At LUCSUS researchers are studying loss and damage and adaptation to climate change through a lens of power, intersectionality, and climate justice. We analyse and link local and global events and contexts,  with a special focus on governance, marginalised groups, and non-economic loss and damage, which include intangible losses like loss of identity, culture, traditions and networks due to relocation or because of changes in people’s surroundings such as deforestation or sea level rise. 

Climate risks are cross-boundary, cross-scale, and multi-dimensional, and how we adapt to these risks requires an understanding of who and what is vulnerable, as well as who has the capability to adapt.

Loss and damage in Africa 

LUCUS is leading the first ever research network focusing on loss and damage in Africa. Established in 2020, it aims to develop research on people’s experiences of losses and damages from climate change, since many nations in Africa will, or are already, experiencing adverse climate change impacts. These effects willl exacerbate existing sustainable development challenges such as poverty and food insecurity. The network brings together Swedish loss and damage expertise with advanced African research on climate change impacts and policy solutions to mutually strengthen the international knowledge base and African scholarship in the loss and damage field.

What is loss and damage?

Loss and damage is the “third pillar” of international climate governance alongside mitigation and adaptation. When mitigation and adaptation fail, losses and damages occur.  Losses are permanent and irreversible, for example of human lives, health, species loss, cultural heritage, traditions and livelihoods. Damages are things that are damaged, for example degraded ecosystems, that can be repaired or restored. 

Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts (WIM)

The COP established the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts (Loss and Damage Mechanism), to address loss and damage associated with impacts of climate change, including extreme events and slow onset events, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change at COP19 (November 2013) in Warsaw, Poland.