Re-framing non-economic losses to non-economic impacts for effective policymaking: evidence from the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

Weather-related natural disasters such as hurricanes are becoming more severe and more frequent due to human-induced climate change. Small Island Developing States are particularly vulnerable to such events. These extreme events have economic impacts on people’s lives but are also associated with non-economic losses (NELs) that are not easily quantifiable. The United Nations Convention Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has tasked the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage to find ways to ‘address’ these losses. While the UNFCCC and literature identify NELs, these remain broad and high-level examples, potentially not applicable in local contexts. Therefore, international climate change policies that are developed to address NELs are at risk of being inadequate and might not address the needs of people affected. This paper addresses this research gap based on interviews with residents from the Caribbean islands Dominica and Barbuda who survived hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017. Responses show that the categorization of NELs under the UNFCCC only partially aligns with those NELs identified by interviewees. Firstly, interviewees do not make a distinction between economic and non-economic losses and secondly the term ‘non-economic loss’ is best expressed as ‘non-economic impact’ in order to encapsulate the full breadth of NELs. Both terms should jointly be considered as fulfilling ‘life-functions’.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The UNFCCC categories are not reflective enough of the broad range of non-economic losses (NEL) that exist.

• ‘Non-economic loss’ should be re-framed to ‘non-economic impact’ as a loss does not encapsulate the full breadth of losses identified by interviewees

• Another category for NELs is required as people do not always distinguish between economic and non-economic losses when economic items fulfil a life function

• The findings are detrimental for effective international and national policymaking

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• loss and damage
• non-economic losses
• small island developing states
• UNFCCC
• extreme weather events
• Warsaw International Mechanism of Loss and Damage

Acknowledgements

There are many people that I would like to thank for their contribution, assistance and guidance. First of all, I would like give thanks to all the interviewees that supported me in my research by taking part in the interviews. Your time and sharing of personal experiences are very much valued. Secondly, I would like to thank Menelik Pascal for showing me around the beautiful island of Dominica and introducing me to many of its welcoming people as well as Lloyd Pascal for facilitating the fieldwork. Thirdly, I am grateful for the support of Max Raffoul who answered countless questions that remained of and about the geography of Dominica. Lastly, thanks also to Norman Norris who introduced me to many of Dominica’s fishing communities.

As always, I am grateful for the support of my supervisors Professor Jamie Pittock, Professor Mark Howden and Dr Koko Warner.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melanie Pill

Melanie is a social and political scientist at the Australian National University (ANU) with an Honours in Economics and a Masters on Environmental Management and Development. Her work focuses loss and damage from climate change impacts and the interplay between international policy making, particularly under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and its translation into a national context in developing countries. She enjoys convening courses in climate change policy, economics and environmental sustainability at the ANU.