Loss & Damage Associated with Climate Change: The Legal and Institutional Context in Bangladesh

The study concludes that existing legal and policy frameworks provide a limited scope to assess and address both the current and potential future risk of loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change. However, the provisions of existing policies and laws related to addressing environmental harm, disaster risk management, resettlement and relocation as well as climate change and adaptation finance provide the basis to establish a legal and institutional framework to deal with loss and damage in Bangladesh. Taking into account existing and potential future loss and damage associated with climate change, this study outlines elements of legal and institutional mechanisms that will need to be developed in order to assess the risk of and address loss and damage. A compensation mechanism as well as a livelihood restoration and rehabilitation process will require a well-framed mechanism with coherent institutional arrangements from the local to national level. To reduce potential loss and damage it will be necessary to take protection measures including planned relocation and building infrastructure within an anticipatory adaptation, i.e. damage prevention framework.