This explainer is written using information summary provided by Dr Neeraj Shankar for SPREP. The reporter was flown to Apia, Samoa by the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP) to learn more about loss and damage and to help amplify the stories from the Pacific.
Loss and damages are the harms caused by climate change that cannot be adapted to by communities, ecosystems and countries. Loss and damage according to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) refers to the irreversible consequences of climate change that surpass the adaptive capabilities of communities, ecosystems and nations.
The two categories of loss and damage are economic loss and damage and non-economic loss and damage. Examples of economic loss and damage include irreparable infrastructure damage such as destruction of critical infrastructure like homes, roads, schools that cannot be rebuilt or replaced with available resources.
