By Denboy Kudejira (Post Doctoral Research Fellow – Unpacking Non-economic Loss and Damage in Africa)
What does it mean to lose your ancestral land, your dignity, or the memory of your home left behind due to climate disasters? These are not losses that can be quantified in dollars or easily rebuilt with aid — they are forms of non-economic losses and damages (NELDs), and they are increasingly defining the climate experience across African communities.
From 30 June to 4 July 2025, the Understanding Non-Economic Loss and Damage in Africa (UNELD-Africa) synthesis team convened in Cape Town, South Africa, for its first in-person meeting. Hosted by the African Synthesis Centre for Climate Change, Environment and Development (ASCEND) at the University of Cape Town, this workshop brought together scholars, policy experts, and practitioners from across the continent and beyond to lay the foundation for a new approach to climate loss and damage, one that reflects African lived realities.
A new chapter in the loss and damage story
Loss and Damage (L&D) has become an increasingly visible and critical pillar in international climate policy, especially since its formal recognition under Article 8 of the Paris Agreement. Yet, as climate impacts escalate, Africa continues to endure profound and deeply personal, societal, and environmental losses, many of which remain uncounted, uncompensated, and unacknowledged in mainstream policy and finance frameworks. The UNELD-Africa initiative seeks to challenge this invisibility. It represents a bold, timely effort to reclaim space for African voices, values, and realities within the global climate discourse.
The Cape Town meeting marked a turning point in reimagining L&D. It aimed not just to recognise NELDs but to co-construct a continent-wide knowledge base to understand, assess, and respond to these in ways that are just, inclusive, and informed by the lived experiences of the communities most affected.
Framing matters: More than semantics
A central theme of the Cape Town meeting was the power of framing. As Charles Kettering once said, “A problem well stated is a problem half-solved.” This insight rings especially true for the UNELD-Africa synthesis team. The way we frame a problem not only shapes how it is understood but also profoundly influences the kinds of solutions we consider possible and appropriate. The team explored multiple ways of framing NELDs, ultimately embracing a plural framing approach:
- Justice framing asks: Who is most affected? Who decides what counts as loss? Who gets compensated?
- Lived values framing explores: What do African communities value most (culturally, socially, and spiritually), and how is climate change undermining these deeply held and often intangible elements of life?
- Policy and institutional framing explores: How do national systems recognise or neglect NELDs? What mechanisms exist to address them?
By combining these lenses, the team seeks to avoid simplistic and narrow categorisations and instead unpack the complex, interconnected nature of NELDs within African contexts.
Focus areas: Health, agriculture, and (im)mobility
To make the assessment focused and actionable, the synthesis team is concentrating on three priority sectors for the continent where NELDs are both prevalent and poorly understood:
- Health – including loss of life, wellbeing, and access to care due to climate-induced diseases, stress, or displacement.
- Agriculture – not just loss of yields, but erosion of traditional knowledge, food culture, and land attachments.
- (Im)mobility – examining a spectrum of voluntary, forced, and constrained im/mobility.
Working groups were formed for each thematic sector, with co-leads tasked with adapting a common framework to meet sector-specific needs, ensuring both depth and coherence across the synthesis.
A framework anchored in equity and inclusion
The team co-developed an NELDs Assessment Framework guided by three core questions:
- What non-economic losses have occurred in health, agriculture, and mobility over the past 10 years?
- What are the drivers of these losses?
- What future risks or opportunities can we anticipate?
Critically, this framework embeds equity and inclusion at every step: Who defines what counts as loss? Whose knowledge is included? Who is acknowledged, and who remains invisible? This is not just about assessing climate NELDs — it’s about validating experiences, informing action, and shaping more humane and just climate responses.
Beyond the data, the team also discussed stakeholder mapping and knowledge dissemination. Supported by partners like UCT Libraries and the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), the team aims to produce accessible knowledge products, including policy briefs, infographics, and toolkits to inform African climate policies at local, national, and continental levels.
What comes next?
This work is just beginning, but the foundation is strong. The team will meet four times over two years in Cape Town, with the second full team meeting scheduled for February 2026.
