Saleemul Huq

Adaptation to climate change in the developing world

The world’s climate is changing and will continue to change into the coming century at rates projected to be unprecedented in recent human history. The risks associated with these changes are real but highly uncertain. Societal vulnerability to the risks associated with climate change may exacerbate ongoing social and economic challenges, particularly for those parts of societies dependent on resources that are sensitive to changes in climate. Risks are apparent in agriculture, fisheries and many other components that constitute the livelihood of rural populations in developing countries. In this paper we explore the nature of risk and vulnerability in the context of climate change and review the evidence on present-day adaptation in developing countries and on coordinated international action on future adaptation. We argue that all societies are fundamentally adaptive and there are many situations in the past where societies have adapted to changes in climate and to similar risks. But some sectors are more sensitive and some groups in society more vulnerable to the risks posed by climate change than others. Yet all societies need to enhance their adaptive capacity to face both present and future climate change outside their experienced coping range. The challenges of climate change for development are in the present. Observed climate change, present-day climate variability and future expectations of change are changing the course of development strategies - development agencies and governments are now planning for this adaptation challenge. The primary challenge, therefore, posed at both the scale of local natural resource management and at the scale of international agreements and actions, is to promote adaptive capacity in the context of competing sustainable development objectives.

Community-based adaptation to climate change : scaling it up

Part 1: Introduction to Key Concepts 1. Up-scaling community-based adaptationL An introduction to the edited volume 2. Adaptive capacity 3. Adapting Development Part 2: Making it Happen: Tools and framewords for scaling up CBA 4. Economics of CBA 5. Sustainable Financing Mechanism for Upscaling CBA 6. How is community-based adaptation scaled up in environmental risk assessment? Lessons from Ecosystem Based Adaptation 7. Scaling-up the use of tools for community-based adaptation: Issues and challenge 8. Agriculture, Local Resilience and Climate Prediction Services 9. Serious Fun: Scaling Up Community Based Adaptation through Experiential Learning Part 3: Scaling up CBA in sectors 10. Scaling Up Community Based Adaptation to Protect Community Health from Climate Change 11. Down Home it all Looks the Same: Building Synergisms between Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) and Community-based Climate Change Adaptation (CBA) 12. Upscaling CBA in Agriculture 13. Community Participation in Urban Adaptation to Climate Change: Potential and Limits for CBA Approaches 14. Gender in Scaling up Community based Adaptation to Climate Change 15. When Disaster 16. The Role of Ecosystems in Climate Change Adaptation: Lessons fro Scaling Up

Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Bangladesh by Building Civil Society Alliances

Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest countrie s and is prone to a multitude of climate-related impacts such as floods, droughts, tropical cyclones and storm surges. The vulnerability of people living in the coastal zone has been demonstrated in numerous studies and is emphasised in the recent Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001). The subsiding coastal zone in Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable as it is affected by more than twice the mean predicted global rate of sealevel rise. The consequences are saltwater intrusion into surface and groundwater systems, drainage congestion and water logging, and changes in morphodynamic processes resulting in increased riverbank erosion. In addition, sealevel rise has the potential to make cyclones and coastal inundation even more damaging than they are today. The cyclones of 1991, 1994 and 1998 have created great awareness of the need and opportunities to prepare for cyclones and to reduce vulnerability. The prospect of climate change and sealevel rise increases the need to prepare for cyclones, whilst the development of an international climate adaptation regime increases the opportunities to do so. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB), together with development funding partners such as the World Bank, UNDP and others, has embarked on preparing its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) as well as its National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). Both the PRSP and the NAPA are likely to become key national planning documents, which will inform and guide investments in the coming years. Civil society organisations have made major contributions to poverty alleviation and disaster reduction in Bangladesh. However, despite the wealth of information available and the initiatives being taken by both the GoB and civil society organisations, effective adaptation, aimed at protecting vulnerable households and livelihoods in exposed coastal communities, is constrained by the limited exchange of information between and within the GoB and civil society organisations. There is clearly a disconnect between, on the one hand, the widely declared need to start planning for adaptation at local, regional and national levels and, on the other hand, the knowledge base available at these levels to support such planning.

Coming full circle: the history of loss and damage under the UNFCCC

This paper chronicles the history of the rise of loss and damage in negotiations under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change and the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in bringing about this paradigm shift. Over the past two decades, the global climate change regime has shifted from a focus primarily on mitigation, to both mitigation and adaptation and finally to the current era in which loss and damage has emerged as a key fixture on the agenda with the establishment of the Warsaw international mechanism on loss and damage at the 19th Conference of the Parties in November 2013. This shift can be attributed to the realisation that mitigation and adaptation efforts have been insufficient to avoid the impacts of climate change.

A people‐centred perspective on climate change, environmental stress, and livelihood resilience in Bangladesh

The Ganges–Brahmaputra delta enables Bangladesh to sustain a dense population, but it also exposes people to natural hazards. This article presents findings from the Gibika project, which researches livelihood resilience in seven study sites across Bangladesh. This study aims to understand how people in the study sites build resilience against environmental stresses, such as cyclones, floods, riverbank erosion, and drought, and in what ways their strategies sometimes fail. The article applies a new methodology for studying people’s decision making in risk-prone environments: the personal Livelihood History interviews (Nxa0=xa028). The findings show how environmental stress, shocks, and disturbances affect people’s livelihood resilience and why adaptation measures can be unsuccessful. Floods, riverbank erosion, and droughts cause damage to agricultural lands, crops, houses, and properties. People manage to adapt by modifying their agricultural practices, switching to alternative livelihoods, or using migration as an adaptive strategy. In the coastal study sites, cyclones are a severe hazard. The study reveals that when a cyclone approaches, people sometimes choose not to evacuate: they put their lives at risk to protect their livelihoods and properties. Future policy and adaptation planning must use lessons learned from people currently facing environmental stress and shocks.

Climate adaptation funding: Getting the money to those who need it

ABSTRACT In an era when climate records are continually being broken, climate change adaptation is becoming relevant for communities around the globe, particularly the most vulnerable and poor communities. Governments around the world collectively agreed in Paris in 2015 to combat the threats and challenges posed by climate change, yet the matter of how to finance adaptation for those in need remains unsettled. There are two major issues related to the future of adaptation funding: where the funds will flow from, and how to ensure the appropriate distribution and allocation of the available funds. This paper discusses political economy factors at the global, national, and local levels that affect the distribution and allocation of available funds. It argues that appropriate consideration of political economy factors is needed in designing future finance programs, to ensure that funds reach those who need them most.

Non-economic losses from climate change: opportunities for policy-oriented research

The concept of non-economic losses (NELs) has recently emerged in the context of negotiations on loss and damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). NELs are losses of values that are not commonly traded in markets but bear high relevance for those affected. Examples include loss of life, biodiversity and cultural heritage. The ongoing institutionalization of approaches to loss and damage under the UNFCCC offers great opportunities to provide a sound information base for policy- and decision-making on NELs. Available expertise to meet the emerging knowledge needs includes insights into relevant indicators, and adequate means of integrating NELs into decision-making processes that seek to reduce losses ex-ante. Further research is needed to identify or develop appropriate responses to NELs ex-post. Here, historical analogues of loss and practices of remembrance and recognition can provide valuable insights. Opportunities for engagement exist at the UNFCCC’s science-policy interface. These include participation and active engagement at open meetings under the UNFCCC to advance exchange on applied research that is framed around policy-relevant questions on NELs as well as interaction with the expert group on NELs that was set up under the designated policy body to work on loss and damage under the UNFCCC, i.e. the Warsaw International Mechanism.

Community-based adaptation (CBA): adding conceptual clarity to the approach, and establishing its principles and challenges

Community-based adaptation (CBA) is an approach to strengthening the adaptive capacity of local communities vulnerable to climate change. The CBA approach increasingly features in discussions among policy makers, planners, advocates, and researchers, and has been endorsed and adopted by numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations. However, to date the CBA approach has lacked conceptual clarity, and the term is interpreted and deployed in various and often contradictory ways. This paper seeks to address this deficit by explaining the rationale put forth for CBA by its proponents, outlining its guiding principles, and theorizing some of its key challenges, which often point to opportunities for the approach to evolve.

From Paris to Marrakech: Global Politics around Loss and Damage

The issue of loss and damage has historically been politically contentious, with developed countries being afraid of being held responsible, and developing countries demanding some form of compensation for being disproportionately impacted by climate change-induced loss and damage. After much debate between developed and developing countries, the Paris Agreement took the middle road between the varying outcomes envisioned by developed and developing countries. The Agreement recognised the most vital demands of the developing countries to incorporate loss and damage as an independent pillar of the UNFCCC process and made the Warsaw International Mechanism permanent. Considering the discomfort among the developed block, the language of the Agreement was general and non-binding in character, overtly excluding the possibility of liability or compensation under loss and damage, which many have been described as a failure for vulnerable countries. Thus, the major challenge for the COP22 will be to expedite the discussion around financing and legal responsibility for loss and damage. This article discusses the road towards the Paris Agreement in light of the history of negotiations on loss and damage under the UNFCCC and aims to understand how it will impact the future of loss and damage.