement drew the world’s attention
very idea of compensation, deliberately to the issue and created pressure for a
downplaying the concept of polluter positive outcome on loss and damage.
pays and that their historical emissions This pressure propelled the years of
are causing harm, again preferring a work from vulnerable countries to
market-based solution: insurance. 19 success, and the Warsaw International
After arguing for decades for compen- Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM)
sation, which eventually came to be was established.24
called loss and damage, to be included The WIM was established with three
in climate negotiations, it was the functions: to enhance knowledge;
collapse of the Copenhagen negotiations strengthen coordination; and enhance
and climate impact becoming more action and support, including finance.25
pronounced, that led to the first serious The WIM Executive Committee was set
steps to develop a work programme up and has been meeting regularly since
on L&D being agreed at the COP16 in
Cancun. This work programme included 18 Vanhala, L. and Hestbaek, C. (2016) ‘Framing Loss and
a series of regional meetings assessing Damage in the UNFCCC Negotiations: The Struggle over
Meaning and the Warsaw International Mechanism’, Global
what loss and damage would mean in Environmental Politics, available at ‘http://discovery.ucl.
Africa, Latin America, Asia and small ac.uk/1478385/’. 19 Roberts, J.T. (2011). 20 Vanhala, L.
and Hestbaek, C. (2016). 21 Named ‘Yolanda’ in the Philip-
island developing countries. Subse- pines. 22 At the time, it has since been surpassed by other
stronger typhoons. Masters, J. (2013) ‘Super Typhoon Haiyan:
quently, at the climate conference in Strongest Landfalling Tropical Cyclone on Record’, 7 November
Doha in 2012 (COP18) a breakthrough 2013, available at ’https://maps.wunderground.com/blog/
JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2573’. 23 Sano, N.
was made as countries agreed not only (2013). Speech is available at ’https://www.youtube.com/
to continue the work programme on watch?v=7SSXLIZkM3E’. 24 UNFCCC (2013) Decision 1/
CP.19, available at ‘https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2013/
loss and damage but also to establish an cop19/eng/10a01.pdf’. 25 Ibid.early 2014. It has since been widely crit- doors) developed country negotiators 9
icised for neglecting the third function have manoeuvred this initial mandate
of the WIM, doing little or nothing to towards ‘financial instruments’, with
enhance financing for loss and damage.26 market-based private sector instruments
When the Paris Agreement was nego- the focus.30
tiated in 2015 loss and damage was Market instruments differ from solidarity
included as a stand-alone element, with a finance of the kind that was envisaged
full article devoted to it, widely seen as a with the language of the WIM Decision
victory for vulnerable countries. Article 8 and the Paris Agreement. Market instru-
of the Paris Agreement reinforces the ments place the bulk of responsibility
need for financing for loss and damage. on the population at risk, rather than
It states that countries ‘should enhance the international community. 31 For
understanding, action and support, instance insurance places responsibility
including through the Warsaw Inter- directly on the communities at risk by
national Mechanism, as appropriate, expecting them to pay an insurance
on a cooperative and facilitative basis’ premium whereas solidarity instruments
for loss and damage.27 This Agreement transfer responsibility to the international
was hard fought: in the lead-up to the community, ideally taking into account
Paris summit developed countries did a polluter pays approach. Gradually and
not want to consider the idea that loss
and damage would be incorporated in 26 Including: Richards, J. and Schalatek, L. (2017) ‘Financing
Loss and Damage: A Look at Governance and Implementation
the Paris Agreement.28 Rich countries Options’, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, available at ‘https://www.
did, however, insist on a statement in boell.de/en/2017/0 5/10/financing-loss-and-damage-
look-governance-and-implementation-options’; CAN
the accompanying Decision 1/CP.21 and BOND (2017) ‘CAN-Bond Joint Submission on the
Strategic Workstream on Loss and Damage Action and
saying that Article 8 ‘does not involve Support’, February 2017, available at ‘http://climatenetwork.
or provide a basis for any liability or org/publication/can-bond-joint-submission-strategic-
workstream-loss-and-damage-action-and-support’; Climate
compensation’, 29 thus underlining the Action Network (2018) ‘Submission on the Scope of the
need to ensure that funding is provided Technical Paper Exploring Sources of Support for Loss and
Damage and Modalities for Accessing Support’, available at
cooperatively. This statement does not ‘http://climatenetwork.org/sites/default/files/can_loss_and_
damage_submission_022018.pdf’; Gewirtzman, J., Natson,
in any way undermine the actual need S., Richards, J., Hoffmeister, V., Durand, A., Weikmans,
for financing nor the fact that countries R., Huq, S. and Roberts, J.T. (2018) ‘Financing Loss and
Damage: reviewing options under the Warsaw International
have agreed to provide it, in Warsaw, the Mechanism’, Climate Policy, available at ‘https://doi.org/10
Paris Agreement and in other Decisions .1080/14693062.2018.1450724’. 27 UNFCCC (2015) ‘Paris
Agreement, Article 8’, available at ‘https://unfccc.int/sites/
as well. default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf’. 28 Reyes, O.
(2015) ‘Seven Flies in the Ointment of the Paris Climate Deal
The Paris Agreement reinforces the Euphoria’, Global Justice Now, 15 December 2015, available
initial WIM decision, which includes at ‘https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/blog/2015/dec/15/
seven-flies-ointment-paris-climate-deal-euphoria’; Stabinsky,
calls to ‘enhance’, ‘facilitate’, ‘mobilise’, D. (2015) ‘Rich and Poor Countries Face Off over “Loss and
or ‘provide’ finance or resources. The Damage” Caused by Climate Change’, 7 December 2015,
available at ‘https://theconversation.com/rich-and-poor-
emphasis and repetition makes the intent countries-face-off-over-loss-and-damage-caused-by-climate-
change-51841’. 29 UNFCCC (2015) ‘Decision 1/CP.21, para.
to generate and disperse additional 51’, available at ‘https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/
financing for loss and damage clear. docs/2015/cop21/eng/10a01.pdf’. 30 Gewirtzman, J. et al
(2018). 31 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
However, though a series of non-trans- Change (2008) ‘Technical Paper: Mechanisms to Manage
parent steps (as negotiations on loss and Financial Risks from Direct Impacts of Climate Change in
Developing Countries’, p. 100, available at ‘http://unfccc.int/
damage finance are held behind closed resource/docs/2008/tp/09.pdf’.10 over time, solidarity-based proposals, Protection which aims to help devel-
including public sector interventions, oping countries ‘use risk financing tools
taxation and transfers from developed like insurance and contingent credit’.35
nations to vulnerable countries, have In 2019 the WIM is due to be reviewed.
been de-emphasised, whilst private This will no doubt be a hard-fought battle
sector insurance-type interventions have between rich countries who want to
been given a central role.32 emphasise insurance and place responsi-
The WIM ExCom has shown a strong bility on vulnerable countries to ‘manage
bias toward insurance schemes. In risk’ and pay insurance premiums and
fact the only concrete outcome from vulnerable countries and civil society
the WIM ExCom’s work on enhancing who will fight for the WIM to be fully
financing is a clearinghouse (a website operationalised to meet its mandate of
or wiki where participants can ask and ‘enhancing support, including finance’.
voluntarily answer questions) which The WIM ExCom have already commis-
focuses on insurance. sioned a technical paper, due mid-2019,
Parallel to the work of the WIM is a to inform the review that will have a
series of initiatives from rich countries negative influence. The outline36 shows
to support insurance. These include that it will allow developed countries to
InsuResilience Global Partnership, 33 count essentially anything as loss and
which came out of the G7 Climate damage financing, including already
Risk Insurance Initiative and has as its existing aid (or Official Development
objective to provide insurance coverage Assistance) funds. The technical paper
to an additional 400 million poor will lack an assessment of the needs of
and vulnerable people in developing vulnerable countries for loss and damage
countries, the Global Risk Financing financing and is therefore likely to be an
Facility (GriF) 34 funded by the World exercise in greenwashing and making
Bank, Germany and the UK to set up rich countries look good and will likely
national disaster insurance programs, further poison the political atmosphere of
and the UK’s Centre for Global Disaster loss and damage.
32 Gewirtzman, J. et al (2018). 33 Further information
here: ’https://www.insuresilience.org/about/’. 34 Further
information here: ’https://www.insuresilience.org/
world-bank-group-germany-and-uk-launch-145-million-
financing-facility-to-support-earlier-action-on-climate-and-
disaster-shocks/’. 35 Further information here: ’https://
devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-20 5231 https://
dfidnews.blog.gov.uk/2017/07/20/centre-for-global-disaster-
protection/’. 36 Which can be seen here: ‘https://unfccc.
int/sites/default/files/resource/ToR_TP_%20Final_210918_
version%200900hrs.pdf’.4 WHAT IS NEEDED FOR LOSS AND DAMAGE? 11
SOLIDARITY AND FINANCE!
In order to address the question ‘what is ladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, the
needed for loss and damage?’, the scale Dominican Republic). In fact, developing
of the problem must be considered. countries face six times as much direct
The 2018 Global Climate Risk Index from loss and damage from extreme events
Germanwatch reports on damages from per unit of GDP than rich countries,
extreme weather: storms, floods, heat losing USD 92 billion in total each year
waves, etc. It is only a partial calculation of on average for the last twenty years.37
the annual loss and damage for countries, Eight countries suffer average losses
as it only takes into consideration the of more than 2 % of their GDP annually:
direct losses of extreme weather, not the Belize 3.2 %; Dominica 7.6 %; Grenada
indirect impact (like food insecurity as a 7.5 %; Haiti 2.7 %; Marshall Islands 6.7 %;
result of droughts), and it does not take St Kitts and Nevis 3.6 %; the Bahamas
into account slow onset impact like rising 2.7 %; and Vanuatu 3 %. By comparison,
sea levels. Nonetheless it shows that loss the US, a developed country highly
and damage from climate-related events impacted by climate disasters, suffered
is already having a significant impact on an average of USD 40.3 billion in losses
developing countries. In the twenty year each year, which is a comparatively low
period from 1997–2016 the ten countries 0.3 % of GDP. These numbers are only
ranked with the most exposure to climate expected to grow as the global temper-
risk were all developing (Honduras, Haiti, ature increases and the impact of climate
Myanmar, Nicaragua, Philippines, Bang- change becomes more severe.
Table 1: The Climate Risk Index for 2016: the 10 most affected countries
Ranking Deaths per Absolute Losses Human De-
CRI Death
2016 Country 100,000 losses in milli- per unit velopment
score toll
(2015) inhabitants on US$ (PPP) GDP in % Index 2015
1 (40) Haiti 2.33 613 5.65 3,332.72 17.224 163
2 (14) Zimbabwe 7.33 246 1.70 1,205.15 3.721 154
3 (41) Fiji 10.17 47 5.38 1,076.31 13.144 91
4 (98) Sri Lanka 11.50 99 0.47 1,623.16 0.621 73
5 (29) Vietnam 15.33 161 1.17 4,037.70 0.678 115
6 (4) India 18.33 2,119 0.16 21,482.79 0.247 131
7 (51) Chinese Taipei 18.50 103 0.44 1,978.55 0.175 Not included
Former Yugoslav Re-
8 (18) 19.00 22 1.06 207.93 0.678 82
public of Macedonia
9 (37) Bolivia 19.33 26 0.24 1,051.22 1.334 118
10 (21) United States 23.17 267 0.08 47,395.51 0.255 10
Source: David Eckstein, Vera Künzel and Laura Schäfer, ‘Global Climate Risk Index 2018’,
Germanwatch, https://germanwatch.org/de/kri.
37 Calculated using Table 7 in Eckstein, D., Künzel, V. and
Schäfer, L. (2018) ‘Global Climate Risk Index 2018’, German-
watch, available at ‘https://germanwatch.org/de/kri’, and the
definition of developed and developing country, as Annex 1 and
non-Annex 1 as in the convention in the UNFCCC.12 As is clear from just this limited subset of of Fiji, demonstrating the risk that these
loss and damage costs, the need for loss countries face, and that at the moment
and damage financing is already signif- they are the ones who pay the price.
icant. Broader estimates of the future
cost of loss and damage and the need for 4.1 An Example.
international finance include:38 Fiji: Cyclones and Rising Sea Levels
– projected L&D costs in the range of On average Fiji’s annual asset losses
USD 0.3 to USD 2.8 trillion in 2060 due to tropical cyclones and floods are
with an annual average of USD 1.2 more than F$ 500 million, or 5 % of Fiji’s
trillion (Hope 2009); GDP, which could increase by 50 % by
– L&D costs for developing countries of 2050 (reaching 6.5 % of its GDP) and
around USD 400 billion a year by 2030, even further by the end of the century.
rising to USD 1.1 to USD 1.7 trillion a Unless action is taken to address today’s
year by 2050 (Baarsch et al. 2015); high emission pathway, rising sea levels
– global L&D rising to USD 4 trillion could mean that what are today 100-year
by 2030 with developing countries flooding or storm surge events could
bearing over 90 % of net losses (DARA occur on average once every two years
and the Climate Vulnerable Forum’s by 2100.40
Climate Vulnerability Monitor II 2012); Tropical cyclone and floods also translate
– L&D costs for Africa at just over USD into an average of 25,700 people being
100 billion per year by 2050, on top pushed into poverty every year (3 % of
of adaptation costs of USD 50 billion, the population). Rare disasters have
if warming is kept below 2 ºC (UNEP’s a much bigger impact: the 100-year
Africa’s Adaptation Gap 2 report 2015). tropical cyclone would force almost
The Climate Action Network therefore 50,000 Fijians, about 5 % of the total
recommends that at least USD 50 billion population, into poverty.41
a year by 2022 be provided in interna- Other natural hazards – such as drought
tional public grant financing for vulner- and landslides – were not quantified
able countries to help them cope with but add to these risks. For instance, the
loss and damage, increasing to approxi- economic losses caused by Fiji’s 1998
mately USD 300 billion a year by 2030.39 drought were estimated at F$ 275 million
These numbers are presented to give to F$ 300 million. Loss estimates also
an understanding of scale. The ‘at least’ didn’t take into account the increased
should be emphasised as further work health costs of more dengue fever,
is required, and care should be taken to diarrhoea, heat stroke and cardiovascular
ensure that ceilings or constraints are not and respiratory diseases. 42
placed on finance or clever tricks played
to make rich countries feel like they are
ticking boxes and short-change the
most vulnerable people facing the worst 38 Estimates from Climate Action Network (2018). 39 Climate
impact of climate change. Action Network (2018). 40 Government of the Republic
of Fiji (2017) ‘Climate Vulnerability Assessment: making Fiji
To better understand the vulnerable climate resilient’, 10 November 2017, available at ’http://
country’s experience of loss and documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/163081509454340771/
pdf/120756-WP-PUBLIC-nov-9-12p-WB-Report-FA01-SP.
damage, below is the specific example pdf’. 41 Government of the Republic of Fiji (2017). 42 Ibid.13
Ashmita Ashwin Kamal is a teacher at return to her school, which had suffered
Bayly Memorial School, in Fiji’s Rakiraki severe damage: the roof of the school
Province. had been ripped off, two classrooms
As Cyclone Winston bore down on the were badly damaged and most of
area in mid-February 2016 students the school’s resources – particularly
were sent home due to the heavy rain books – were destroyed.
and winds, and Asmita joined her family ‘I just felt like crying after seeing the
in trying to prepare their home for what school’, reflects Asmita. ‘That school
was to come. was beautiful. After the cyclone, I would
‘We tied the house down. We tried to say the school lost a lot of things. And it
tie it three or four times, but it was really was not safe for the students to come
difficult. As soon as my brother and and study in the school. All the students
father came down from the roof and we and teachers were relocated to other
went inside the house, half of our roof schools.’
was gone. Within seconds the other A year and a half after Cyclone Winston
part of the roof was gone.’ Asmita’s home and school are being
Asmita was tasked with protecting rebuilt. Asmita and her fellow teachers
her elderly grandmother and younger regularly attend climate change
brother and sister. For several hours, workshops to pass on the latest infor-
they were at the mercy of the storm, mation to their students, including the
huddled under furniture, waiting for the causes and impacts of climate change
calm. and emergency drills focusing on storm
‘I was sad and scared. My grandfather preparedness.
built that house when we were young,
and everything was just gone.’ Source: World Bank (2017) Shaping the next
generation of climate defenders: Asmita’s
For Asmita, the heartache of losing story. 6 November 2017, https://www.
her family home was compounded on ourhomeourpeople.com/#noqu-vanua
Although shockingly high, these below shows Fiji received roughly
averages still disguise the enormous USD 188 million from the international
costs of extreme events, such as 2016’s community, in a mixture of urgent
Cyclone Winston. The overall loss and humanitarian funding, longer term
damage from Cyclone Winston on public financing and loans, leaving the
Fiji was USD 1.4 billion, roughly 30 % majority, roughly 85 %, of the cost to the
of Fiji’s annual GDP. 43 As the graph people of Fiji.
4 3 Government of Fiji (2016) ‘Post-Disaster Needs
Assessment. Tropical Cyclone Winston, 20 February 2016’,
May 2016, available at ‘https://reliefweb.int/report/fiji/fiji-
post-disaster-needs-assessment-may-2016-tropical-cyclone-
winston-february-20-2016’.14 Fiji loss and damage from Cyclone Winston 2016:
total loss and damage USD 1.4 billion
UN Flash Appeal, USD 22
Other funding, USD 14
Australia bilateral funding
(cash + in kind), USD 27
New Zealand bilateral
funding (cash + in kind), USD 10
E U bilateral funding
(cash + in kind), USD 5
World Bank loan, USD 50
ADB loan, USD 50
emainder of unfunded
R
loss and damage, USD 1,203
Source: Author.44
The World Bank has estimated that – Establish a contingent line of credit for
almost F$ 9.3 billion (almost 100 % of F$ 60 million.
its GDP) in investments is required over – Purchase catastrophe insurance with
the next ten years to strengthen Fiji’s an annual premium of F$ 2 million,
resilience to climate change and natural with pay-outs for a greater than
hazards for decades to come, both 1-in-10-year tropical cyclone.
reducing risk and managing residual risk Let us leave aside how fair it is to expect
by making the population better able Fiji to pay insurance premiums and
to cope with and recover from shocks. increase their debt as a result of climate
The proposed investments total approx- risk (issues to be explored later in this
imately F$ 900 million per year in the paper). Even with these ‘improvements’
short term and F$ 954 million per year
over the medium term.45 44 Data drawn from Mansur, A., Doyle, J. and Ivaschenko,
O. (2017) ‘Social Protection and Humanitarian Assistance
The World Bank models three financial Nexus for Disaster Response: lessons learnt from Fiji’s tropical
cyclone Winston’, World Bank Social Protection and Labor
instruments for Fiji to manage costs Discussion Paper Nr. 1701, available at ‘http://documents.
related to disasters: worldbank.org/curated/en/143591490296944528/pdf/113710-
NWP-PUBLIC-P159592-1701.pdf’ and World Bank (2016)
– Increase the current contingency fund ‘Fiji Signs Loan Agreement with World Bank’, ADB, 18 July
by F$ 3 million to create a reserve fund 2016, available at ‘http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/
press-release/2016/07/18/fiji-signs-loan-agreement-with-
of F$ 4 million. world-bank-adb’. 45 Government of the Republic of Fiji (2017).Effect of strengthening social protection systems 15
after a 100-year tropical cyclone
Public Contingent Liability (F$ million)
300
250
200
150
Reserve Fund
100 Contingent Credit
Catastrophe Insurance
nfunded Public
U
50
Contingent Liability
0
Average 1 in 50 year 1 in 100 year TC Winston
Probabilistic Analysis
Source: World Bank calculations for Government of the Republic of Fiji (2017)
to Fiji’s funding of disaster response, 60 % increase in the social protec-
such options leave the majority of the tion scheme boost. They estimate the
cost, roughly 70 %, of a significant positive impact would be four times the
disaster of the scale of Cyclone Winston average annual cost of F$ 3.8 million.
unfunded. A fair approach to dealing But even this increase would still leave
with loss and damage would provide the poorest people (the lowest quintile
international loss and damage solidarity in the graph below) with big losses. As
to address such a huge burden of climate women are more likely to be represented
loss and damage on a small developing in the poorest quintile of the population
country. this is, in essence, planning for women in
There is further injustice within Fiji. The particular to be worst off after a disaster.
costs of a severe cyclone, like Winston, The gender-just alternative is to build a
falls disproportionately upon the poor. sufficient increase into the social protec-
Fiji has a social protection scheme in tion scheme to protect the poorest from
place that it boosted in the wake of all, or most, of the shock of the extreme
Winston, providing households with event.46
cash pay-outs, which helped people
recover from the cyclone much faster.
The World Bank recommended a further 46 Ibid, p. 119–121.16 Effect of strengthening social protection systems
after a 100-year tropical cyclone
Well-being losses (F$ per capita)
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
Poorest Income quintiles Richest
No post-disaster support Winston-like response Wider & stronger response
Source: World Bank calculations in Government of the Republic of Fiji (2017), p. 121.
Stories from Cyclone Winston after TC Winston where she financially
‘Straight after TC Winston, whenever supported us while I had to stay back
we came past these people, they home to look after nine people. I wish
would call out that it is ‘us people’ that the government had procedures to give
caused TC Winston. I asked them ‘what everyone the same so we could also get
people?’ And they said LGBTQ people. housing assistance and humanitarian
I told them it is climate change, not relief. Today we are still moving from
LGBTQ people.’ place to place looking for a stable place
‘My house was completely destroyed to stay and live like a normal lesbian
by TC Winston, then myself and my couple. If the housing assistance by the
partner had to struggle with living government was granted to people like
with my neighbour where we acted as us, we would have already built a house
sisters and not a lesbian couple. […] for ourselves.’
My partner went back to work a month Source: Dwyer, E. and Woolf, L. (2018)5 WHAT WOULD A CLIMATE AND GENDER-JUST 17
APPROACH TO LOSS AND DAMAGE FINANCE
LOOK LIKE?
In order for a climate and gender-just and damage support is not motivated by
approach to be achieved, loss and poverty reduction but rather by the harm
damage finance should incorporate the caused by carbon emissions. As loss and
following principles:47 damage is separate from adaptation, so
finance should be separate from and on
5.1 Enough funds should be top of the current inadequate amount of
mobilised in a fair way: adaptation finance (which is currently
Scale adequate for need: As previously drawn entirely from the aid budget). It
identified the scale of loss and damage must be transparently accounted for as
finance need is large and growing, such.
therefore a collective response of at least Precaution: The scale of need to address
USD 50 billion by 2022 and USD 300 loss and damage is already obvious,
billion by 2030 is an appropriate goal that demanding immediate steps be taken to
should be continually assessed against raise the amount of finance necessary.
needs. The absence of indisputable scientific
Polluter pays: It is only fair that those evidence or methodological clarity
responsible for causing harm are the ones should not delay the generation and
responsible for paying for it. This principle disbursement of funding; both should
is enshrined in international law and is progress simultaneously.
expressed in the UNFCCC as the principle Respective capability: Funds should
of ‘common but differentiated respon- be provided by those that can afford it.
sibilities and respective capabilities’.48 A country’s obligation to pay for climate
Those responsible are first and foremost damage (and other climate finance)
rich countries, the fossil fuel industry and should be in line with a sustainable and
other high polluting industries. universally accepted living standard for
Predictable: International financing for citizens. When it comes to companies, or
loss and damage should not depend other similar entities, paying for damage
upon donors’ or contributing countries’ they have caused this principle is not
changing priorities and conditions. relevant. Companies have declared bank-
Recipient countries need to have ruptcy in order to avoid paying compen-
planning security and sustainability
through long-term financing. L&D 47 These principles are drawn from the following sources:
Climate Action Network (2018), Richards, J. and Schalatek,
funding generated from innovative L. (2018) ‘Not a Silver Bullet: Why the focus on insurance to
financing sources such as levies or taxes address loss and damage is a distraction from real solutions’,
Heinrich Boell Stiftung North America, available at ‘https://
provides that predictability in contrast us.boell.org/2018/08/30/not-silver-bullet’; Schalatek, L. and
Bird, N. (2016) ‘The Principles and Criteria of Public Climate
to – in the absence of assessed contri- Finance’, Climate Funds Update, November 2016, available
butions – voluntary payments from at ‘https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-
documents/11018.pdf’; and Johl, A. and Lador, Y. (2012) ‘A
developed countries. Human Rights-based Approach to Climate Finance’, Friedrich
Additional: Loss and damage finance Ebert Stiftung, February 2012, available at ‘http://www.ciel.
org/Publications/ClimateFinance_Feb2012.pdf‘. 48 UNFCCC,
should be additional to aid (ODA), as loss Article 2.18 sation (asbestos) and in order to avoid Measurement and evaluation: At a
clean up bills (coal). Governments have fund level, and at a project level, evalua-
a responsibility to ensure companies tion of whether spending is meeting the
don’t escape their responsibility to pay principles outlined here should be made
for climate loss and damage they are publically available.
responsible for.
Cooperative and facilitative: The 5.3 Money Should Help Vulnerable
Paris Agreement outlines that finance People Facing Climate Impact and
(‘support’ in their terminology) for loss Empower Them
and damage should be provided on ‘a Slow onset events and extreme events:
cooperative and facilitative basis’. The to date they have received very little
accompanying explanatory Decision says funding, which should be addressed.
that the Paris Agreement doesn’t provide Human rights-based approach:
a basis for liability or compensation. Measures in support of equality and
the enjoyment of basic human rights
5.2 Money Should Be Managed (including right to food, adequate
Transparently, with Vulnerable housing, clean water, health, culture)
People in Control: should receive priority funding. And
Vulnerable country and community safeguards should be in place to avoid
ownership: Loss and damage finance the violation of rights or discrimination,
should be driven by recipient country with transparent monitoring systems
and community needs, not donor or and grievance mechanisms.
contributing country preferences. This Gender equality approach: Preference
should be reflected in the governance policies that offer co-benefits of gender
of the funding instrument: rather than inclusiveness and equality and loss and
being donor or contributing country damage objectives. Ensure that policies
driven, the governance should at a very do not further entrench discrimination
minimum be balanced with developing against women nor the unequal burden
country membership (as the GCF is) or of climate impacts and the policies to
dominated by vulnerable country deci- address them on women. For instance, in
sion-makers (as the AF is). a community where predominantly men
Transparency and accountability: fish and the fishing resource is lost due
Processes should be inclusive and trans- to climate impacts, livelihood retraining
parent, and individuals and communi- should be provided on a non-discrimi-
ties informed of the potential impacts, natory basis, so as not to continue the
ensuring that, where relevant, free, unequal position of women in society.
prior and informed consent is provided. Local ownership, subsidiarity and
Communities should have effective public participation: The provision
opportunities to participate in decisions of loss and damage finance should
and a means of recourse if the activities be driven by recipient country and
cause harm. Loss and damage financing community needs. Financing decisions
should be reported separately to ODA should be made at the local level as
and adaptation finance without double much as possible, giving communi-
counting. ties and affected people the possibilityof meaningfully participating in the (country or community or individuals). 19
decision-making process. The deci- For example, loans to pay for loss and
sion-making process should be gender damage from climate change that
sensitive and ensure the participation of vulnerable countries had no role in
indigenous peoples. would clearly be an unfair approach, and
Equitable or direct access for the most therefore loss and damage financing
affected: Loss and damage financing should be exclusively grants. Private
should be directly and easily accessible insurance schemes should also be
for all impacted countries, with special considered as to their appropriateness,
provisions for those considered to be ensuring that there is not excessive prof-
most vulnerable or affected. Within those it-making, that vulnerable countries and
countries, finance for the most impacted, communities are not being forced to pay
poorest and most marginalised popu- insurance premiums for a risk they did
lation groups such as women, LGBTQI not create, that the schemes are not so
communities, indigenous peoples should complex as to be not understandable to
be prioritised. Direct access should be the countries, communities or individuals
gender-responsive through approaches signing up for the insurance, that they
that are more easily accessed by women effectively deal with basis risk (the risk of
including small national and sub-national inadvertently insuring the wrong thing)
grants, setting up community-managed and that they do not have the unintended
funds or direct subsidies. consequence of entrenching inequality
Appropriate: The financing instru- by assisting those with insurable assets –
ments used to deliver loss and damage typically men – and leaving those
financing should not impose an addi- without – typically women – compara-
tional burden or injustice on the recipient tively worse off.
Tetet Nera-Lauron, Philippines, The decision to establish the Warsaw
Advisor, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung International was a 20-year uphill
Manila representative office climb, especially for small island devel-
oping states, to recognise losses and
A Matter of Climate Justice damages from human-induced climate
The effects of climate change are not change and the struggle continues
limited to developing countries, of today. Proportionally, the greatest
course, but they’re a far bigger problem economic and climate-related loss
for developing countries than for rich and damage occurs in low-income
ones. The morose irony is that these countries. However, rich developed
problems are not of their own making: countries have been up in arms
it is the rich countries which reaped the reluctant to accept loss and damage
benefits of fossil fuel-powered growth since the phrase evokes legal liability.
that are causing climate change and are The term has become hugely important
best able to shoulder its costs. to developing countries and climate20
justice advocates at the negotiations itself a very difficult challenge, be it in
and a big headache for developed sudden phenomenal disasters or in slow
countries. onset events. But it gets even harder
Loss and damage is basically what when one is to quantify non-economic
happens when mitigation and adap- losses and damages: how do we put
tation fall short and climate disaster a price tag on the loss of a homeland,
strikes. I consider ‘loss’ to mean the biodiversity, ecosystems and culture,
complete loss of lives, habitats and for instance? And how does one
species: once these are lost, these respond to attendant problems that
cannot be brought back. ‘Damage’ is come with extreme weather events,
for those that may still be mended. At such as climate-induced migration?
this point, no matter how much we cut It has been five years since Super
emissions or how much we prepare Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) struck the
for coming changes, there will still be Philippines and left a massive trail of
significant losses and damages from losses and damage: more than 10,000
climate change. killed with millions of pesos in damages
‘Leaving no one behind’ is the devel- to livelihood and property. How does
opment mantra, and this sense of one recover from the trauma of storm
solidarity applies well to the concept surges engulfing one’s home? Who
of loss and damage: that the global keeps the family together and cares for
community does not leave those most its members? Who scrapes whatever
affected and the poor to deal with the food and fuel is left behind and lets
risks of climate change. But this also family members eat first? Who gets
requires rethinking and reclaiming preyed on by the police and military
solidarity and historical responsibility when they set up camp near evacuation
as it means reining back those who centres or when they seal off areas and
have gone too far ahead in terms of prevent the community from going
economic growth at the expense of the back to their homes, which have been
historical and continuing plunder of the declared ‘unsafe and unfit’ but have
South through colonialism and neo-co- simultaneously promoted these coastal
lonialism (made possible through unfair towns to rich foreign investors? Women
and unjust trade deals, industrialisation, bear the disproportionate brunt of the
investments and financial architecture). impact of climate change, and loss and
Quantifying losses and damages is in damage demands a feminist solution.You can also read
