Summary:
- Loss and damage was one of the most contested issues at COP26 and will remain so at the forthcoming 2022 COP27 to be held in Egypt.
- The costs of climate impacts are likely to overwhelm most African states in the decades to come.
- Alternative instruments available to minimise the loss and damage resulting from climate change impacts, such as insurance and catastrophe bonds, although useful in many instances, present ethical and costly challenges in an African context.
- Loss and damage has been an African priority in global climate negotiations for more than a decade, but little progress has been achieved, particularly on the means to finance it.
- African negotiators and stakeholders should champion a well-developed and articulated position on loss and damage at COP27, so as to elevate the issue on the climate negotiation agenda and achieve consensus and traction on the proposed Loss and Damage Finance Facility.
