Addressing Loss and Damage conference - practical action: summary report

9. Concluding Remarks

As evidenced through the conference presentations and discussions, as well as the wider global discourse, addressing loss and damage is fraught with barriers and challenges. Overcoming current limitations requires ambition, commitment and a willingness to bring about change. The conference brought together many actors committed to doing just that. As one attendee put it, “this is a conference of doers not talkers.”

To this purpose, the conference sought to identify and develop ideas for practical action for addressing loss and damage in a way which begins to consider the full range of possibilities. The information generated through the conference will be used to prepare a synthesis report as a comprehensive compendium of evidence to support policymaking for loss and damage. This will showcase over 30 case studies which have the potential to be similarly applied, replicated and scaled up. This will be published in early 2023 and seeks to demystify loss and damage funding for urgent mobilisation and distribution.

However, as highlighted in section 8, a focus on the urgency to act must not lose sight of the prerequisite for a human rights-based approach, and care must be taken to ensure climate justice values are enacted at every stage. Attendees’ in-depth discussions around SEI’s proposed principles for addressing loss and damage explored what this means practically.

The Scottish Government is committed to translating SEI’s principles and the conference insights into practice by embedding them not only within our loss and damage programming, but also in our wider international work. The Scottish Government, HLCs and the GRP will actively invite others to do likewise and will take these *insights from the conference to COP27 to inform discussions and catalyse increased ambition to directly address loss and damage.