Research and analysis from the Institute of Development Studies

IN FOCUS
ISSUE 02 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

Embedding Climate Change Adaptation in Development Processes

Today climate change adaptation is a mainstream development issue. The UK Government-commissioned Stern Review last year analysed the economics of adaptation and NGO campaigns have focused on its justice and equity dimensions. The challenge now is to embed adaptation within wider development debates and practices. This issue of In Focus comprises eight two-page briefing notes on a variety of topics related to adaptation. They draw on research conducted by IDS Fellows and their research partners to highlight ongoing work on reducing vulnerability and poverty in a changing climate.
The IDS Bulletin Vulnerability, Adaptation and Climate Disasters (Yamin and Huq 2005) called for efforts to ensure that poor people benefit from adaptation processes. Three headline questions were set out in the Bulletins final chapter, entitled Linking Climate Adaptation: A Research Agenda (Yamin, Mitchell and Tanner 2005). These questions provide a framework for the work presented in these briefing notes: Who is vulnerable and how do sources of vulnerability change over time in response to multiple stressors? What are the costs and benefits of adaptation to climate change? How can adaptation be integrated into development and disaster risk reduction at multiple levels of governance? Since 2005 adaptation has become a mainstream development issue. Evidence suggests that climate change impacts are already affecting the worlds poorest and most vulnerable people. There has also been an influx of funding for work linking adaptation to development, such as the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) programme funded by the UKs Department for International Development (DFID) and Canadas International Development Research Centre (IDRC). These financial resources are increasingly being delivered through mechanisms outside the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a product of the relative inaction on adaptation in international negotiations and the challenges posed in ensuring adaptation finance benefits the most vulnerable people.

What is Climate Change Adaptation?

Adaptation is the process or outcome of a process that leads to a reduction in harm or risk of harm, or realisation of benefits associated with climate variability and climate change. (Richendra Connell and Robert Willows (eds.) (2003) Climate Adaptation: Risk, Uncertainty and Decision-Making, Technical Report, Oxford: UK Climate Impacts Programme).

Findings so far

Thomas Tanner and Tom Mitchell (In Focus 02.2) examine how climate change adaptation can help reduce chronic poverty, an analysis predicated on differentiating poverty and vulnerability in

the context of climate change. This helps ground Mark Davies and Jennifer Leavys investigation (In Focus 02.3) of the value of social protection as an adaptation strategy, which highlights the temporal and spatial dimensions of vulnerability and assesses social protection approaches for reducing climate change risk. Tom Mitchell and Katharine Haynes (In Focus
www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.1 EMBEDDING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES NOVEMBER 2007

Embedding Climate Change Adaptation in Development Processes

The challenge now is to embed adaptation within wider development debates and practices.

02.4) reflect on how child-centred climate and disaster programming helps to secure pathways out of poverty for children and their families. Thomas Tanner addresses the risks and opportunities of climate change and how they influence the targeting of development assistance (In Focus 02.5). His discussion of climate risk screening tools relating to bilateral donors investigates how decision-makers can assess the costs and benefits of adaptation for poverty reduction programmes and how vulnerability to the current climate can shape future adaptation programming. With recognition of adaptation as a mainstream development issue, much research is dedicated to exploring how best to foster climate resilience, whether in the work of development agencies or with scales of governance. Emily Polack and Eun Chois (In Focus 02.6) study of what makes for climate resilient urban governance considers how traditional conceptions of good urban governance need to change if cities are able to successfully adapt to climate change impacts. Tom Mitchell and Guy Collenders (In Focus 02.7) review of the adaptation mainstreaming experiences of developing country governments unearths a series of climate change-related challenges and opportunities for national scale governance given that many countries have yet to develop effective institutions to tackle the problem. Likewise, by examining how development agencies are seeking to become climate smart, Thomas Tanner and Tom Mitchell (In Focus 02.8) establish a framework for helping organisations to consider ways they can actively manage risks from the current and future climate, while taking advantage of opportunities presented by climate change.

Future research

A clear research strategy based on IDS strengths is now being communicated to IDS external partners. The strategy comprises five thematic areas: International Climate Change Policy: This work supports international platforms to develop shared visions and increase global capacity for an equitable post-2012 climate change regime. Research questions coalesce around determining what kind of climate change actions best fit with national circumstances, interests and priorities. Pro-poor Climate and Disaster Governance: This theme centres on exploring how governance structures, at all levels, can ensure that communities most vulnerable to climate shocks and stresses are able to engage in, and benefit from, adaptation and disaster risk reduction programmes. Organisational Response: This research assesses the implications of climate change for the development programmes of NGOs and bilateral donors, asking how certain tools can aid the mainstreaming process while effectively incorporating uncertainty and vulnerability dynamics. Children in a Changing Climate: This work poses questions around childrens ability to claim their right to adaptation, their role as communicators of climate risk within the household and beyond and their voice and participation in decision-making bodies. Networks and Knowledge Services on Climate Change and Disasters: IDS hosts a wealth of networks and knowledge services on climate change and disasters. This constitutes an unrivalled resource, but one which must be marshalled and tailored to meet the needs of the poor and vulnerable in their efforts to adapt. Assessing how to build knowledge assets, which help to improve livelihoods in the context of climate change, is a fundamental part of this challenge.

Further Reading
Farhana Yamin and Saleemul Huq (eds) (2005) Vulnerability, Adaptation and Climate Disasters, IDS Bulletin 36.4, Brighton: IDS Farhana Yamin, Tom Mitchell and Thomas Tanner (2005) Linking Climate Adaptation: A Research Agenda, in Farhana Yamin and Saleemul Huq (eds), see above.

Credits
This In Focus was written by Tom Mitchell and Thomas Tanner and edited by Guy Collender and Emily Polack. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from issues of In Focus in their own publications. In return, IDS requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication.
Institute of Development Studies, 2007, ISSN 1479-974X

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 606261 F + 44 (0) 1273 621202 E ids@ids.ac.uk W www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.1 EMBEDDING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk

Research and analysis from the Institute of Development Studies

IN FOCUS
ISSUE 02 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

Pro-Poor Climate Change Adaptation: A Research Agenda

About 420 million people live in chronic poverty, the majority of them from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty reduction efforts designed to help this group are threatened by climate change, but climate change adaptation may also present developmental opportunities. A pro-poor adaptation research agenda investigates how adaptation can provide pathways out of chronic poverty by going beyond tackling the additional impacts of climate change.
Approaches to chronic poverty and adaptation are both underpinned by analysing vulnerability and how situations change over time. IDS researchers suggest that by linking climate change and chronic poverty research agendas, adaptation could offer opportunities to create pathways out of chronic poverty through targeted vulnerability reduction and adaptation efforts. These lines of enquiry are underpinning a new pro-poor adaptation research agenda. The research requires challenging some fundamental assumptions about the adaptive capacity of the chronically poor.

Chronic poverty and adaptation

The experience of chronic poverty is multidimensional and distinguished by extended duration in absolute poverty. The different categories of poor people are shown in Figure 1. Similarly, climate change shocks and stresses are being overlaid onto existing, and often significant, variations in poverty over time. Vulnerability to climate change has been conceptualised as a general set of characteristics influencing the capacity

to adapt and respond to shocks and stresses. This ability to cope depends on a wide range of factors such as the assets people own. Driven by the need to counter top-down and sometimes inappropriate adaptation, the growing number of adaptation programmes in developing countries tend to engage at the community level, and often with those who have access to climate sensitive natural resources. Such interventions may fail to permit the targeting of chronically poor people.

Figure 1: Categories of poverty in chronic poverty analysis

Mean expenditure Poverty line Mean expenditure Time Time Time Churning Poor Time Occasionally Poor Time Poverty line

Chronically Poor
Source: The Chronic Poverty Resource Centre (2007)

Transitorily Poor

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.2 PRO-POOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: A RESEARCH AGENDA NOVEMBER 2007

Poverty category Always Poor

Usually Poor

Never Poor Non-Poor

www.ids.ac.uk

Pro-Poor Climate Change Adaptation: A Research Agenda

Table 1: Examples of Adaptation Options by Poverty Category
Type of Adaptation Poverty Category Always Poor Conflict, crime, sex work Selling of last assets Chronic Poor Usually Poor Intra-community transfers/charity Sending children to work Promote micro-finance, micro-insurance Cattle insurance Assisted migration Cash transfers Community restocking schemes Subsidised seed banks Transient Poor Cyclical Poor Seasonal migration Working multiple jobs, longer hours Weather-indexed insurance Promote micro-finance, micro-insurance Ecosystem rehabilitation Improved climate information (seasonal forecasting) Occasionally Poor Diversify livelihoods Investment in social capital/ assets Promote micro-finance, micro-insurance Selling assets Social insurance programmes (health, crop, employment) Irrigation schemes/ urban service provision

Autonomous adaptation

Further Reading
Chronic Poverty Research Centre (2007) Chronic Poverty: An Introduction, Policy Brief 1, Manchester: The Chronic Poverty Research Centre Thomas Tanner and Tom Mitchell (Forthcoming 2008) Entrenchment or Enhancement: Could Climate Change Adaptation Help Reduce Chronic Poverty?, Working Paper 106, Manchester: The Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Market-based adaptation

Public policy driven adaptation

Full table and references in Tanner and Mitchell (Forthcoming 2008)

Pro-poor adaptation

As a first step to improving poverty-centred adaptation, Table 1 takes examples from an initial mapping exercise demonstrating how different adaptation options might be more or less applicable to different categories in the poverty continuum. Pro-poor adaptation seeks to assess how climate change may affect routes in and out of chronic poverty. It also seeks to expose opportunities presented by climate change for those in chronic poverty. This could include changes to ecosystems that make them more productive and offer a greater range of environmental assets. Despite food security concerns, transitions to labour intensive biofuel crops may provide new employment options. Opportunities are most likely to emerge through adaptation interventions and institutional strengthening that target the poorest groups, funded by increasing streams of adaptation finance. Interesting intellectual and practical challenges emerge from considering whether a lower level of assets puts the chronically poor in a strong position as this enables them to be flexible in their livelihoods strategies. Potential testing grounds for this research agenda could include adapting social protection programmes to climate change, building adaptive institutions in fragile states and enhancing opportunities and limiting negative impacts of climate-induced migratory flows.

A pro-poor adaptation research agenda

Key components for developing a poverty-centred adaptation agenda can be suggested: Understanding that vulnerabilities and adaptation options may change according to different poverty categories Conducting household level analysis to facilitate a more targeted approach appropriate for households in different poverty categories Investigating the adaptive flexibility of the chronically poor Developing the evidence base for designing adaptation programmes that target different poverty categories Developing a pro-poor adaptation agenda for adoption in future international agreements, particularly to ensure pro-poor adaptation financing Investigating adaptive institutions and legal structures that can respond to current and future climate risks by reducing vulnerabilities of the chronic poor Linking scientific modelling with a deeper understanding of the impacts of climate change on shifting people into and out of poverty.

Credits
This In Focus was written by Thomas Tanner and Tom Mitchell and edited by Guy Collender and Emily Polack. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from issues of In Focus in their own publications. In return, IDS requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication.
Institute of Development Studies, 2007, ISSN 1479-974X

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 606261 F + 44 (0) 1273 621202 E ids@ids.ac.uk W www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.2 PRO-POOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: A RESEARCH AGENDA NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk

Research and analysis from the Institute of Development Studies

IN FOCUS
ISSUE 02 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

Connecting Social Protection and Climate Change Adaptation

Social protection initiatives, including cash transfers to the poor and improving the rights of the marginalised, are as much at risk from climate change as other development approaches. They are unlikely to succeed in reducing poverty if they do not consider both the short and long-term shocks and stresses associated with climate change. By exploring linkages between climate change adaptation and social protection in the agricultural sector, IDS researchers have developed the concept of adaptive social protection. Studying adaptive social protection involves examining opportunities that approaches to social protection provide for adaptation, and for developing climate-resilient social protection programmes.
Global processes and crises are changing and deepening the risks already faced by poor and vulnerable people in rural areas, particularly those involved in agriculture. As approaches to minimising the risks faced by these vulnerable people, social protection and climate change adaptation have much in common as they both seek to protect the most vulnerable and promote resilience. Yet they remain somewhat disparate fields of research, policy and practice. While social protection aims to build resilience to some climate-related disasters, insufficient attention has been played in the social protection sphere to the long-term risks posed by climate change. However, social protection approaches could inform disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation based on established implementation frameworks for vulnerability reduction. A careful analysis of conceptual and practical linkages between social protection and climate change adaptation is required to seek out mutually enhancing components. Such an examination, using the agricultural context, is helping researchers to identify and mitigate gaps between agendas, thereby encouraging the development of more comprehensive and appropriate approaches.

Enhancing adaptive capacity through social protection

Table 1 shows how social protection approaches can enhance coping strategies and could support climate change adaptation.

Table 1: Linking social protection to adaptation

Approach to social protection Provision Prevention Promotion Benefits for adaptation Protection of those most vulnerable to climate risks who have low levels of adaptive capacity Prevents damaging coping strategies as a result of risks to weather-dependent livelihoods Promotes resilience through livelihood diversification and security in order to withstand climate related shocks Promotes opportunities arising from climate change Transforms social relations to help address underlying social and political vulnerability

Transformation

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.3 CONNECTING SOCIAL PROTECTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk

Connecting Social Protection and Climate Change Adaptation

By exploring linkages between climate change adaptation and social protection in the agricultural sector, IDS researchers have developed the concept of adaptive social protection.

Building climate resilience into social protection

Adaptive social protection

The need for social protection to take a long-term approach is increasingly recognised and climate risks heighten this need. Climate change also threatens to reduce the effectiveness of social protection measures to limit shocks and stresses. Addressing these vulnerabilities may require diversification of livelihoods away from climate sensitive livelihood activities, particularly in areas prone to severe droughts or floods. Adaptive social protection for farmers could mean moving to off-farm activities, for which social protection measures could include promoting offfarm rural enterprise and industry, investment in urban services, assisted migration and improved remittance schemes. Within the agricultural sector social protection measures that could both build resilience to climate change and benefit from integrating climate change adaptation include: weather-indexed crop insurance, asset restocking (including direct livestock provision), and cash transfers. Programmes introducing duck-rearing in flood prone areas or camel-rearing in drought prone areas can help build climate resilience into livelihood assetbuilding. Breed selection is also a crucial component of such initiatives. In Bangladesh a selection of duck species that are more capable of living with less water, better suited to higher temperatures, and consume readily available non-aquatic vegetation aims to build climate resilience in light of climate projections for the region. One of the limitations to developing appropriate long-term adaptive social protection options is the uncertainty attached to climate change impact modelling.

To strengthen social protection and climate change adaptation approaches, IDS researchers have developed an adaptive social protection framework. This framework characterises social protection measures that acknowledge the changing nature of climate-related impacts, including the future existence of conditions that have not been experienced before. Features of this framework include: An emphasis on promotion that aims to transform productive livelihoods as well as protect, and adapt to changing climate conditions rather than simply reinforcing coping mechanisms. An understanding of the structural root causes of poverty in a particular region or sector, permitting more effective targeting of vulnerability to multiple shocks and stresses. Incorporation of a rights-based rationale for action, stressing equity and justice dimensions of chronic poverty and climate change adaptation in addition to instrumentalist rationale based primarily on economic efficiency. An enhanced role for research from both the natural and social sciences to inform the development and targeting of social protection policies and measures in the context of the burden of both geophysical hazards and changing climate-related hazards. A long-term perspective for social protection policies that takes into account the changing nature of shocks and stresses.

Further Reading

Stephen Devereux, Lawrence Haddad, Rachel SabatesWheeler et al. (2006) Looking at Social Protection Through a Livelihoods Lens, In Focus Issue 1, Brighton: IDS Mark Davies, Tom Mitchell, Thomas Tanner et al. (Forthcoming 2008) Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Social Protection: Complimentary Roles in Agriculture and Rural Growth?, IDS Working Paper, Brighton: IDS

Credits
This In Focus was written by Mark Davies and Jennifer Leavy and edited by Guy Collender and Emily Polack. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from issues of In Focus in their own publications. In return, IDS requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication.
Institute of Development Studies, 2007, ISSN 1479-974X

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 606261 F + 44 (0) 1273 621202 E ids@ids.ac.uk W www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.3 CONNECTING SOCIAL PROTECTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk

Research and analysis from the Institute of Development Studies

IN FOCUS
ISSUE 02 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

The Role of Children in Adapting to Climate Change

Childrens voices on disaster risk reduction (DRR) have been sidelined by disaster management and relief efforts targeted at adults. The latest collaborative research by IDS and Plan International addresses this imbalance. It examines how childrens views can be heard within different policy spaces and challenges assumptions about their lack of agency. Understanding the benefits of child-centred DRR approaches is informing further research into the role children might play in addressing the multiple threats to their futures posed by climate change.
Children are commonly seen as passive victims, with no role to play in reducing the risk of disasters. This is often based on an assumption that adults are fully attuned to the short and long-term needs of their families. Research supporting Plan Internationals childcentred DRR programme in the Philippines and El Salvador is challenging these common perceptions. It asks what opportunities exist for childrens voices regarding DRR to be heard at household, community and national levels and how effectively they can influence decisionmaking. The research hypothesis is that children in fact possess exclusive skills and qualities particularly suited to advocating for DRR. Plan Internationals work with child and youth volunteers on community risk mapping and mitigation activities has shown that children and youth have much greater capacity to participate in DRR than many people assume. As climate change is likely to increase the frequency and magnitude of disasters and create new patterns of employment and migration, the research into the benefits of child-centred DRR has given rise to a new IDS-led programme entitled Children in a Changing Climate.

Pathways to influencing disaster risk reduction

Child-centred approaches

The research fits within development discourses concerning childrens voices: Theories of child and youth participation suggest that children are motivated to participate if they believe in their ability to effect change, and have sufficient knowledge of an issue and a degree of self-worth and confidence. External facilitation through targeted programmes and institutions can bolster child and youth participation, providing facilitators recognise childrens agency and possess appropriate tools to enable active participation. A number of provisions exist in international law to safeguard child rights in the context of disasters, including rights to safety, good health and disaster relief, as well as participatory rights such as access to information and freedom of expression.

Plan Internationals child-centred DRR programmes have been particularly effective in building childrens confidence to articulate risk and participate in DRR interventions in a number of ways. Research has helped to understand both the formal and informal channels children tend to use when articulating risk, fears, ideas and their perceived spheres of influence. For instance, children are more likely to discuss concerns with their mothers than with their fathers and feel they have more influence over the people closest to them. Children have also benefited from programmes facilitating access to more formal communication channels such as theatre or the media. Plan Internationals child-centred DRR programmes have resulted in examples of concrete actions with tangible changes being observed at the household and community level. For example, school children in Southern Leyte in the Philippines won a community-wide referendum to relocate their school to a safe location away from a landslide zone.
www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.4 THE ROLE OF CHILDREN IN ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE NOVEMBER 2007

The Role of Children in Adapting to Climate Change

School children in Southern Leyte in the Philippines won a community-wide referendum to relocate their school to a safe location.

Further Reading
Tom Mitchell et al. (Forthcoming 2008) The Role of Children and Youth in Communicating Disaster Risk, Children, Youth and Environments Tom Mitchell, Tomas Tanner and Katharine Haynes (Forthcoming 2008) Childrens Voices for Disaster Risk Reduction: Lessons From El Salvador and the Philippines, IDS Working Paper, Brighton: IDS

Credits
This In Focus was written by and Tom Mitchell and Katharine Haynes and edited by Guy Collender and Emily Polack. This research has been conducted in collaboration with Plan International, RMIT University and Risk Frontiers. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from issues of In Focus in their own publications. In return, IDS requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication.
Institute of Development Studies, 2007, ISSN 1479-974X
Tom Mitchell

Demonstrating their capacity to communicate risk, they led the campaign against the wishes of many of their parents and the wider community. The school has since been rebuilt with the support of Plan International, and was inaugurated in June 2007. However, many barriers to youth and childrens voices on DRR being heard in policy spaces remain, including a limited awareness of the benefits of a DRR approach, a lack of resources, capacity and time constraints, cultural barriers and paternalistic beliefs. Accordingly child-centred DRR programmes must embark on long-term advocacy engagement, not only with children and young people, but also with politicians, emergency managers, other NGOs, community leaders and families.

risks. Further research is underway to explore how these capabilities can inform and benefit climate change adaptation approaches. The Children in a Changing Climate research programme comprises six thematic areas to explore childrens potential role and agency in tackling climate change impacts: Childrens voices and participation in policy and decision-making Childrens roles as communicators of climate and disaster risk Childrens futures in a changing climate Childrens perceptions and knowledge of climate change Child rights in climate and disaster governance The opportunities post disasters to engage young people on climate change and disaster issues.

Childrens voices in a changing climate

This research has indicated how young people have a greater capacity than most adults to perceive low probability-high consequence risk, as well as an ability to articulate necessary responses to such

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 606261 F + 44 (0) 1273 621202 E ids@ids.ac.uk W www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.4 THE ROLE OF CHILDREN IN ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk

Research and analysis from the Institute of Development Studies

IN FOCUS
ISSUE 02 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

Screening Climate Risks to Development Cooperation

In a changing climate development programmes must manage climate risks and opportunities to ensure aid effectiveness. IDS and its partners are developing a climate risk screening and management approach to meet this challenge. This methodology, called ORCHID (Opportunities and Risks of Climate Change and Disasters), helps development organisations and their partners to integrate risk reduction and adaptation processes into their programmes.
Climate change risks threaten to derail national and international efforts to enhance economic growth and reduce poverty if proactive action is not taken. These risks include: Direct threats: e.g. damages from extreme weather to infrastructure built by a project Indirect threats: e.g. climate impacts on health impacting a non-health sector project Underperformance of investments: e.g. agricultural projects that fail when rainfall decreases. important constraint on poverty reduction and so climate considerations need to be embedded in a process that considers all risks The basis for adapting to the future climate lies in improving the ability to cope with existing climate variations. Climate change projections inform this process to ensure that current coping strategies are not inconsistent with future climate change Adaptation processes draw on approaches to disaster risk reduction, as well as tackling gradual changes and new hazards Risk management allows examination of how development processes can contribute to reducing vulnerability to climate change. Based on an initial profile of current and future climate impacts, the process identifies those programmes in regions and sectors that may be at risk from climate impacts, or that present good opportunities for improving adaptive capacity. Drawing on further technical inputs on hazards, impacts and vulnerability, potential risks to programme activities are identified, which are then assessed against existing risk management practices. A range of adaptation options are then identified for tackling unmanaged risks and exploiting opportunities for strengthening adaptive capacity. A multi-criteria analysis is undertaken involving programme stakeholders, ideally including beneficiaries, to determine high priority adaptation options that can be integrated into the programme objectives and activities. This analysis uses criteria developed by stakeholders, including coherence with national policy, flexibility across a range of possible future climate impacts, and cost effectiveness, which is informed where feasible by an economic cost benefit analysis. The process as a whole also helps identify generic strategic lessons for programming and how to incorporate climate risk management into regular programme development.
www.ids.ac.uk

Climate risk management

ORCHID (Opportunities and Risks of Climate Change and Disasters) is a systematic climate risk management methodology which assesses the relevance of climate change and disaster risks to an organisations portfolio of development projects. This screening process has been piloted in DFID country offices. Climate risk assessment differs from the regular practice of screening for environmental impacts as it focuses on how environmental impacts affect a projects goals and objectives. ORCHID acknowledges that: Climate risks may not be the most

Portfolio screening

Figure 1 (overleaf) illustrates the different stages of the screening methodology, emphasising its role in raising awareness and conceptualising adaptation as a learning process. While it will not be feasible to reduce all climate risks, this process allows for their more systematic consideration in the context of development programmes.

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.5 SCREENING CLIMATE RISKS TO DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION NOVEMBER 2007

Screening Climate Risks to Development Cooperation

Figure 1: The ORCHID (Opportunities and Risks from Climate Change and Disasters) climate risk management and assessment methodology
Sensitisation and awareness-raising Strategic overview of programmes Basic climate change and disasters profile

Further Reading
Thomas Tanner et al (2007) ORCHID: Piloting Climate Risk Screening in DFID Bangladesh, Research Report, Brighton: IDS Thomas Tanner et al (eds) (2007) Climate Risk Screening in DFID India, Research Report, Brighton: IDS

Initial portfolio screening identifies high risk programmes

Identify potential risks to programmes

Technical inputs on climate hazards and vulnerabilities

Compare risks to existing risk management and adaptation practices

Compile adaptation options to tackle unmanaged risks

Credits
Multi-criteria analysis of adaptation options (including cost benefit analysis where possible) This In Focus was written by Thomas Tanner and edited by Guy Collender and Emily Polack. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from issues of In Focus in their own publications. In return, IDS requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication.
Institute of Development Studies, 2007, ISSN 1479-974X

Integrate high priority adaptation options

Risk screening processes in future programming

Lessons from early experiences

During the piloting of the ORCHID process in DFID Bangladesh and DFID India a wide range of potential adaptation measures were identified. Structural measures included improving the resilience of rural infrastructure by raising homesteads in flood-prone areas above the 20 year flood line and using rainwater harvesting techniques at schools. Non-structural measures included the development of vulnerability reduction mechanisms for climatesensitive livelihood sectors during the preparation of local development plans and improving cross-agency coordination in disaster response. Knowledge generation and sharing remain crucially important means of supporting the adaptation process. Recommended actions included vulnerability assessment and mapping, analysis of drainage timings and patterns during extreme events and incorporating climate change and disasters issues into education programmes. The process highlighted the limitations of climate change data to project changes over project-

relevant timescales. Adaptation responses are therefore based on existing climate variability, linking with disaster risk reduction while building greater flexibility to cope with a wider range of variation in the future. The ORCHID methodology provides full analysis at strategic or sectoral level of the implications of climate change for poverty reduction programmes and this can be built into future work. However, the key strength of the ORCHID approach has been in stimulating greater awareness of the linkages between climate variability and climate change with different aspects of poverty reduction programmes. These linkages include improving coherence with national climate change policy on adaptation and its relationship to the international United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Piloting the process has provided a means of systematic self-assessment and reflection, and an opportunity to highlight current gaps in knowledge and experience.

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 606261 F + 44 (0) 1273 621202 E ids@ids.ac.uk W www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.5 SCREENING CLIMATE RISKS TO DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk

Research and analysis from the Institute of Development Studies

IN FOCUS
ISSUE 02 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

Building Climate Change Resilient Cities

Rapid urbanisation is occurring across the developing world. This process is creating specific human vulnerabilities to climate change, yet poor urban populations have largely been absent from climate change adaptation interventions. Such an imbalance is increasingly being recognised. Through assessing the linkages between components of urban governance and climate risk reduction in fastgrowing and climate hazard prone cities across Asia, IDS researchers are investigating what municipal governance arrangements facilitate the building of climate change resilient cities.
The urban poor, particularly those in informal settlements, are more at risk from climate shocks and stresses than other groups within urban populations. There are clear indications that building social resilience to climate change in an urban context requires robust governance structures that effectively target the needs and well-being of poor and marginalised groups. IDS researchers have investigated this by analysing varying aspects of urban governance in ten Asian cities. drainage channels by construction compound human vulnerabilities to climate change. The populations most vulnerable to climate change are those living in urban slums with lack of access to services and assets. Improved urban planning and provision of public services and infrastructure is crucial for both development and the building of climate change resilient cities. This, in turn, requires effective governance arrangements.

Climate change resilient urban governance

Climate change resilient governance has much in common with pro-poor urban governance. Existing urban and good governance literature therefore informed the development of an analytical framework used to assess urban governance in the light of known climate risks in ten Asian cities (see Figure 1) :

Urban vulnerabilities to climate change

The most vulnerable urban settlements are generally those in coastal areas and river flood plains, those whose economies are closely linked with climate-sensitive resources, and those in areas prone to extreme weather events, especially where there is rapid urbanisation. Rapid urbanisation leads to areas of high population density, often in informal settlements. This creates human vulnerabilities that both exacerbate, and are exacerbated by, the impacts of climate change. In cities throughout the developing world factors such as substandard housing, poor waste management and sewerage systems, and the disruption of natural

Figure 1: A climate change resilient urban governance framework

Climate change resilient urban governance decentralisation and autonomy transparency and accountability responsiveness and flexibility participation and inclusion experience and support

CLIMATE CHANGE SHOCKS ANDSTRESSES

high density populations substandard housing poor waste management large impermeable surfaces lack of access to public services lack of assets climate sensitive resource construction on exposed or
vulnerable sites based livelihoods

Human vulnerability components

CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENT CITIES

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.6 BUILDING CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENT CITIES NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk

Building Climate Change Resilient Cities

A decentralised and autonomous urban governance system, including the planning process, is more likely to be able to implement climate change resilience-building programmes.

Decentralisation and autonomy: Urban governance structures and planning processes based on decentralisation and autonomy are more likely to facilitate the implementation of climate change resilience-building programmes. This is chiefly because top-down decisionmaking can hamper the participation of vulnerable citizens. Barriers to effective implementation in climate change sensitive sectors, even where decentralisation and autonomy are high, include political stalemates between different levels of authority, and lack of clarity or coordination of roles between city, state and national level bodies or between departments within the municipality. Transparency and accountability: Mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability in climate change sensitive sectors are critical to ensure that the most vulnerable groups of citizens benefit from resilience building measures. Participatory grievance procedures are an illustrative mechanism for those most at risk or in cases where vulnerability is being increased by institutional action or inaction. The freedom of the media also plays a key role in exposing vulnerabilities and risks and promoting public debate. Responsiveness and flexibility: Responsiveness and flexibility of a governance system enables it to respond rapidly to a range of different climate scenarios and communicated needs. Few city level agencies have been established in direct response to threats associated with global climate change, but programmes for building climate change resilience can build on in existing institutional mechanisms for dealing with extreme climate events. Disaster preparedness, early warning systems and relief operation procedures may all provide a base from which to build resilience.

Participation and inclusion: For effective targeting of groups most vulnerable to climate change impacts, participation and inclusion are key components of climate change resilient governance. In urban areas, people living in exposed or vulnerable locations and in informal settlements need to be engaged in decisionmaking and policy processes. The level of inclusion depends on local society-state relations and levels of awareness of rights and responsibilities across society. Broadly speaking, public involvement in decision-making is in its infancy in many cities in Asia, sometimes constrained by cultural factors as well as appropriate and effective mechanisms. Experience and support: A resilient urban system will build on experience of successful planning and implementation of climate-related risk reduction targeting vulnerable groups. Such experience of success tends to depend on technical support available. Support from the NGO/civil society sector, as well as technical and academic institutions, can enable implementation of effective pro-poor adaptation strategies. Possible future targets for urban adaptation interventions are cities and sectors in which market failures mean that the necessary incentives are lacking for meeting the climate protection needs of vulnerable groups. Building climate change resilient cities requires governance arrangements that balance inclusive, citizen-led processes with timely and efficient implementation of services and effective risk reduction measures. A balance must also be struck between focusing on risks directly associated with climate change impacts, and broader human-induced development problems that affect vulnerability.

Further Reading
Saleemul Huq, Sari Kovats, Hannah Reid et al. (2007) Reducing Risks to Cities From Disasters and Climate Change, Environment and Urbanization 19.1: 39-64

Credits
This In Focus was written by Emily Polack and Eun Choi and edited by Guy Collender. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from issues of In Focus in their own publications. In return, IDS requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication.
Institute of Development Studies, 2007, ISSN 1479-974X

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 606261 F + 44 (0) 1273 621202 E ids@ids.ac.uk W www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.6 BUILDING CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENT CITIES NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk

Research and analysis from the Institute of Development Studies

IN FOCUS
ISSUE 02 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries

The effects of climate change pose a severe threat to human development and progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Donors, governments and NGOs are increasingly addressing these risks by incorporating climate change adaptation into their work. Yet mainstreaming adaptation into development planning, programmes and budgeting faces a series of barriers and remains in its early stages in most developing countries. This joint research by IDS and Tearfund highlights certain successful adaptation strategies and makes recommendations for the future.

Adapting to climate change

Until recently the development community seldom considered the risks posed by climate change to lives and livelihoods during development planning. But climate change adaptation is rapidly growing in importance on the development agenda. The 2005 Commission for Africa Report recommended that from 2008 donors should make climate change risk factors an integral part of their project planning. Mainstreaming adaptation has been limited in most countries, although exceptions include small island developing states in the Pacific and Caribbean countries. The varied and far-reaching barriers and opportunities to mainstreaming include issues around information, institutions, inclusion, incentives and international finance. Critically, there is insufficient research on the extent to which adaptation has been

integrated within Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).

Mainstreaming adaptation: Progress to date

Caribbean countries were among the first to start work on adaptation with the Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change (CPACC) project in 1997. This is partly due to their vulnerability to climate change because of environmental factors, such as exposure to extreme weather, and economic realities, including their relative isolation and size. Elsewhere, the Pacific island of Kiribati has successfully integrated adaptation into national development strategies from within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and later from the Office of the President. This shows the effectiveness of coordinating adaptation from within an important ministry.

International donors and research institutions are also playing a part in advancing the mainstreaming process. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank are leading the way in making current and future investments more resilient to climate change. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting adaptation through disaster risk reduction programmes, including raising house levels in a low-lying region in the north of Bangladesh.

Recommendations for mainstreaming adaptation

Challenges and opportunities involved in mainstreaming climate change adaptation: Information: There is a general lack of awareness among policymakers and development practitioners about the risks posed by climate change, and how these relate to development priorities. Raising

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.7 MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES NOVEMBER 2007 www.ids.ac.uk

Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries

The varied and far-reaching barriers and opportunities to mainstreaming include issues around information, institutions, inclusion, incentives and international finance.

awareness of the likely impacts of climate change remains a key priority, particularly among senior politicians and high level policy-makers. Governments will need to engage more actively with the scientific community, who must provide easily accessible and up-to-date climate risk information relevant to the demands of different sectors. Improving the capacity of developing countries to generate such information within the country is a crucial building block for enhancing the effectiveness of information flow. Institutions: Experience suggests that successful mainstreaming is heavily dependent on addressing key aspects of organisational and institutional learning. One common barrier citied is that housing climate change in environmental or meterology departments of government leads to limited leverage on the issue. Similarly, government departments responsible for poverty and disaster risk reduction are in some cases aware of vulnerability to extreme climate events, but have no means of co-ordination, which leads to the development of parallel efforts in all three areas. Multi-stakeholder national co-ordination committees, chaired by a ministry with power, should be formed to manage the national adaptation strategy. Inclusion: It is rare to find participation of a broad range of stakeholders in policy-making related to

climate change. Civil society in particular has commonly had little or no voice in national policy-making. The process of identifying risks and resulting interventions must be inclusive, so that experiences are shared among different actors and adaptation strategies can be supported through collaboration and a sense of ownership. Incentives: Climate change mainstreaming has much to learn from political science in focusing attention on incentive structures for individuals, organisations and institutions. These include early attention to regulatory and bureaucratic issues when considering policy implementation, as well as transaction costs of changing to a different set of adaptive practices. The mainstreaming fatigue experienced by many engaged in international development and elsewhere must also be tackled by creating positive and recognisable goals, and avoiding replication with other parallel processes. International Development Finance: Developed countries must shoulder part of the burden for mainstreaming, both in the context of development aid and assistance to developing countries on the process and implementation of climate change adaptation. In this regard, donors should support research and monitoring and evaluation of the mainstreaming process, to develop understanding of what contributes to effective enabling environments.

Further Reading
Tom Mitchell, Thomas Tanner and Emily Wilkinson (2006) Overcoming the Barriers: Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries, Tearfund Climate Change Briefing Paper 1, Middlesex: Tearfund

Credits
This In Focus was written by Tom Mitchell and Guy Collender and edited by Emily Polack. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from issues of In Focus in their own publications. In return, IDS requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication.
Institute of Development Studies, 2007, ISSN 1479-974X

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 606261 F + 44 (0) 1273 621202 E ids@ids.ac.uk W www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.7 MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES NOVEMBER 2007 www.ids.ac.uk

Research and analysis from the Institute of Development Studies

IN FOCUS
ISSUE 02 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NOVEMBER 2007

Towards Climate Smart Organisations

Development and environment organisations are increasingly seeking to become climate smart. This involves managing risks from the current and future climate while taking advantage of opportunities presented by climate change. Leading UK development and environment organisations and research institutes discussed their efforts to achieve this ideal at a meeting convened by IDS and WWF UK in October 2007. Their sharing of experiences highlighted some of the processes required to help organisations become climate smart. This In Focus presents these findings and aims to support other organisations, including those just embarking on engaging with climate change issues.

Drivers of change

A number of key factors are driving organisational responses to climate change. Greater scientific understanding and growing experiences of impacts have fuelled demand for emissions reductions and adaptation. The globally unequal distribution in causes and impacts has underpinned a justice dimension to action and campaigning around adaptation. More recently the threat posed by climate impacts to an organisations activities and objectives has become a strong driver for change. The availability of financial resources specifically directed at climate change has become a strong supply-side driver. Political, media and supporter interests are now major push factors for agencies to demonstrate responsiveness, innovation, leadership on climate change and their own green credentials.

smart. Climate smart organisations have a clear organisational mandate and strategy on climate change brought about, and implemented through, top-level political will and leadership across the organisation. Mainstreaming into every aspect of the project cycle is key with climate change issues reflected within programmes and activities as built-in, rather than bolt-on, initiatives. Becoming climate smart, and thereby fully adapting to climate change, is an incremental and ongoing process which consists of three phases: Phase one: Pioneers build the case for an organisational response to tackling climate change, drawing on available scientific knowledge and advice from experts and partner organisations on risks and strategy. Pioneers may focus efforts on internal awareness raising and external networking. Phase two: Pioneers, or champions, draw in more human resources, possibly building a dedicated team and establishing a vision and strategy for

What does climate smart mean?

Being climate smart describes an organisations ability to manage existing and future climate change risks while taking advantage of opportunities associated with climate change.

mainstreaming within the organisation. Assessing internal green credentials may be an effective way of building interest and collective action across an organisation. Organisations begin to focus on knowledge management and communication of messages internally and externally. Phase three: Climate change has been internalised and mainstreamed into the organisations fabric, through its mandate, strategy and operational plans. Climate change can be seen in top-level statements and this reflection of political will is further reflected in its funding and programme of activities.
www.ids.ac.uk

Pathways to becoming climate smart

Organisations have to be transformed at a number of levels to become climate

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.8 TOWARDS CLIMATE SMART ORGANISATIONS NOVEMBER 2007

Towards Climate Smart Organisations

Attribute

Becoming climate smart, and thereby fully adapting to climate change, is an incremental and ongoing process which consists of three phases.

Organisations are likely to engage in risk screening of programmes and infrastructure. Communication of credible knowledge on climate change is likely to be prioritised to empower supporters to engage, enable adaptation, and make a credible case for political action. Well-resourced staff are able to

maintain the mainstreaming process. Phase three does not signify a cessation of efforts but reveals a shift towards becoming a climate smart organisation. Each phase is associated with a set of actors, tools, processes and resources, as set out in Table 1 below.

Further Reading
Tom Mitchell and Thomas Tanner (2006) Adapting to Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for the Development Community, Teddington: Tearfund

Table 1: The phases and attributes of becoming climate smart

Phase 1. Pioneer 2. Emergence 3. Maturity

Dominant focus Primary actors Key tools

Building the case Individual pioneers Internal lobbying, external coalitions

Fostering action Set of champions, partners Campaigns, internal audit, advocacy, external coalitions, pilot schemes, knowledge management

Mainstreaming Well-resourced staff / experts Visioning and horizon scanning exercises, strategic mandate, operational plans, monitoring and evaluation tools, communications strategy Strategy implementation, risk screening and project cycle integration, reflection and learning Established (policy team, resourced posts)

Credits
This In Focus was written by Thomas Tanner and Tom Mitchell and edited by Guy Collender and Emily Polack. Kit Vaughan WWF UK, and participants from DFID, IIED, Plan UK, Practical Action, RSPB, and Tearfund contributed to the meeting from which these findings emerged. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IDS or any of the other institutions involved. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from issues of In Focus in their own publications. In return, IDS requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication.
Institute of Development Studies, 2007, ISSN 1479-974X

Key processes

Discussion, building coalitions, raising awareness

Collating evidence, linking to other sectors, coherence with partners, internal reflection, strategy development, Growing (networks, transformation team)

Resources

Limited (voluntary, individuals)

Next steps

Identifying these phases is not to suggest that organisational transformation is uncomplicated or smooth; a range of challenges complicate and frustrate the process. Indeed all the organisations involved in the consultation are at different stages and facing challenges unique to their context. While many organisations are currently moving from the second to the third phase, with top-level support, high profile campaigns and innovative adaptation initiatives in the field, some are just entering the first phase. Suggesting possible pathways for change, grounded in experience, can assist organisations in becoming climate smart. Further research and shared learning in the following areas could strengthen organisational transformation:

Further tools to guide the mainstreaming process such as vulnerability assessments, risk screening approaches and carbon footprinting, emissions reductions and offsetting strategies Clearer indicators and tools for monitoring and evaluating the climate change mainstreaming process to enable organisations to continue reflection and learning Stronger partnerships between development and climate science communities to address scientific uncertainty in developing adaptation options and processes.

Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 606261 F + 44 (0) 1273 621202 E ids@ids.ac.uk W www.ids.ac.uk

IDS IN FOCUS ISSUE 02.8 TOWARDS CLIMATE SMART ORGANISATIONS NOVEMBER 2007

www.ids.ac.uk