Climate-related loss and damage has been dominating international climate change negotiations in recent years. Until now we have had little understanding of how individual states are grappling with climate change destruction. Governing Climate Change Loss and Damage offers among the first book-length explorations of how loss and damage policy works at a national level. It focuses specifically on countries in the Global South on the frontline of climate change to identify new mechanisms through which key factors – climate risks and impacts, international developments, national institutions and the ideational landscape – shape policy engagement, development and adoption. Guided by an original theoretical framework and seven original empirical case studies, this book shows the way to more effective governance of loss and damage now and in the future. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

‘Loss and Damage has become the third pillar of international climate action. Crucially, we know little about how national contexts are embedding it in their domestic climate policy agenda. This insightful book offers an important comparative view of the domestic politics of Loss and Damage policymaking. The book is a must-read for those seeking a general theory and novel case studies on how national institutions and actors in the Global South have owned and adjusted to the issue of Loss and Damage in recent years.’

Federica Genovese - University of Oxford

‘This book shines a light on the reality of climate change. It documents what is being lost, who is in the firing line, and how this challenge is being tackled by governments large and small. Vanhala and Calliari have produced the authoritative source on how actions matter, from diplomats in corridors of power to fishers in the threatened islands of the Caribbean.’

Neil Adger - University of Exeter