If you’ve followed our coverage of “loss and damage” at COP20, you’ll recall that the last process we were watching regarded its future in the decision establishing the trajectory for “the protocol, another legal instrument or agreed outcome” that is to be completed at COP21 in Paris next year. As it turns out, “loss and damage” did make into the the text of the final decision now dubbed the “Lima call for climate action.” Unfortunately, and deeply disappointing for the most vulnerable people and countries, it is captured only in the preamble in the form of “welcoming the progress made in Lima, Peru, towards the implementation of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts” (WIM).

As reported earlier, loss and damage appears in the “Elements for a draft negotiating text,” annexed to this Lima call for climate action, but without clear positive prospects.

Overall, we can state that the North-South divide so apparent within UNFCCC, continues to haunt the already emerging tragic future of those most vulnerable to, yet least responsible for the growing climate change impacts.