The 21st Century climate challenge

4Adapting to the inevitable: national action and international cooperationClimate change providesa strong rationalefor strengtheningsocial protectionsafety nets for the poorIn Gujarat, where persistent drought andproblems in irrigation management have ledto the depletion of groundwater, communityinitiatives have restored 10,000 check dams tostore monsoon rains and recharge groundwater.National and state programmes are supportingcommunity initiatives. In Andhra Pradesh, theDrought-Prone Areas Programme covers over3,000 watershed areas, incorporating a widerange of ‘drought-proofing’ measures, includingsoil conservation, water harvesting andafforestation. 40Top-down planning, large-scale irrigationand huge water harvesting systems are nota panacea for the emerging risks facingagricultural producers as a result of climatechange. The challenge is to support localinitiatives through national and subnationalstrategies that mobilize resources and createincentives. Successful adaptation is not justabout physical infrastructure. It is about wherethat infrastructure is created, who controls itand who has access to the water it conserves.Insurance for social protectionClimate change will create incremental risks inthe lives and livelihoods of the poor. Since manymillions of poor people cannot fully managecurrent climate risks with their own resources,any adaptation strategy needs to strengthenrisk management capabilities. Empoweringpeople to cope with climate shocks—especiallycatastrophic shocks—without suffering thelong-term setbacks analysed in chapter 2 isa condition for sustained progress in humandevelopment.Prospects for successful adaptation toclimate change will be shaped by wider humandevelopment conditions. Public policies inareas such as health, education, employmentand economic planning can enhance ordiminish the capacity for risk management.Ultimately, the first line of public policydefence against climate change risk is aneffective strategy for overcoming povertyand extreme inequality. Social protection isan integral part of any such strategy.Programmes for social protection encompassa wide range of interventions. They includecontributory schemes through which peoplecan pool risks (old-age pensions and unemploymentinsurance are examples) and tax-fundedtransfers providing a variety of benefits to targetpopulations. One of the overarching aims is toprevent temporary shocks from becoming asource of long-term destitution. In the contextof climate change, social protection programmesimplemented as part of a wider adaptation strategycan play a vital role in helping poor peopleto manage risks and avoid long-term humandevelopment reversals.As we saw in chapter 2, climate shocks canrapidly erode the entitlements of vulnerablepeople through their impact on income,nutrition, employment, health and education.Well designed social protection measures canprotect entitlements in these areas, while at thesame time expanding opportunity. Incrementalclimate change risks, and adaptation to thoserisks, are not the sole motivation for an increasedemphasis on social protection. Well designedpolicies in this area are critical in any nationalstrategy for accelerating poverty reduction,reducing vulnerability and overcomingmarginalization. However, climate changeprovides a strong rationale for strengtheningsocial protection safety nets for the poor,especially in the following four areas:• Employment programmes;• Cash transfers;• Crisis-related transfers;• Insurance related transfers.Employment programmes. Public workprogrammes can provide a measure forprotecting nutrition and health, creatingemployment and generating income whenclimate shocks lead to a loss of agriculturalemployment or reduced food availability.Employment-based programmes to support cashtransferor food-transfer schemes can also providea longer-term safety net. One of the best knownexamples of such programmes is the EmploymentGuarantee Scheme in Maharashtra, India.The success of this programme in stabilizinghousehold incomes and preventing food crisesgave rise to a national campaign to secure ‘theright to work’—and to all-India legislation. The2005 National Rural Employment Guarantee178 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2007/2008