Financing Climate Change Adaptation: International Initiatives (original) (raw)

FINANCING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Climate change is the key issue confronting humanity today. In addition to raising the specter of looming ecological disaster, it is also the fundamental human development issue of our time. The impacts of climate change will be transferred to human communities in lopsided proportions with the maximum costs transferred to the poorest and the most vulnerable. Evidently then, fighting poverty and fighting the impacts of climate change have a strategic linkage which needs to be explored for effective policy making. Climate change and human development are locked in dialectic, with changes in one affecting the other. Thus many adverse effects of climate change can be forestalled by focusing on development, and this focus can reciprocally help fighting the causes of climate change. The global climate change regime overseen by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a complex governance mechanism, with responsibility to coordinate climate change action among states. The global solution to the perils of climate change has crystallized in the form of two competing strategies, mitigation and adaptation, with the former aimed at the causes and the latter at addressing the effects of climate change. Since the developed countries have a disproportionately large carbon footprint, mitigation would not succeed without a cooperative framework involving commitments from all advanced industrialized countries. Meanwhile, the socioeconomic costs will continue to be borne by the less developed countries who must adapt to alleviate the impacts. Closer analysis suggests that current global efforts are biased in favour of mitigation at the cost of adaptation which is more germane to human development. Understanding the reasons for this bias is the key to understanding the mystery surrounding global inaction on adaptation and thus development. This article critically explores the history and functioning of the international climate regime to discover these reasons. The second component of a critical analysis is of course the exploration of alternatives towards positive action. Therefore, an evaluation of the potential of 'microfinance' as a strategy for financing adaptation is also a part of this study. Finally, the employment of microfinance as a strategic approach for adaptation efforts at the societal level is conceptualized with the dual aim of creating employment opportunities and thus poverty alleviation, as well as mobilizing the vast human resource currently neglected in the global discourse on climate change. 2

Climate change financing: Developing countries’ options and challenges for mitigation and adaptation

The objective of this paper is to present an assessment of existing and proposed mechanisms to financing climate change interventions in developing countries, and to provide guidance on the best ways to make progress in raising and utilizing such financing. Recent events pose major challenges to the availability and sustainability of public (official and developing countries’ domestic resources) and private financial flows to developing countries. Yet, they also provide an opportunity to implement mechanisms for collective action at a global scale, particularly on issues such as climate change that affect both developed and developing countries.

Financing for Climate Adaptation – an Overview of Current Regimes

2020

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