Loss and damage funding arrangements: role of the Republic of Vanuatu in shaping global policy and practice

This study examines the evolving landscape of loss and damage finance within and beyond the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, highlighting the Republic of Vanuatu's significant role in shaping both global policy and national practice. Through a comparative analysis of Vanuatu's engagement in international processes, including at the International Court of Justice, and its domestic innovations, such as locally constructed loss and damage funding modalities, devolved decision-making, and grassroots policy-lab approaches, the study reveals how small island developing states have been able to drive conceptual and institutional advances in loss and damage resourcing. The study considers how principles of subsidiarity, complementarity, coherence, and direct access have been used by Vanuatu's political and technical stakeholders to contest dominant, top–down models of climate governance and provide a compelling framework for operationalizing new loss and damage funding arrangements, including the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD). The findings underscore the transformative potential of locally rooted climate justice approaches to reshape global funding architectures in ways that are more inclusive, effective, and grounded in the lived realities of frontline communities in small island developing states.