Vanuatu’s Loss & Damage Policy and Implementation Roadmap

Vanuatu is a global leader in Loss & Damage action, and has become one of the first countries in the world to endorse and launch a standalone Loss & Damage Policy which includes a definition and well articulated framework for addressing the wide ranging and worsening climate impacts affecting Vanuatu.

The Government of Vanuatu launched this Policy in 2025 with the support of the Global Green Growth Institute and the UK's Small Island Developing States Capacity and Resilience Programme (SIDAR) to guide Vanuatu’s evolving loss and damage commitments and on-ground action in 11 key thematic areas:

• Governance of Loss and Damage
• Assessment of Loss and Damage
• Programmatic Approach to Address Loss and Damage
• Economic and Non-Economic Loss and Damage
• Extreme, Rapid and Slow-Onset Events
• Locally Led Action and Traditional Knowledge to Address Loss & Damage
• Displacement, Relocation and Human Mobility
• Uncertainty, Tipping Points, Extreme Future Risks
• Climate Justice, Protecting Human Rights and Upholding to International Legal Obligations
• Loss & Damage Finance and Means of Implementation
• International Engagement and Advocacy

Importantly, this Policy provides a clear theoretical framework for understanding the linkages among climate GHG mitigation, adaptation, disaster risk reduction, humanitarian action and long term recovery, and provides a capacity gaps and priority research areas. 

Web Viewable PDF embedded below, and document download link.