Climate-related loss and damage is increasingly reshaping development pathways, livelihoods, ecosystems, health, culture and well-being across countries. While international arrangements on loss and damage have expanded rapidly—including the Warsaw International Mechanism, Santiago Network and Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage—effective action ultimately depends on how countries organize responsibilities, data, finance, participation and implementation across national, sub-national and local levels.
The publication Loss and Damage: Assessing Institutional Arrangements from National to Local Levels, developed by UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre and the Danish Institute for International Studies, examines how six countries—India, Mauritius, Somalia, Vanuatu, Viet Nam and Zambia—are developing institutional arrangements to assess and address climate-related loss and damage. The study combines institutional mapping, policy and legal review, and stakeholder consultations across government, civil society, international organizations and experts. It assesses four interconnected areas: institutional arrangements and participation; data sharing and reporting systems; operational capacity; and learning and scaling practices.
The analysis finds that L&D remains an emerging and fragmented policy area in most country contexts. Responsibilities are commonly distributed across disaster-management authorities, climate ministries, sectoral institutions and social-protection programmes. Although countries have important foundations on which to build, key gaps remain in explicit mandates, cross-sectoral coordination, local-to-national data flows, recognition of non-economic and slow-onset losses, meaningful participation, and sustained sub-national capacity. This webinar presents these and other key experiences emerging across the six countries. For instance, Vanuatu is notable for having developed a dedicated L&D policy framework and implementation roadmap, while Mauritius offers important insights into the challenges and opportunities of integrating L&D across existing climate, disaster-risk management and development institutions.
The webinar will launch the publication and provide a space for dialogue between country representatives, researchers and policymakers on what practical, inclusive and nationally owned L&D governance can look like in practice.
Speakers
- Fatemeh Bakhtiari, Senor Advisor- Loss and Damage, UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre
- Lily Salloum Lindegaard, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies
- Sidsel Koordt Vognsen, Chief advisor, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Divya Prakash Vyas, Associate Director, ICLEI South Asia
- Marie Stéphania Perrine, Independent Consultant, Mauritius
