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Abstract
The years-long negotiations on an international
mechanism for loss and damage (L&D) associated with climate change
impacts got to a milestone during the nineteenth session of the UNFCCC
Conference of the Parties (COP-19), held in Warsaw in November 2013. The
COP established the Warsaw international mechanism, aiming to address
L&D associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including
extreme events and slow onset events, in vulnerable developing countries
(Decision 2/CP.19). The paper performs a Critical Discourse Analysis
(CDA) of COP decision 2/CP.19 in order to reconstruct developing and
developed countries’ positions on L&D and reflect on how the Warsaw
mechanism could be implemented. The analysis builds on Fairclough’s
(1992) three-dimensional model for CDA, and makes use of a wide range of
materials including previous COP decisions, High Level Segment
statements and Parties submissions to COP 19, press releases and other
relevant documents. The analysis highlights the lack of a common
understanding and representation of L&D by developed and developing
countries, with this fact ultimately hampering the possibility to define
specific tools to address the issue within the mechanism. The difficulty
to come to a shared meaning on L&D is due to its connection to other
controversial discourses under the UNFCCC, including that of
compensation for climate change impacts. As the concept of compensation
pertains to the field of international law, the paper explores the
appropriateness of the notions of State Responsibility for wrongful acts
and State liability for acts not prohibited by international law to
effectively deal with L&D. The paper concludes by discussing some
strategic options for developing countries to advance the L&D discourse within international talks.