No One Left Behind: Addressing Data Gaps for an Equitable Loss and Damage Fund Distribution

Small island developing states (SIDS) are currently threatened by a range of climate-related hazards, including submergence, coastal flooding and erosion, and increasingly frequent and destructive hurricanes and typhoons. Due to existing social inequalities such as gender roles and discrimination, women and other vulnerable groups are disproportionately impacted by climate change, and their losses are not explicitly economic. Non-economic losses and damage (NELD) may include various dimensions of human mobility-namely, displacement, loss of territory, loss of cultural heritage, or loss of local knowledge, as acknowledged in the 2013 UNFCCC Technical Paper on Non-economic Losses. In order to leave no one behind, adaptation initiatives that give due consideration to non-economic losses constitute a more effective approach to responding to the societal and ecological impacts of climate change in SIDS. This side event will convene a panel of experts to discuss what data and action is needed for the international community to properly address the needs of the most vulnerable in SIDS, and how NELD can be meaningfully considered in an equitable distribution of the loss and damage fund.
Featuring:
Paola Ridolfi, Climate Change Adviser, World Bank Group
TeHilla Maloney, co-Chair, Caribbean Development Bank’s Future Leader Network
Dr. Marisa O. Ensor, Senior Climate Research Fellow, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
Moderated by Carla Koppell, Managing Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security