Development assistance does not yet, but could, play an important role in supporting preventative measures to reduce climate change risks
European development assistance and climate change
The ADAM project has been examining overlaps between European development assistance and climate change and has found significant room for policy improvement in several areas. First, efforts to “mainstream” climate change have so far been minimal and a great deal of further effort is needed. Second, in two case study regions, policies to improve environmental conditions and prepare for climate-related stresses on society have so far failed to generate successful outcomes. Third, there are considerable opportunities for developing innovative new policies, such as insurance and risk spreading mechanisms at different geographic scales.
Our first preliminary finding concerns the extent to which climate concerns have been incorporated into official development assistance (ODA), a process known as “mainstreaming.” Most bilateral agencies in OECD countries are only just beginning to climate-proof their activities and to actively build adaptive capacity in vulnerable areas. Concrete steps consist mainly of awareness-raising and training initiatives, introduction of new consultation and analytic procedures in the programming cycle, and development of guidance and knowledge on climate impacts and adaptation options in partner countries. There has been less attention to the underlying decision-making context and incentive structures, such as the need for measurability in relation to adaptation and lack of extra staff resources designated for analytic work. ADAM researchers are exploring solutions to these problems through a survey of and interviews with donor agency representatives in OECD countries.
We have engaged in two case studies in recipient countries. The first is the Lake Victoria basin in East Africa. A survey of over 600 small-scale farmer households clearly shows that past development assistance to the area is rare and has then only focused on providing basic relief aid after floods and droughts in the form of food, blankets or seeds for replanting. Development assistance does not yet, but could, play an important role in supporting preventative measures to reduce climate change risks, particularly strategies for the improvement of and access to fresh water resources and that include women (and children) to a greater extent. The second case study has included interviews and stakeholder workshops in Nepal. This work provides evidence that many internationally funded development projects have failed to deliver the intended benefits, often with quite negative environmental effects. One reason has appeared to be a systematic exclusion of certain segments of society from decision-making processes associated with the implementation of projects. Projects that have included a wide range ”voices”, common for non-externally funded projects, have performed better.
With respect to innovative policy proposals, we have also examined insurance instruments that provide financial security against droughts, floods, typhoons and other weather extremes. Already donor-supported programs are providing insurance to low-income households and farmers, in many cases enabling them to access investment credit. Although the precise role that insurance instruments can play in a post-2012 adaptation regime is still largely undetermined, the ADAM project has placed concrete options on the agenda. One option is the creation of regional insurance facilities that provide support to nascent micro-insurance systems.
For further information see Work Package P3b or contact: Anthony Patt, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna,
