The Conference of the Parties,
Recalling the relevant provisions of the Convention,
Also recalling decisions 1/CP.16 and 7/CP.17 and the relevant conclusions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation at its thirty-fourth and thirty-sixth sessions,
Recognizing the need to strengthen international cooperation and expertise in order to understand and reduce loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including impacts related to extreme weather events and slow onset events,
Highlighting the important and fundamental role of the Convention in addressing loss and damage associated with climate change impacts, especially in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, including by promoting leadership, collaboration and cooperation, at the national, regional and international levels and for a broad range of sectors and ecosystems, in order to enable coherent and synergistic approaches to address such loss and damage,
Noting the relevant work undertaken by other bodies, work programmes and workplans, and processes under the Convention,
Taking note of the relevant knowledge and ongoing work outside of the Convention, including the Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, the Hyogo Framework for Action and the Global Framework for Climate Services of the World Meteorological Organization,
Reaffirming the need for Parties to take precautionary measures, in accordance with the principles and provisions of the Convention, to anticipate, prevent or minimize the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects, and underlining that the lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as reason for postponing action,
Appreciating the progress made in the implementation, and the importance of the continuation, of the work programme to address the loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change,
Acknowledging ongoing initiatives relevant to loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change at the national, international and regional levels and that there is a need to scale up these efforts, including by enhancing support and coordination in the broader context of climate-resilient sustainable development, 1.
Acknowledges the need to enhance support, including finance, technology and capacity-building, for relevant actions;
2. Notes that a range of approaches, methods and tools is available to assess the risk of and to respond to loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, and that their selection depends upon regional, national and local capacity, context and circumstances, and involves the engagement of all relevant stakeholders;
3. Also notes that there are important linkages between extreme weather events and slow onset events, and the importance of building comprehensive climate risk management approaches;
4. Agrees that comprehensive, inclusive and strategic responses are needed to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change;
5. Also agrees that the role of the Convention in promoting the implementation of approaches to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change includes, inter alia, the following:
(a) Enhancing knowledge and understanding of comprehensive risk management approaches to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including slow onset impacts;
(b) Strengthening dialogue, coordination, coherence and synergies among relevant stakeholders;
(c) Enhancing action and support, including finance, technology and capacitybuilding, to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change;
6. Invites all Parties, taking into account common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and specific national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances, to enhance action on addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, taking into account national development processes, by undertaking, inter alia, the following:
(a) Assessing the risk of loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including slow onset impacts;
(b) Identifying options and designing and implementing country-driven risk management strategies and approaches, including risk reduction, and risk transfer and risksharing mechanisms;
(c) The systematic observation of, and data collection on, the impacts of climate change, in particular slow onset impacts, and accounting for losses, as appropriate;
(d) Implementing comprehensive climate risk management approaches, including scaling up and replicating good practices and pilot initiatives;
(e) Promoting an enabling environment that would encourage investment and the involvement of relevant stakeholders in climate risk management;
(f) Involving vulnerable communities and populations, and civil society, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders, in the assessment of and response to loss and damage;
(g) Enhancing access to, sharing and the use of data, at the regional, national and subnational levels, such as hydrometeorological data and metadata, on a voluntary basis, to facilitate the assessment and management of climate-related risk;
7. Acknowledges the further work to advance the understanding of and expertise on loss and damage, which includes, inter alia, the following:
(a) Enhancing the understanding of:
- (i) The risk of slow onset events, and approaches to address them;
- (ii) Non-economic losses and damages;
- (iii) How loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change affects those segments of the population that are already vulnerable owing to geography, gender, age, indigenous or minority status, or disability, and how the implementation of approaches to address loss and damage can benefit those segments of the population;
- (iv) How to identify and develop appropriate approaches to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including to address slow onset events and extreme weather events, including through risk reduction, risk sharing and risk transfer tools, and approaches to rehabilitate from loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change;
- (v) How approaches to address loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change may be integrated into climate-resilient development processes;
- (vi) How impacts of climate change are affecting patterns of migration, displacement and human mobility;
(b) Strengthening and supporting the collection and management of relevant data, including gender-disaggregated data, for assessing the risk of loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change;
(c) Enhancing coordination, synergies and linkages among various organizations, institutions and frameworks, to enable the development and support of approaches to address loss and damage, including slow onset events and comprehensive climate risk management strategies, including risk transfer tools;
(d) Strengthening and promoting regional collaboration, centres and networks on strategies and approaches, including to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including slow onset events, including through risk reduction, risk sharing and risk transfer initiatives;
(e) Enhanced capacity-building at the national and regional levels to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change;
(f) Strengthening institutional arrangements at the national, regional and international levels to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change;
8. Requests developed country Parties to provide developing country Parties with finance, technology and capacity-building, in accordance with decision 1/CP.16 and other relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties;
9. Decides to establish, at its nineteenth session, institutional arrangements, such as an international mechanism, including functions and modalities, elaborated in accordance with the role of the Convention as defined in paragraph 5 above, to address loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change;
10. Requests the secretariat to carry out the following interim activities under the work programme on loss and damage, prior to the thirty-ninth session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation:
(a) An expert meeting to consider future needs, including capacity needs associated with possible approaches to address slow onset events, and to prepare a report for consideration by the Subsidiary Body for Implementation at its thirty-ninth session;
(b) Preparation of a technical paper on non-economic losses;
(c) Preparation of a technical paper on gaps in existing institutional arrangements within and outside of the Convention to address loss and damage, including those related to slow onset events;
11. Requests the Subsidiary Body for Implementation to consider the technical paper referred to in paragraph 10(c) above in developing the arrangements referred to in paragraph 9 above;
12. Also requests the Subsidiary Body for Implementation to elaborate, at its thirtyeighth session, activities under the work programme on loss and damage, to further the understanding of and expertise on loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, taking into account the provisions contained in paragraph 7 above;
13. Takes note of the estimated budgetary implications of the activities to be undertaken by the secretariat pursuant to the provisions contained in this decision;
14. Further requests that the actions of the secretariat called for in this decision be undertaken subject to the availability of financial resources; in the absence of adequate additional funding, as indicated in the budgetary estimates referred to above, the secretariat may not be in a position to undertake the requested activities.
