Loss and damage in tropical fisheries: a systematic review of people, climate, and fisheries

Climate change loss and damage research and policy includes biodiversity loss as a non-economic loss and damage. Yet there is scant understanding of what is loss and damage in tropical fisheries and how it is measured. We conduct the first systematic review of loss and damage in fisheries. The study uses a qualitative interpretivist values–based lens to examine fishers’ intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values in the literature. A systematic review was carried out on the interdisciplinary literature on fisheries in 2022–2023. Guided by criteria and questions, we identified 11 case studies that fit the criteria for loss and damage in fisheries (17% of total literature identified). All 11 cases reported economic loss and damage (e.g. income and fisheries catch). Many studies have reported non-economic loss and damage (e.g. loss of ecosystem services and species (82%), food security and health (82%), mobility (19%)). The results also show that loss and damage in fisheries are valued in a relational way to fishers’ livelihood, way of life, and well-being through for example loss of social and emotional well-being (73%), sense of belonging (36%), and identity (27%). Several studies underscore socioeconomic, political, and environmental drivers that intersect locally with climate change, such as overfishing and pollution (55%), or failure of international policies and development aid (37%). We suggest the current international policy framing of loss and damage risks undermining the understanding of local fishers’ everyday experience and argue for plural and inclusive ways of knowing and valuing loss and damage in fisheries.