Loss and damage, here and now

By Joydeep Gupta, Project Director

It is now known that human societies are not able to adapt to all the impacts of climate change. There is now so much extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, so little effort to mitigate emissions, even less for adaptation, that impacts are occurring and will continue —with more severity and higher frequency.

The inevitable consequences are loss and damage. A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) looks at the extent of loss and damage the world can expect, and what can possibly be done about it.

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reconfirms that as the world has become 0.85 degree Celsius warmer than in the late 19th century, climate change is making storms, floods and droughts more severe and frequent and raising the sea level. Going by this, countries — especially in the tropical zone — have been facing loss and damage due to climate change since at least the 1990s.