By Stephanie Andrei, Researcher, International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Bangladesh. (Southasiadisasters.net issue No. 120, November 2014)

When the decision to establish an institutional framework on loss and damage was made last year at the nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP), Typhoon Haiyan had just ravished through the Philippines days prior. While Yeb Sano, a delegate from the Philippines, gave an emotional speech on behalf of his country during the negotiations, humanitarian aid organizations were busy helping survivors and cleaning up the mess the super typhoon left behind. It was a clear demonstration that even for a country accustomed to extreme weather events, the Philippines was not well-prepared for a super typhoon. The devastation was incredible but one can only wonder how much worse it would have been if the typhoon had hit Manila instead.

The Asia-Pacific region is an interesting case study in this regard since it is characterized by fast development, expanding cities and high risks to typhoons, earthquakes and extreme weather events. Further considering most cities in the region are low-lying and located on a coast, it is expected that most countries in the region will face serious losses and damages due to climate change in the future (if they have not already). Yet most governments have been slow to respond, likely in part due to a lack of research and finances. Despite this, organizations such as the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) have started to support research and capacity building in the region to identify linkages between disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change adaptation (CCA) and loss and damage.

While large uncertainties exist as to the future of loss and damage in negotiations, research on the issue remains paramount since climate change will continue to test our ability to adapt and respond to climatic events. As was discussed in Kuala Lumpur at the APN Loss and Damage Workshop, researchers must ensure that the issue is framed in a way that supports CCA and DRR research while also ensuring slow onset events and non-economic losses and damages are not overlooked.

In an urban setting, measuring impacts therefore should extend beyond calculations of human loss and infrastructure damages during extreme weather events. In this regard, framing the issue and conducting research for assessing and addressing losses and damages will need to be informed by continuous discussions and the development of a new methodology. To a certain extent, doing so will help to support the argument that governments around the world need to devote more to mitigate their emissions and adapt to future possible climate scenarios so as to avoid losses and damages in the future.

As ongoing loss and damage research will demonstrate, climate change will test our ability to highlight our sensibilities to vulnerable societies and responsibility to protect our environment in spite of our obsession with measuring and calculating economic impacts.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of AIDMI.