Developing an Institutional Framework to Address Loss and Damage

At the 2012 COP 18 in Doha, Parties agreed to establish institutional arrangements such as an international mechanism to address loss and damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the 2013 COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland. While the role of the UNFCCC in facilitating the implementation of approaches to address loss and damage has been agreed upon, there is still disagreement about what type of institutional arrangements should be established to allow the UNFCCC to best fulfil this role and meet the needs of developing country Parties. This paper outlines a three-pronged approach for addressing loss and damage comprehensively, that includes enhancing mitigation ambition, strengthening the institutions and processes established under the Cancún Adaptation Framework (CAF) to support adaptation within the UNFCCC, and establishing an institutional framework to address residual loss and damage drawing on key underlying principles.