Handbook for assessing loss and damage in vulnerable communities

Organizational

General Information:

Author: Van der Geest, K., Schindler, M.

Year of publication: 2017

Available languages: English

Details of Assessment:

Type of assessment: Comprehensive impact and risk assessment

Format of assessment: Guideline

Details: Handbook

Estimated costs for conducting: 20000 USD

Estimated duration of assessment: Approximately 24 days

To be carried out by whom: Consultants (climate experts)

Institutional scale of use: Local/community

Assesment to be used by which target audience: Local decision makers

Output: Excel sheet

Details: Diverse outputs ranging from maps, qualitative / narrative information up to facts and figures

Methodological

Coverage & Methodology:

Region of origin: Europe

Developed by which sector: Science

Applied in practice: Yes

Geographic coverage in analysis: Worldwide

Potential geographic coverage: Worldwide

Sectors covered: Livelihood sector

Details: Depending on local livelihoods but mainly focus on agriculture

Method used: Mixed method approach

Description of methodology: Desk study, household questionnaire, Participatory Rural Appraisal, expert interviews, stories of loss and damage, participatory evaluation of CCA and DRR initiatives

Risk framework used: AR5

Risk components incorporated: All

Hazards and impacts considered in the assessment: Changing precipitation patterns, Coastal erosion, Cyclone (including tropical storm, hurricane and typhoon), Desertification, Flood, Landslide, Sea level rise

Details: Climate/ meteorological data; literature review on relevant climatic variables and impact data, but focus on participatory data generation

Participatory elements: Yes

Details: Majority of the applied tools are of participatory nature

Consideration of interconnectedness and -dependencies of risks: Yes

Details: Form of interconnectedness explicitly assessed

Adressing uncertainty: Partly

Details: As the study is backward looking/focusing on current time, the uncertainty of climate projections is not addressed. However, uncertainty in the context of climatic variability is dealt with

Scope of assessment: Identification of risks, assessment of impacts, identification of adaptation options, priorization of adaptation options, identification of limits to adaptation

Details: Method aims to understand adaptation costs, limits and constraints

Relevance for losses and damages:

Economic/Non-Economic losses incorporated: Both

Details: Mental stress, health, loss of identity

Applicability for entire risk spectrum (from extreme weather events to slow onset processes): Yes

Details: Distinguished as slow onset processes reacted to via adaptation and extreme events that population copes with

Applicability

Recommendations for Adaptation measures included in Climate Risk Assessment: No

Details: Analyses currently implemented adaptation and coping action and evaluate their costs, benefits, constraints and limits

Usefulness for political purposes: Handbook seeks to support evidence-based assessments of L&D in order to facilitate decision making

Applied by whom: UNU-EHS

Open access: Yes