Adapting to climate change: developing countries and the global response

There is a growing realisation that developing countries will be most severely affected by climate change through flooding, drought, and impacts on key sectors such as agriculture and water resource management. The response to climate change must therefore be ‘mainstreamed’, by incorporating adaptation strategies into development action and policy at local, national and global levels.

Historically, the focus of international policy on climate change has been on mitigation, or efforts to minimise climate change caused by humans: this is reflected in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Recently, more attention has been paid to adaptation, or efforts to respond to the potential impacts of climate change. Adaptation is particularly important in the most vulnerable developing countries and communities. A paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development in the UK looks at the challenges of adaptation and specific ways to incorporate it into development, particularly through funding the efforts of developing countries.

The UNFCCC negotiations held in Marrakech in 2001 created several funds to support the adaptation efforts of developing countries, such as the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) to plan National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF). They join the Adaptation Fund (under the Kyoto Protocol) and the Global Environmental Fund (GEF) as potential sources of adaptation funding.

The research finds that:

• Low levels of funding for the LDCF (US$20 million) and the SCCF (none so far) are linked to the decline in Overseas Development Assistance (ODA).
• The Adaptation Fund will be based on contributions from a ‘tax’ on transactions whereby a heavily polluting developed country can ‘buy’ a reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by funding a project in a developing country which reduces emissions. These transactions will only begin with the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol.
• Most GEF funding will be limited to projects with a global benefit. The majority of adaptation initiatives required will have local benefits, so will not be funded by the GEF.
• Communities most vulnerable to the impact of climate change are also those most excluded from the existing funding structures.
• There is a tendency to define adaptation as that required to adapt to climate change which is the result of human activity. This excludes adaptation strategies needed to respond to natural climate variations, and the wide-ranging benefits of such strategies.

The following actions are recommended:

• The UNFCCC has to agree on practical rules and criteria to best use adaptation funds to help developing countries.
• Developed countries must provide the additional resources needed to incorporate climate adaptation into development programmes.
• Developing countries must plan their strategies for adapting to climate change (for the LDCs this means completing NAPAs quickly) and take a participatory approach.
• The GEF and international donors must shift their focus from large projects to smaller local projects that respond specifically to the needs of the most vulnerable.
• Development NGOs and researchers must pay greater attention to the question of climate change and the impact it will have on development.

Given the nature of climate change, local to global adaptation strategies must be collaborative and long term, and should not be determined by the limited funding cycles of donors and research and policy bodies.

Source(s):
‘Mainstreaming Adaptation in Development’, IDS Bulletin, 35:3, July 2004.

id21 Research Highlight: 11 April 2005

Further Information:
Saleemul Huq and Hannah Reid
International Institute for Environment and Development
3 Endsleigh Street
London WC1H 0DD
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 2073882117
Fax: +44 (0) 207388286
Contact the contributor: saleemul.huq@iied.org

Contact the contributor: hannah.reid@iied.org

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK

Other related links:
'Securing development in the face of climate change'

'Environmental services, tropical forests and local livelihoods'

'Meeting greenhouse gas targets and supporting development: a win-win situation?'

'Beyond Kyoto: towards a north-south bargain on climate change'

'Using wood to combat climate change'

'Facing up to forecasts – adapting to climate change'

'Adapting to Climate Change' from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research