The loss and damage conversation largely centres around the economics of climate impacts. Losses and damages which are difficult to value on a monetary scale are termed ‘non-economic losses and damages’, often left out of the equation, and often misunderstood. Moreover, there is a limited appreciation of the connections between what is deemed economic and non-economic. The few studies that explicitly focus on non-economic loss and damage are commonly guided by the ’ten main types of non-economic loss’ established in a UNFCCC-affiliated paper in 2013. Therefore, societies have no say in what researchers and practioners focus on. This all leads to inaccurate representations of, and debates on, how people and societies experience losses and damages.

In this International Centre For Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) article from Douwe van Schie, Saleemul Huq, and Simon Anderson, the writers share how they have developed a values-based understanding to losses and damages for a new study in north central Bangladesh, how they are using this new approach and how it addresses the issues identified.