An ‘Islands’ COP’? Loss and damage at COP23

Abstract

The summer of 2017 can be characterized as the ‘summer of loss and damage’ for Caribbean small island developing States (SIDS) and other vulnerable countries. High‐profile extreme events such as Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the Caribbean region. The summer saw some of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic hurricane season. The impacts of loss and damage have developmental impacts as they can lead to death, insecure livelihoods, conflict, degradation of natural resources, and can compound existing developmental vulnerabilities and negate prior development gains. As a result, loss and damage is jeopardizing existing development gains in vulnerable countries, leading to what the authors call an unvirtuous cycle of climate‐induced erosion of development and resilience in these States. The 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and related meetings provided an opportunity to focus on island States and their climate‐related vulnerability. Given the highly topical nature of loss and damage in 2017, it was anticipated that significant movement on loss and damage would occur. However, as a result of the sensitive and political nature of the issue of loss and damage, and evolving negotiation dynamics, only incremental and procedural progress was made by negotiators on this front, perhaps understandably given the restrictions of the Paris Agreement and its related COP decision. The three key ‘asks’ of developing countries on this topic were not addressed by the COP decision. As a result, SIDS may be left with limited options to fund and cope with increasingly debilitating impacts of loss and damage.