Climate risks are escalating around the world. Now new hazards like heat are adding new forms of death and destruction. Simply cutting greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to our new climate is no longer an option. Many of the losses and damages that we see today are sadly now unavoidable.
With loss and damage now such a big deal, we think it’s important that developing countries especially those most impacted include it in their country climate plans.
What exactly is loss and damage?
At its most basic, losses and damages are the tangible impacts of climate disasters and their cost.
Losses and damages are not only financial, they can be physical and cultural losses too. Disasters can also result in severe health and wellbeing impacts from deaths, traumas and other psycho-social consequences. This makes the actual impacts difficult to measure and quantify. For example, a farmer whose crops wither away in a drought has a direct income loss. Whereas a bridge that collapses during a hurricane is a physical loss with many indirect consequences—until the bridge is repaired it could prevent members of the community from reaching markets to sell produce, make access to healthcare more difficult, or stop children from getting to school.
In some places the impacts of climate change are destroying historical and cultural heritage or altering people’s culture and traditional way of life. Many Small Island States are at risk of disappearing completely under the sea. Irretrievable losses such as these are impossible to put a price tag on.
Loss and damage includes unavoidable and irreversible climate impacts and should be monitored to understand the scale and inform climate action planning to ensure global and national climate action is targeted and is most beneficial to people and nature.
Country climate plans
National climate action plans are known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Through these, countries communicate their work towards climate related targets for emission reductions and other measures defined in the Paris Agreement. This international treaty was adopted by 196 countries in 2015, and it outlines how countries plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
In every country the NDC process needs to be transparent, inclusive and bottom-up, including the latest available scientific data and predictions. The process should be inclusive and respectful of human rights. This means engaging a variety of stakeholders across the environment, agriculture, transport, water, social welfare, gender equality, disaster preparedness and response sectors.
Every country needs to do its fair share. But as each country is different—with varying circumstances, resources, and abilities—they decide on their targets and contributions to the universal goal.
Many NDCs highlight how the changing climate will affect their country and how they plan to adapt to these changes. Taken as a whole, the NDCs add up to a global commitment towards meeting the aims of the Paris Agreement.
Many of the communities we work with at Practical Action are severely affected by climate change and vulnerable to a wide range of impacts and losses. For example, in early 2025, heavy rains devastated parts of Bolivia which only a few months previously saw wildfires tearing through indigenous farms . In the arid region of Turkana in Kenya, smallholder farmers face the opposite challenge; years of very little rainfall have led to severe droughts which result in food shortages and the loss of livestock that many depend on to make a living.
In a low-lying area of Bangladesh, Purnima Rani Biswasva lives in an area that’s prone to frequent flooding. Her life in Satkhira has been severely affected by climate change. Many people in the area work in agriculture, but rising sea levels regularly destroys crops and devastates harvests, as well as damaging the equipment and infrastructure needed to transport produce to markets.
“We face problems during the harvest season when it floods because the saline water ruins our vegetables”, Purnima explains. “When vegetables don’t grow well, I suffer.”
According to a 2021 report by the World Bank, flooding results in annual losses of approximately US $1billion in Bangladesh—that’s around 1% of the country’s GDP.
While the world struggled with the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, Purnima’s community were facing a double-dose of disasters: Cyclone Amphan hit the region hard, bringing devastating floods and fierce winds.
Purnima and her family fled their home, seeking refuge at a local cyclone shelter. “There was so much water everywhere,” she remembers. “Whenever we went outside, half of our bodies were immersed in water.”
Meanwhile the floods destroyed people’s crops and killed much of their livestock, leaving significant hardship for many in its wake. When Purnima returned home, the extent of the damage was immediately apparent: crops, vegetables, and fish stocks were destroyed, and many household items had been swept away.
NDC updates: the time to act
As part of the Paris Agreement, each country must submit a new NDC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) every five years, with the latest updates due in September 2025. NDCs include what the country commits to doing with the skills, budgets and resources it has. It also outlines areas where it needs international cooperation to help the country deliver more.
A country cannot adapt to sea level rise for example if it doesn’t have access to the engineers who can design the right sea walls, or if it doesn’t have access to the right technology it can’t benefit from the latest early warning systems to prepare its communities for imminent disasters.
NDCs are therefore crucial in defining national action, as well as outlining essential international cooperation to increase ambition.
This year presents an opportunity for countries to ratchet up climate action, responding to growing global threats. Now is a crucial moment to ensure loss and damage is included as a core component of these national plans.
Why include loss and damage in NDC’s?
Increasing losses and damages clearly demonstrate that mitigation and adaptation efforts have failed. Put simply as the climate emergency accelerates, losses and damages need to be better understood so we can implement corrective measures.
To implement the right approaches, Parties (countries) agreed to establish the Santiago Network at COP26 in 2021. This network aims to catalyse action by identifying, prioritising, and communicating needs and priorities. It connects the people who are seeking assistance with organisations, bodies, networks or experts who can provide it. Thus facilitating the identification of important issues, providing access to information and unlocking technical assistance.
Parties also decided that the Santiago Network would be provided with funds to support the delivery of this technical assistance.
Loss and Damage is a negative indicator of humanity’s progress in tackling the climate emergency,it is therefore critical that NDCs address escalating loss and damage.
What’s needed?
To properly capture current and future needs we outline the four steps that country’s need to follow when drawing up their climate plans.
- Define loss and damage in the national context – what are the impacts
- Describe current and projected loss and damage – the scale of the challenge
- Highlight ongoing responses to address loss and damage – what you are already doing
- Include specific contributions (targets) on loss and damage – highlight where you need help
Now is the time to include loss and damage in NDC updates so that countries better report on a whole of society.
To find out more, see:
Report: Loss And Damage Essential For Climate Action In NDCS 3.0 – WWF / Practical Action
Climate disasters are costing billions, but who should foot the bill? – Practical Action
Nationally determined contributions – Practical Action
Loss and damage – Practical Action