CMCC researcher Elisa Calliari’s new book shifts the focus of loss and damage research from international climate negotiations to how countries actually perceive and implement these policies on the ground. “All the developments at the international level need to be backed by new or enhanced national governance structures, including laws, regulations and different stakeholders working together, to deliver results on the ground,” says Calliari.

The new book “Governing Climate Change Loss and Damage: The National Turn“, published by Cambridge University Press, comes at a critical moment, offering a fresh perspective as the international community prepares for COP30 in Brazil, where the operationalization of the newly established “Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage” and a major review of the Warsaw International Mechanism are on the agenda.

“Loss and damage discussions emerged within climate negotiations back in the early 1990s with Vanuatu’s proposal for an insurance scheme to compensate small island states,” Calliari explains. “For thirty years, the debate remained at the international scale. But at the same time, climate change impacts affect people and ecosystems in very real and local ways, and national policymakers and practitioners are starting to grapple with this at the local level.”

The book provides the first in-depth look at how national governments – especially in the Global South – respond to climate change loss and damage, showing that local priorities and decisions can differ sharply from international debates.

Read the full interview with Elisa Calliari here.