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Insights and expert analysis on climate issues.
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![The natural landscape is the foundation of the Bad River Band spirituality and traditional values.](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/laura-kessler-Le-KHmMp5No-unsplash.jpg?v=1706744698)
Climate change related non-economic losses are an important dimension of the Loss and Damage debate under the UNFCCC. This encompasses the loss of lives, of homes, livelihoods and traditions, in other words: losses that are not easily quantified and that most people would not want to put a monetary value. This guest blog illustrates what a community can perceive as non-economic losses and what it undertakes to deal with them – in this case Chippewa Indians from Bad River Bend of Lake Superior in northern US.
![Tegua Island residents, Vanuatu had to abandon their settlement for higher ground due to rising seas](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/vanuatu-80769_1920.jpg?v=1706744698)
The Suva Expert Dialogue 2-3 May in Bonn, and the technical paper it is meant to inform, are important next steps to furthering collective understanding of approaches to address loss and damage, associated finance needs, and sources of support. Here's what to expect from the two-day meeting.
![Flood damage in Fiji following Cyclone Evan 2012. Photo Aus AID public domain](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/Flood_damage_in_Fiji_following_Cyclone_Evan_2012._Photo-_AusAID_10695699133.jpg?v=1706965914)
By now it is clear that climate change is as much an economic problem as it is an environmental one. Rising temperatures slow economic growth and devastating climate-related impacts leave large negative imprints on economic development of developing countries. Most financial instruments that have been proposed in the context of loss and damage do not solve the problems developing countries face.
![A road in Dominica is littered with debris from Hurricane Maria.](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/Morning_after_Hurricane_Maria_37372721465.jpg?v=1706965918)
Loss and Damage at COP23 – goals, roadblocks and detours
Olivia Serdeczny
COP23 was hosted by a small island state, Fiji, and vulnerable countries thought it was high time to address the issue of Loss and Damage head on. The result from the first ‘islands COP’ is that it is obvious we are not driving in the fast lane however the goals are not out of sight either.
![Flooding in Bangladesh](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/_c800x400/weaving-5960930_1280.jpg?v=1706965919)
A year of climate extremes: a case for Loss & Damage at COP23
Bill Hare, Dr Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Olivia Serdeczny, Dr Fahad Saeed
Climate extremes, many now bearing human fingerprints, are already causing devastating impacts across the globe, and the time is high for Loss and Damage to be considered in concrete and actionable terms in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. But what are the next steps to really move this issue forward, and in particular what needs to be done at the first “Islands COP” in Bonn?