The Government of Bangladesh has taken initiative to set up a national mechanism on loss & damage (L&D) through a two-year pilot project. Addressing loss and damage will require capacity building in certain key sectors especially in data poor Bangladesh. Drawing on the conversations with policymakers in Bangladesh, a review of scientific journal articles and technical reports, the policy brief, Designing a Comprehensive Institutional Structure to Address Loss and Damage from Climate Change in Bangladesh, describes the purpose, goals, and potential outcomes of Bangladesh’s national mechanism.
It also offers offers suggestions of what is needed to report and eventually address L&D in Bangladesh. Although these suggestions are no replacement for official governmental guidance, they provide insight on a number of central aspects associated with what needs to be done by governments to address L&D in a holistic and comprehensive manner.
Key Messages from the policy brief
1. Build a centralized climate change database to collect the data required to address losses and damages attributed to climate change.
2. Improve baseline field data collection and analysis on various aspects of socioeconomic vulnerability and resilience to climate change.
3. Increase autonomy for local governments in making decisions on finance, planning and implementation.
4. Co-produce knowledge between local communities and local organisations of knowledge generation and practice, to engage with decision makers about the needs of the community.
5. Streamline financial services and increase the availability of funds to the most at-risk people by expanding the reach of risk transfer tools and risk retention tools to help households and communities avoid loss and damage before it occurs.
6. Integrate DRR and CCA under the Comprehensive Risk Management Framework in local and national disaster management committees.
7. Finance Loss and Damage by utilizing national, international, and other innovative funding mechanisms.
The policy brief was produced by Tahura Farbin and Saleemul Huq from the DICE project. It is a collaboration between LUCSUS and the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, ICCCAD.
