SciDev.Net

This report by the Institute for Development Studies details the results of a pilot project in Bangladesh aimed at developing a screening process for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to identify and manage climate change impacts on development investments.

The authors highlight predictions that climate change in Bangladesh may lead to stronger cyclones, increased flooding during the monsoon rains and exacerbated drought in the dry season.

They suggest that raising roads and improving drainage could be a cost-efficient way to reduce the impact. Other options recommended for managing risks include paying greater attention to infrastructure design in health, education and private sector development programmes; and to non-structural measures such as livelihood diversification, education and training about disaster risks and adaptation, and improved research and monitoring.

The authors conclude that DFID should support dialogue on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, integrate priorities identified by the Bangladeshi government, increase emphasis for assistance on urban areas, and stimulate a multi-donor dialogue about water issues.

This book-length report details a study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) that aimed to map vulnerability to the impacts of climate change in Africa. 

Climate change models of four different future scenarios were used and the impacts on agriculture assessed. Biophysical and social vulnerability were also analysed, using indicators developed specifically for this research.

The outcomes suggest, if tentatively, that many already vulnerable systems may be adversely affected by climate impacts, including the mixed arid-semiarid systems in the Sahel and rangelands in eastern Africa, the Great Lakes region, the coastal regions of eastern Africa and the drier zones of southern Africa.

The report concludes that adaptation is best researched at national or regional levels, not the macro level, due to local variability, and that communities themselves need to become much more involved in adaptation strategies.

Adapting to climate change is seen as imperative to sustainable development. Yet few poverty alleviation efforts include adaptation strategies. This report examines the progress in mainstreaming adaptation into development planning in countries like Bangladesh, Kenya, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

It focuses on integration of adaptation into poverty reduction frameworks in economic sectors, international donors, nongovernmental organisations and research institutes. The authors highlight five types of potential obstacles; information, institutions, inclusion, incentives, and international development finance.

They recommend that policymakers work more closely with scientists to understand climate change impacts and their relation to development priorities. They also suggest more civil society and nongovernmental stakeholders be included in climate policymaking. National adaptation programmes should be situated within powerful ministries, say the authors. And donors should provide incentives for developing countries to participate in adaptation efforts, they add.