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Abstract

This paper explores how communities in Kazakhstan are experiencing non-economic loss (NEL) from climate change impacts that can’t be captured by financial measures but are deeply felt. Based on qualitative fieldwork and interviews conducted in 2024-2025 across three regions (South, West, and North Kazakhstan). The results aim to illustrate the experiences and lived realities under which different households and social groups manage climatic stressors, the resulting individual, societal, and environmental impacts, and the consequences of not being able to adapt to climate change and unavoidable residual risk. I argue that to address non-economic losses, it is necessary to first understand climate risks and threats to communities. Then, institutions need to employ and deliver participatory, inclusive, and human-rights based approaches to avert, minimize, and address NELs. Additionally, existing inequalities and skewed power dynamics may exclude certain socially marginalized groups if not considered. This paper is based on published materials, including the UNFCCC technical paper on non-economic losses (2013 and 2024 updates).