LOST AND DAMAGED: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF CURRENT LOSS AND DAMAGE DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA

International debates on loss and damage are contentious, with ongoing discussions over definitions, responsibilities and funding mechanisms. There remains a notable lack of clarity on how loss and damage is measured and categorized. As negotiations at forums like COP 29 continue, it is crucial to establish a comprehensive understanding of loss and damage in vulnerable countries like India that face significant climate impacts but often lack the necessary data and frameworks to define and quantify these losses. To understand the landscape of loss and damage in India, this study presents a systematic review of 92 papers. Studies tend to focus on past impacts and only eight address future loss and damage. The gap is concerning: as climate change accelerates; understanding future risks, losses and damages, and residual risks becomes essential for effective planning. Non-economic losses, though growing in attention, remain largely unexplored in the literature, highlighting a research gap. Legal, financial and policy frameworks on loss and damage were absent from the reviewed literature. Crucially, the current peer-reviewed literature does not allow quantification of climate change-induced loss and damage in monetary values. We highlight challenges with defining, measuring and projecting loss and damage, underscoring the need for a national and state-level database that dynamically registers losses and damages. This will help inform adaptation and risk reduction efforts, facilitate compensation claims in global negotiations, and help enable near-accurate projections for potential loss and damage.