impacts

UNFCCC
CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPACTS, VULNERABILITIES
AND ADAPTATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
There is a need to develop integrated, well planned and
coordinated adaptation actions and adaptation projects,
and to improve financial flows into adaptation-related
activities through existing and new international, official
development assistance and private sector mechanisms
thus providing a firm basis for sustainable development.
5.6 ADAPTATION INTEGRATION INTO POLICY
AND PLANNING
Incorporating or integrating adaptation to climate
change into planning processes is a necessary strategy for
sustainable development over the long term. Climate
change impacts do not happen in isolation; impacts in one
sector can adversely or positively affect another; sectors
can be affected directly and/or indirectly by climate change
and indeed sometimes a change in one sector can
offset the effects of climate change in another sector. In
many developing countries there are difficulties in
integrating adaptation concerns into national policy due
to low staff capacity for planning, monitoring and
evaluation; poor data on adaptation options and lack of
mechanisms for information sharing and management
across sectors; and limited awareness of adaptation among
stakeholders and the population. The Africa workshop
identified several further factors that exacerbate the
overall level of vulnerability in this region including
political instability, widespread illiteracy and poverty of
the rural population.
Lack of cooperation among ministries was highlighted as
a major barrier to progress on adaptation. In order that
real progress can be made, key governmental departments
(such as ministries of finance) need to be involved in the
development of adaptation strategies. In the same way,
national and local development planning agencies need to
be informed by the relevant outputs of impact and
vulnerability assessments, and environmental and sectoral
institutions need to be strengthened in order to be able
to address the complexities of addressing and coordinating
the implementation of adaptation action. There are a
number of actions that can help facilitate adaptation and
integration of adaptation into policy, including actions
at the local level (e.g. strengthening coping strategies and
feedback to national policies), the national level (e.g.
inter-agency coordination in the water sector and legal
provisions for mainstreaming) and the regional level
(e.g. incorporating climate change risks in projects of
regional development agencies and the creation of
intersectoral committees to be engaged in the formulation
of adaptation plans). At the international level it was
noted that the UNFCCC, other Conventions and other
international organizations can play a catalytic role in
exchange of experiences, and in facilitating the
development of region-wide and sector-wide approaches.
Policy and development planners require effective tools and
frameworks for developing, disseminating and building
capacity for adaptation and integrating it into policy at all
levels (e.g. UNDP 2004). This is a particular priority for
SIDS for whom international relocation is not an option.
In addition to the socio-economic consequences,
relocation would mean an infringement on the sovereignty
of these islands. Participants at the workshops and
meeting highlighted the importance of building on existing
collaboration frameworks such as those of the Congo
Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), the Forum of Ministers of
Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean, the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
(OECS), the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre
(CCCCC), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the Secretariat
of the Pacific Community (SPC), and the Pacific Regional
Environment Programme (SPREP). Small island
developing States were among the first to start work on
integrating adaptation. Some examples of integrating
adaptation into research, policy and development in SIDS
are given in Box V-5.
As climate change increases the potential for climate related
risk, it is also important that risk management and risk
reduction is incorporated into adaptation planning at all
levels, and that climate change is incorporated into
disaster and risk management activities. The ISDR secretariat
has highlighted the necessity for integrating disaster
reduction management into development and adaptation
strategies. The Hyogo framework was adopted at the
World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan,
in January 2005, and gives prominence to disaster risk
reduction in the context of climate change. Considerations
include promoting the integration of risk reduction
associated with existing climate variability and future
climate change into strategies for the reduction of disaster
risk and adaptation to climate change; and mainstreaming
disaster risk reduction measures appropriately into
development assistance programmes, including those
relating to, inter alia, adaptation to climate change. The
ISDR secretariat is establishing national platforms on
disaster risk reduction where participation of practitioners
in the area of adaptation is highly encouraged.
Meetings of these national platforms will be held annually
at regional level to exchange information, experiences
and lessons learned.
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