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United Nations Department of Economic and Social AffairsDivision for Sustainable DevelopmentClimate Change and Sustainable Development: A Workshop to StrengthenResearch and UnderstandingNew Delhi, 7-8 AprilAdaptation to Climate Change in the Context of Sustainable DevelopmentBackground Paper prepared under contractByThe Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Adaptation to Climate Change inthe context of ntional approaches to understanding climate change werelimited to identifying and quantifying the potential long-term climateimpacts on different ecosystems and economic sectors. While usefulin depicting general trends and dynamic interactions between theatmosphere, biosphere, land, oceans and ice, this top–down, sciencedriven approach failed to address the regional and local impacts ofclimate change and the local abilities to adapt to climate-inducedchanges.limate change is one of the all-encompassing globalenvironmental changes likely to have deleterious effects onnatural and human systems, economies and infrastructure. The risksassociated with it call for a broad spectrum of policy responses andstrategies at the local, regional, national and global level. TheUNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange) highlights two fundamental response strategies: mitigationand adaptation. While mitigation seeks to limit climate change byreducing the emissions of GHG (greenhouse gases) and by enhancing‘sink’ opportunities, adaptation aims to alleviate the adverse impactsthrough a wide-range of system-specific actions (Fussel and Klein,2002).Albeit both mitigation and adaptation measures must be pursuedto tackle the climate change problem and to create an effective andinclusive international climate change regime, more attention hasbeen devoted to mitigation in the past, both in scientific research andpolicy debate. Sensitivity to the issue of adaptation has grown overthe last couple of years, particularly after the IPCC(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) TAR (ThirdAssessment Report). Adaptation has now emerged as an urgent policypriority, prompting action both within and outside the climate changenegotiations (Parry et al. 2005).

Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable developmentTransitionfromimpacts tovulnerabilityandadaptationRecognitionof the needto integrateadaptationintodevelopmentpoliciesThis impact-driven approach1 gave way to a new generation ofscholarship, which utilised bottom-up or vulnerability-driven approachesthat assessed past and present current vulnerability, existing adaptationstrategies, and how these might be modified with climate change.Vulnerability in this context is defined as, “the degree to which a system issusceptible to, or unable to cope with, the adverse effects of climate change,including climate variability and extremes” and adaptation as, “adjustmentsin ecological, social or economic systems in response to actual or expectedstimuli and their effects or impacts. This term refers to changes in processes,practices and structures to moderate potential damages or to benefit fromopportunities associated with climate change” (IPCC 2001).The international community is continuing to grapple with the likelysocio-economic and environmental impacts that shall result from climatechange. Adaptation to climate change is a new process for bothdeveloped and developing nations, and concrete experience in applyingan integrated approach to adaptation is limited (Parry et al. 2005). Theadaptation line of inquiry reflects the international community’sescalating need to prepare for and adapt to climate change and toensure that any future climate change regime will bestow on the issue itslegitimate recognition. It also recognises growing international awarenessof the need to integrate adaptation issues into core policy and decisionmaking processes. The question that needs to be address is howadaptation to climate variability and change can be more fully integratedinto development policies and what are the funding instruments foradaptation?The rationale for integrating adaptation into development strategiesand practices is underlined by the fact that interventions required toincrease resilience to climate variability and change generally furtherdevelopment objectives. Adaptation calls for natural resourcemanagement, buttressing food security, development of social andhuman capital and strengthening of institutional systems (Adger et al.2003). Such processes, besides building the resilience of communities,regions and countries to all shocks and stresses, including climatevariability and change, are good development practice in themselves.Hence the inclusion of climatic risks in the design and implementationof development initiatives is vital to reduce vulnerability and enhancesustainability.This paper seeks to explore the nexus between adaptation toclimate change and sustainable development and discusses waysof mainstreaming adaptation considerations into sustainabledevelopment efforts. The paper is actuated by the belief that key to an12See Parry and Carter (1998), Burton et al. (2002).

Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable developmentInvestigatingthe cussions onVulnerabilityand AdaptationWidelyvaryingdefinition ofvulnerabilityeffective climate change response strategy is a better understanding ofrelevant policy linkages: what specific climate change impacts andmeasures will affect development efforts and how? For e.g., an increasein fuel prices as a method of decreasing GHG emissions, could imposeinequitable burdens on the poor; while carbon sequestration measurescould aid social policy by enhancing sustainability of livelihoods. Henceintegration between the two realms of adaptation and development is aprerequisite for a productive understanding and may provide newopportunities for integrated policy development.The outline of the paper is as follows:P Discussions on Vulnerability and AdaptationP Vulnerability and Adaptation AssessmentsP Integration of Adaptation Concerns into the SustainableDevelopment ProcessP Funding AdaptationP ConclusionConcept of vulnerabilitySince, vulnerability and its causes play essential roles in determiningimpacts, comprehending the dynamics of vulnerability is as important asunderstanding climate itself (Handmer et al. 1999). Definitions ofvulnerability vary widely among different scholars. Researchers in socialgeography and political ecology regard vulnerability as an a priori conditionof a household or community that is determined by socio-economic andpolitical factors (Blaikie et al. 1994, Bohle et al. 1994). Contiguously, Kellyand Adger (2000:328) declare that vulnerability is the “ability or inability ofindividuals or social groupings to respond to, in the sense of cope with, recoverfrom, or adapt to, any external stress placed on their livelihoods and well-being”.A political economy approach is argued for- using the ‘entitlementsapproach’ (Sen 1981) in the analyses of vulnerability. This approachintroduces a household perspective on vulnerability, and replaces theecocentric approach to environmental change.Vulnerability may also be conceptualised as the dose-responserelationship between an exogenous hazard to a system and its effects.From a natural hazard perspective then, vulnerability may be defined asthe characteristics of a person, or group in terms of their capacity toanticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a naturalhazard (Blaikie et al. 1994).Another perspective is provided by the Africa Environment Outlook,which concentrates on the vulnerability-security continuum, with thestate of vulnerability being characterised by low adaptive capacity,3

Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable developmentFigure 1 Vulnerability-Security ContinuumSource UNEP 2002. Africa Environment Outlook: past, present, and futureperspectives http://www.grida.no/aeo/ IPCCdefinition ofvulnerabilityas afunction ofexposure,sensitivityandadaptivecapacitylimited choices and marginalisation; and that of security with highadaptive capacity, diversity in choices, power and control.In climate change research, vulnerability is used as an integrativemeasure of the threats to a system (IPCC 2001, Kelly and Adger 2000).The IPCC (2001) definition of vulnerability, as mentioned earlier2, is afunction of the character, magnitude and rate of climate variation towhich a system is exposed, its sensitivity and adaptive capacity.Exposure is defined as the, “degree of climate stress upon a particular unitof analysis; it may be represented as either long-term changes in climateconditions, or by changes in climate variability, including the magnitude andfrequency of extreme events” (IPCC 2001). Smit et al. (2000), definesensitivity as, “the degree to which a system will be affected by, or responsiveto, climate stimuli”. Adaptive capacity is defined as “the potential orcapability of a system to adjust to climate change, including climatevariability and extremes, to moderate potential damages, to take advantage ofopportunities, or to cope with consequences” (Smit and Pilifosova 2001).It is important to mention here that broadly there are twointerpretations of vulnerability – as an end point or as a starting point(O’Brien et al. 2004). As a starting point, vulnerability is a characteristicor state generated by multiple environmental and social processes, butexacerbated by climate change (Kelly and Adger 2000). Vulnerabilityprovides a means of understanding how the impacts of climate changewill be distributed, primarily to identify how vulnerability can be24Background section, p. 2

Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable developmentreduced, i.e., the focus is on adaptive capacity and systemic propertiesand solutions can be found in sustainable development. As an endpoint, vulnerability is viewed as a residual of climate change impactsminus adaptation. It serves as a means of defining the extent of theclimate problem and providing input into policy decisions regarding thecost of climate change versus costs related to GHG mitigation efforts(Kelly and Adger 2000).Factors determining vulnerabilityNotion ofdifferentialvulnerabilitiesConsiderable attention has been paid to identifying characteristics thatinfluence a system’s ability to adapt (as part of impact and vulnerabilityassessment) and/or their priority for adaptation measures (as a basis forpolicy development) (Smit and Pilifosova 2001).A common theme in the climate change impacts and vulnerabilityliterature is the idea that communities, social groups, sectors, regionsand nations differ in the degree of vulnerability to climate change, i.e.,there exists differential vulnerabilities (Bohle et al. 1994).Developing countries, SIDS (Small Island Developing States), peopleliving in arid-semi arid lands, water-limited or flood-prone areas, aswell as countries and sectors heavily dependent on climate sensitivesectors – agriculture, water resources, forestry, fisheries etc areparticularly at risk. This is partly due to the fact that climate-inducedchanges in temperature and precipitation will occur unevenly and henceclimate change impacts will be unevenly distributed across the globe. Itis also due to the fact that resources and wealth are distributedunevenly. IPCC (2001:15) recognises that, “even within regions, impacts,adaptive capacity and vulnerability will vary”. Discussions ofvulnerability often highlight the importance of poverty and inequality –or differential resource access (Adger and Kelly 1999).The significance of climate variation depends on the degree ofchange and the characteristics of the society exposed to it. Thesecharacteristics determine the level of vulnerability of a system. Climateinduced changes can have vastly different ramifications oncommunities, regions and nations because of differential vulnerabilitiesand coping strategies. Poor developing countries are more vulnerable toand have lesser adaptive capacities to than developed nations, due to:P Overpopulation (relative to current productivity, income and naturalresources)P Debilitated ecological base (land degradation and fragmentation)P Over-dependence on climate-sensitive sectors: agriculture, forestry,fisheries5

Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable vel of economic wealthInequities in access to resources and wealth among groupsWeak socio- cultural (rigidity in land-use practices, social conflicts)infrastructural, financial/market (uncertain pricing, availability ofcredit, lack of credit), legal and governance structuresTechnological, skills and human resource bottlenecksPoor pre-existing health conditions.Reducing vulnerability involves reducing exposure through specificmeasures, or increasing adaptive capacity through activities that areclosely aligned with development priorities.Why focus on adaptation?Reasons forconsideringadaptation asa responsemeasure6Traditionally, mitigation has received greater attention than adaptation,both from a scientific and policy perspective. One plausible reason forthis could be that climate change emerged as a problem related to thelong-term disturbance of the global geo-biochemical cycles andassociated effects on the climate system (Cohen et al. 1998). Thecurrent discourse owes its legacy to two scientific programmes:oceanography and atmospheric science and their coalition, the GCMs(General Circulation Models). Hence the approach used was that ofnatural science (reductionism), which constructed the problem in amanner amenable to scientific analysis.The focus on mitigation was later reflected in the work of the IPCC,an organisation jointly established by the UNEP (United NationsEnvironment Programme) and the WMO (World MeteorologicalOrganisation) in 1988 to, “assess the scientific, technical and socio-economicinformation relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-inducedclimate change” (Najam et al. 2003). The KP also is largely concernedwith quantitative limits for GHG emissions.However, there are convincing arguments for consideration ofadaptation as a response measure. First, no matter how robustmitigation measures are, a certain degree of climate change is inevitabledue to historical emissions and the inertia of the climate system (IPCC2001). Second, while the effects of mitigation may take several decadesto manifest, most adaptation activities take effect almost immediately.Third, such measures can be applied on a regional or local scale, andtheir effectiveness is less dependent on actions of others. Fourth,adaptation besides addressing the risks associated with changes in theclimate in future typically reduces risks associated with current climatevariability.

Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable developmentDefining the termsMany definitions of adaptation can be found in the literature (Box 1).Some of the straightforward definitions describe adaptation as involving“changes in a system in response to some force or perturbation, in our caserelated to climate” (Smithers and Smit 1997) or as an “.adjustment inindividual, group and institutional behaviour in order to reduce society’svulnerabilities to climate” (Pielke 1998).Box 1 Definitions of adaptation reviewed by Smit et al. (2000)P Adaptation to climate is the process through which people reduce the adverseeffects of climate on their health and well-being, and take advantage of theopportunities that their climatic environment provides.P Adaptation involves adjustments to enhance the viability of social and economicactivities and to reduce their vulnerability to climate, including its currentvariability and extreme events as well as longer-term climate change.P The term adaptation means any adjustment, whether passive, reactive oranticipatory, that is proposed as a means for ameliorating the anticipatedadverse consequences associated with climate change.The definition used here is taken from IPCC 2001, whereinadaptation refers to, “adjustments in ecological, social or economic systems inresponse to actual or expected stimuli and their effects or impacts. This termrefers to changes in processes, practices and structures to moderate potentialdamages or to benefit from opportunities associated with climate change”(IPCC 2001)3. Adaptation hence involves adjustments to decrease thevulnerability of communities, regions, and nations to climate variabilityand change and in promoting sustainable development (IPCC 2001).Adaptation needs vary across geographical scales (local, national,regional, global), temporal scales (coping with current impacts versuspreparing for long-term change), and must be addressed within complexand uncertain conditions. Responding to this process hence calls forinterdisciplinary and multiple expertise – a coalescing of researchers andpractitioners in climatology, ecology, economics, management of naturalresources, public health, disaster risk reduction, and communitydevelopment.3Often the terms resilience and adaptation are used interchangeably. The termresilience is drawn from the adaptive cycle seen in natural systems (for an expositionsee Holling 1986). Walker, Carpenter, Anderies et al. (2002) state that resilience is thepotential of a system to remain in a particular configuration and to maintain itsfeedbacks and function, and involves the ability of the system to re-organise, followingdisturbance-driven change.7

Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable developmentTypes ofadaptationDepending on its timing, goal and motive of its implementation,adaptation can either be reactive or anticipatory, private or public,planned or autonomous. Adaptations can also be short/long term,localised or widespread (IPCC 2001). In unmanaged natural systems,adaptation is autonomous and reactive and is the means by whichspecies respond to changed conditions. In these situations, adaptationassessment is essentially equivalent to natural system impact assessment.Adaptations undertaken by individuals/communities is the focus hereand can be classifies as:P Reactive or Anticipatory Reactive adaptation takes place afterthe initial impacts of climate change have occurred. Anticipatoryadaptation takes place before impacts become apparent. In naturalsystems, there are is no anticipatory adaptation.P Private or Public The distinction is based on whether adaptationis motivated by private (individual households and companies) orpublic interest (government).P Planned and Autonomous Planned adaptation is consequence ofdeliberate policy decision, based on the awareness that conditionshave changed or are expected to change and that some form ofaction is required to maintain a desired state. Autonomousadaptation involves changes that systems will undergo in response tochanging climate irrespective of any policy, plan or decision.Figure 2 shows examples of the types of adaptation differentiatedaccording to timing, natural/human systems and public or privatedecision makers.Figure 2 Classification of adaptation optionsSource IPCC 2001. http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc tar/wg2/645.htm#1825 8

Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable developmentAdaptation at the multilateral levelAdaptationconcernswithin andoutside thenegotiationprocessInitially adaptation was viewed as a response mechanism, something tobe undertaken specifically for expected or anticipated impacts of climatechange, such as sea-level rise (IPCC 1996). Increasingly, it is being seenas a way of addressing risks associated with extreme events such asdroughts and floods and climate variability (seasonality).Although during the 1990s, most of the scientific research andnegotiations concentrated on mitigation, a number of Articles in theUNFCCC refer to the need for adaptation t

sustainability. This paper seeks to explore the nexus between adaptation to climate change and sustainable development and discusses ways of mainstreaming adaptation considerations into sustainable development efforts. The paper is actuated by the belief that key to an 1 See Parry and Carter (1998), Burton et al. (2002). Transition from impacts to

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