Addressing non-economic losses and damages associated with climate

change:
Learning from the recent past extreme climatic events for future planning
Contents

Forthcoming Events

Project metadata

Publications

Introduction

Objectives

Outline of activities

Expected products

Expected outcomes

References cited in the text

Forthcoming Event

A regional policy-science workshop on loss and damage in collaboration with

UKM-SEADPRI in October.

Project metadata

Addressing non-economic losses and damages associated with climate

Project Title change: Learning from the recent past extreme climatic events for future
planning (reference: CAF2014-RR08-NMY-Chiba)
Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), Kobe, Japan
Donor
under the Climate Adaptation Framework (CAF) of funding
2014-2015 (effective duration 2.5 years with no-cost extension of 6
Project Duration
months)
Project Team
o
Yohei Chiba (Mr.), Policy Researcher, Institute for Global

Environmental Strategies, Hayama, Japan

o

SVRK Prabhakar (Dr.), Task Manager and Senior Policy

Researcher, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies,
Hayama, Japan

Ainun Nishat (Dr., Prof.), Vice Chancellor, BRAC

University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Rosalina G. de Guzman (Dr.), Chief, Climate Data

Section, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA), Quezon City, Philippines

Sangam Shrestha (Dr.), Assistant Professor, Asian

Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand

Ajinder Walia (Dr.), Assistant Professor, National

Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Ministry of Home
Affairs, Govt. of India, Uttar Pradesh, India

This project closely collaborates with another APN funded project led by
UKM-SEADPRI (CAF2014-RR03NMY-Pereira) through shared
learning of methodologies and lessons.

Publications

Below is a list of recent publications produced by the project team (but not under
the APN project) that have contributed to the conceptualisation of this project:
o Challenges in assessing non-economic L&D of salinity in Bangladesh, In
Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum 2014, 1-3 October 2014,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Author: Ainun Nishat, BRAC University. IGES
Staff: CHIBA Yohei and SIVAPURAM Prabhakar, Presentations | 2014/10 |
Language: English
o Challenges in Assessing Non-Economic Loss and Damages of Climatic
Disasters, At Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum 2014, 1-3
October 2014, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Author: CHIBA Yohei and
SIVAPURAM PrabhakarPresentations, 2014/10, Language: English
o Study aims to price social, cultural costs of climate damage, Collaborator:
CHIBA Yohei; SIVAPURAM Prabhakar; Ajinder Walia, NIDM; Ainun
Nishat, BRAC University; Rosalina de Guzman, PAGASA and Sangam

Shreshta, Media Coverage, Author: Thin Lei Win, 2014/10, Language:

English
o Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation:
Stakeholder Perceptions for Shaping the Future Agenda of Asia Pacific
Adaptation Network, In IGES Research Report, Author: SIVAPURAM
Prabhakar and NAKATA Muneyuki, Contributor: HAKIMOV Aibek, Policy
Report / Research Report, 2014/03, Language: English
o Conference Summary International Conference on Adaptation and Loss and
Damage: Integrating Scientific Aspects 30-31st August 2013, Bangkok,
Thailand, In Conference Summary, Author: SIVAPURAM Prabhakar, IGES
Staff: SAWHNEY Puja; SINHA Banashri and NAKATA Muneyuki,
Conference Proceedings, 2013/08, Language: English

Go to top of page

Introduction

The losses and damages associated with climate change, including extreme climatic events
and slow onset events, are likely to increase, especially with non-economic factors and the
inter-linkages of phenomena leading to cascading, transnational effects (UNFCCC,
2012a). Non-economic losses in the context of climate change 1) occur in three distinct
areas: private individuals, society and the environment , 2) can be understood as losses
of, inter alia, life, health, displacement and human mobility, territory, cultural heritage,
indigenous/local knowledge, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and 3) may be directly
linked to adverse climate change impacts (e.g. loss of ecosystems) or occur indirectly (e.g.
malnutrition as a consequence of impacts in the agriculture sector) (UNFCCC, 2013).
The International Conference on Adaptation and Loss and Damage Associated
with Climate Change in Asia Pacific: Integrating Scientific Aspects, Westin Grande
Sukhumvit, Bangkok, Thailand , 30-31 August 2013 has provided ample inspiration in
designing and going forward with this APN funded project.
Urgent challenges include a lack of comprehensive understanding of the non-economic
losses and damages, assessment methodologies, and integration of non-economic losses and
damages into the decision-making process for policymakers. In many developing
countries, non-economic losses may well be more significant than economic losses, and
recognizing and managing the risk of noneconomic loss should therefore be a central
aspect of climate change policy (UNFCCC, 2013).

Taking some examples from submissions by Parties to COP 18; LDCs stressed the
importance of further understanding of noneconomic damages and losses, and that
neither assessments of the risk of loss and damage nor decision-making support tools
should favour economic over non-economic losses. Understanding and analysis of issues
such as social resilience, livelihoods, food security, and human mobility (migration,
displacement, planned relocation) must be included in assessments to give policy makers a
comprehensive view of loss and damage (UNFCCC, 2012b). As a result, COP 18
acknowledged the further work to advance the understanding of and expertise on loss and
damage, including noneconomic losses and damages in the decision (UNFCCC, 2012c).
In order to take into account non-economic losses on the decision-making process for
policymakers, various assessment frameworks have been developed so far, including
environmental impact assessment (EIA), strategic environmental assessment (SEA),
environmental risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis (CBA), wealth/capital accounting,
vulnerability assessment, disaster loss/damage assessment and climate change impacts,
adaptation and vulnerability assessment (CCIAV) (UNFCCC, 2013). However, these
methodologies have not yet been tested for their application to country-specific conditions
and hence have not yet been employed in real-world situation for decision-making
purposes.
Thus far, the decisions made by various stakeholders engaged in disaster risk reduction and
climate change adaptation have largely been based on the quantifiable and economic
impacts of climatic events. While this approach has helped to make certain progress in
disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, the emerging body of evidence,
recognising the losses and damages after adaptation and mitigation, suggest the greater
need to understand the non-economic losses and damages associated with climate change
and to incorporate this understanding into decision-making processes for climate risk
reduction (UNFCCC, 2012d). Keeping this in view, the research team intends to study the
non-economic losses and damages associated with climate change through case study of
recent past climatic extreme events in Bangladesh (floods), India (droughts), Philippines
and Japan (typhoon) and Thailand (urban floods).
The research will have three components:

to develop an assessment framework to identify and measure non-economic losses

for key vulnerable sectors (e.g., agriculture, water, livelihood and gender);

to identify range of best practices for addressing the non-economic loss and
damage; and

to develop policy mainstreaming guidelines addressing non-economic losses and

damages targeting key policy makers and practitioners.

This research will help improve our understanding of the non-economic damages
associated with the extreme climatic events (rapid and slow onset) and help introduce

necessary changes in the risk reduction, transfer and pooling measures including risk
insurance, compensation, microfinance etc.
As a result, this research is relevant to multi-trans disciplinary research and assessment of
impacts of extreme weather events and slow onset events at regional, sub-regional and local
levels (what are the gaps? what is the status quo?) and non-economic losses.

Objectives

The non-economic damages are the intangible damages such as severe pain, physical and
emotional distress and disfigurement, social tension and disruptions, impaired quality of
life and loss of services accrued from ecosystems associated with the occurrence of a
natural hazard. In general, non-economic damages have often not been taken into
consideration in most risk assessments, both climatic and non-climatic in nature and in
designing insurance and compensation mechanisms (UNISDR, 2010; Hoffmaister and
Stabinsky, 2012) and the non-economic losses have often not been reported in the most
post-disaster reports and databases (Swiss Re, 2012).
Part of the problem has been the difficulty in estimating the non-economic damages (Tol
and Fankhauser, 1998). As a result, the intangible damages have constituted a form of
systemic uncertainty in risk assessments (Green and Penning-Rowsell, 2007) and this has
become a bottleneck in decision-making for risk reduction. However, the newly emerging
understanding on quantification of non-economic damages and realisation of the need to
recognise non-economic losses incentivises us to incorporate non-economic damages into
climate risk reduction.
Considering these advances as well as the growing realisation of the need to look at the
non-economic loss and damages associated with climate change, the study will address the
following research questions:

a) How do non-economic damages differ between various climatic extremes such as

droughts, floods and typhoons?

b) What are the implications of assessing and integrating non-economic damages in

designing and implementing disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation
including livelihoods, insurance, compensation and planning?

Go to top of page

Outline of activities

The first and major part of the research constitutes the development of analytical
framework for assessing the intangible and non-economic impacts of extreme climate
events experienced in South and East Asian countries.
The non-economic and intangible impacts are identified, prioritised and measured in a
participatory manner through implementing structured questionnaire surveys using the
Likert Scale, focused group discussions and associated quantitative analytical techniques.
An expert consultation in the first year of the project will help in prioritising the pertinent
technical, practice and policy issues.
Quantifying non-economic losses and damages has been relatively well developed for
floods (Green and Penning-Rowsell, 2007; Lekuthai and Vongvisessomjai, 2001) compared
to other natural disasters. To bridge this gap, the study will do a comparative analysis of the
anxiety-productivity and income interrelationship approach (Lekuthai and
Vongvisessomjai, 2001) and damage indices approach (Petrucci, 2012) to evaluate the
relevance to other natural disasters.
In the second stage, the study team will qualitatively assess existing disaster risk reduction
and climate change adaptation measures, with a focus on financial instruments such as risk
insurance and compensation mechanisms, to assess the extent to which non-economic
damages are considered in designing these responses.
At this stage, the team will review and prepare guidelines for strengthening the adaptation
and disaster risk reduction plans and policies at national and sub-national levels for
addressing the non-economic damages.
The results of the research will be shared widely in various networks including the Asia
Pacific Adaptation Network, the South Asian Disaster Knowledge Network, and Action
Research for Community Adaptation in Bangladesh in which the team is actively engaged.
Expected products

Research reports, policy briefs, synthesis reports, journal articles, book chapters and
proceedings.
Expected outcomes

The methodology developed for assessing the non-economic damages associated with
extreme events and relevant case studies will help research, development and policy

community in developing climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction solutions
addressing non-economic losses and damages.

References cited in the text

1. Green, C.H. and E.C. Penning-Rowsell (2007).Flooding and quantification of

intangibles. Water and Environment Journal, 3: 27-30.
2. Hoffmaister, J.P. and D. Stabinsky (2012). Loss and damage: Some key issues and
considerations for SIDS expert meeting. Briefing Paper on Loss and Damage: 4.
SIDS Expert Meeting, 9-11 October, Bridgetown, Barbados.
3. Lekuthai, A. and S. Vongvisessomjai (2001). Intangible flood damage
quantification. Water Resources Management, 15: 343-362.
4. Petrucci, O. (2012). The impact of natural disasters: Simplified procedures and open
problems. In: J. Tiefenbacher (Ed.) Approaches to Managing Disaster-Assessing
Hazards, Emergencies and Disaster Impacts. Croatia: InTech Publishing.
5. Tol, S.J. and S, Fankhauser (1998). On the representation of impact in integrated
assessment models of climate change. Environmental Modeling and Assessment, 3:
63-74.
6. UNFCCC (2012a). A literature review on the topics in the context of thematic area 2
of the work programme on loss and damage: a range of approaches to address loss
and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change. Note by the
secretariat.
7. UNFCCC (2012b). Submission by the Gambia on behalf of the Least Developed
Countries Group on Loss and Damage. Views and information from Parties and
relevant organizations and other stakeholders, taking into account the outcomes of
the implementation of the work programme on loss and damage prior to the
submission, on the possible elements to be included in the recommendations on loss
and damage in accordance with decision 1/CP.16.
8. UNFCCC (2012c). Approaches to address loss and damage associated with climate
change impacts in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the
adverse effects of climate change to enhance adaptive capacity. Draft decision
-/CP.18: Revised proposal by the President. Doha: Conference of the Parties,
Eighteenth session United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).

9. UNFCCC (2012d). Approaches to address loss and damage associated with climate
change impacts in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the
adverse effects of climate change to enhance adaptive capacity. Draft decision
-/CP.18: Revised proposal by the President. Doha: Conference of the Parties,
Eighteenth session United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
10. UNFCCC (2013). Non-economic losses in the context of the work programme on
loss and damage. Technical paper.
11. UNISDR (2010). Disaster risk reduction tools and methods for climate change
adaptation. Inter-Agency Task Force on Climate Change and Disaster Risk
Reduction. Geneva, Switzerland: UNISDR.