Addressing Loss and Damage conference - practical action: summary report

1. Introduction: the Conference and this Report

We live in the era of loss and damage.^[1] The adverse impacts of climate change are no longer distant or theoretical, and both sudden and slow onset events are causing catastrophic losses and damages for people and the natural world.^[2] The people and countries least responsible for climate change are being affected first and most severely. From Somalia to Pakistan, and across the Pacific and the Caribbean, extreme weather events, such as tropical storms, flooding, droughts and heat waves, are increasing in frequency and intensity as global temperatures rise. These hazards are compounding one another in unprecedented ways, and are intersecting with slow onset processes, such as glacier melt, desertification, increasing sea surface temperatures and sea level rise, with devastating consequences.

On 11th and 12th October 2022 the Scottish Government in collaboration with the UN Climate Change High Level Champions (HLCs) and the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) hosted a conference entitled Addressing Loss and Damage: Practical Action.

The conference brought together representatives from government, civil society organisations, active citizens, private sector corporations, international development organisations and financial institutions. A key conference purpose was to listen to the views of people from the Global South and marginalised groups – often those most impacted by losses and damages. Delegates considered evidence of good practice, shared lessons learned, asked probing questions and engaged in deliberative dialogues that were participatory, inclusive and solutions-oriented.

Each day included keynote presentations and plenary sessions followed by breakout room discussions, in which invited experts presented case studies. The first day of the conference focused on how to mobilise increased levels of loss and damage finance from existing and innovative new public and private sector sources. On day two the focus shifted to examine how practical action can be delivered more effectively to the people and places that need it.

The conference culminated in deliberative dialogues where delegates worked collaboratively, sharing ideas on how different types of finance could be mobilised to deliver particular types of intervention to address loss and damage, and how the following principles of good practice might be put into action when mobilising finance and delivering interventions:

• Urgency of Action
• Equitable and Targeted
• Responsive to Context
• Adequate to meet Real Need
• Accessible to All
• Historical Responsibility and Polluter Pays
• Creative Communication and Shared Learning
• Transparency and Accountability
• Far-sighted and Do No Harm.

This report presents a summary of discussions that took place between hundreds of conference delegates, and do not reflect the position of the Scottish Government, the HLCs or the GRP.

The information generated by the conference will be further used to develop a policy analysis and synthesis report to be published early in 2023, which will also take account of outcomes from COP27.