Evidence from the Frontlines of Climate Change: Loss and Damage to Communities Despite Coping and Adaptation

New thinking and practical approaches are needed to address the threats to human security that climate change combined with social vulnerability pose for current and future patterns of loss and damage. Loss and damage is already a significant – and in some places growing – consequence of inadequate ability to adapt to changes in climate patterns across the world. Yet neither the literature on climate change nor on loss and damage fully reflects the circumstances under which households (HHs) manage climatic stressors, resulting societal impacts, and the consequences of not being able to adjust sufficiently to negative impacts. Policymakers need better information, empirical data and analysis of both the challenges and the potential solutions. In response to this need, the Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries Initiative carried out research to find out how the impact of climate change on society leads to loss and damage among vulnerable HHs. This question is answered here with findings from five countries across three major regions (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Gambia, Kenya and Micronesia). This report is based on that research and serves as a resource for future research.