Items tagged:
Climate change adaptation
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Locally led adaption to climate change: the start of a 10-year learning journey
In early 2021, a fast-growing group of experts will meet in Gobeshona to define a 10-year learning agenda to advance principles for critical locally led adaption to climate change. Saleemul Huq and Clare Shakya explain the importance of this group and the journey ahead
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Climate Adaptation Summit 2021
IIED and partners will be taking part in the 2021 Climate Adaptation Summit 2021, which takes place on 25 and 26 January
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Gobeshona Global Conference 1
IIED and partners will participate in the Gobeshona Global Conference 1, a week-long digital event from 18-24 January 2021
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Enhancing climate resilience impacts of India’s social protection programme
IIED is supporting the world’s largest works-based social protection scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), to deliver climate resilience impacts for vulnerable rural communities in India
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Reforming climate finance to support locally led adaptation: principles for moving to business unusual
This online event on November 18 discussed how finance flows must enable actors at the local level to lead the development and design of climate adaptation solutions
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Can the Adaptation Committee find opportunity in adversity?
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a pause in climate negotiations, but it need not be time wasted. Binyam Gebreyes and Emilie Beauchamp consider how the Adaptation Committee is seizing the moment to tackle existing challenges, and how it could go further
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Are India’s social protection schemes ‘future fit’?
COVID-19 has highlighted the value of India’s social protection schemes for the extreme poor. With some tweaking, these schemes can be true game changers
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Daily updates: CBA14 – The 14th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change
CBA14 is the leading practitioner-focused forum on climate change adaptation, delivering dialogue and evidence to inform policy and action, from the local to the global scale. Read our daily reports from CBA14 below.
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CBA14 conference agenda
Explore the conference agenda of sessions at the 14th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA14)
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Why we need to plug the climate information gap in social protection schemes
Being prepared to respond to hazards can dramatically reduce risks of livelihood loss for India’s rural poor
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CBA14: Same great conference, entirely new environment
The 2020 international conference on community-based adaptation will be digital – but it will still have community at the centre
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CBA14 Setting the stage: from crisis to climate action
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced communities to adapt quickly. What can we learn from their experience that can inform community-led adaptation in the future?
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Webinar report: Gender inequalities in social protection
How can social protection schemes incorporate climate-resilience objectives and respond to the different needs of women and men? That was the topic under discussion at an online meeting hosted by IIED on 2 April 2020
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Transitioning to a better global ‘new normal’
COVID-19 has changed our world. To mark Earth Day 2020, and the global call to act on climate change, we ask: what lessons can we apply from the pandemic response to help tackle other global crises, including the climate emergency?
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Webinar: Gender inequalities in social protection – people, households and climate adaptation
IIED hosted an online discussion on the role of social protection schemes and how they can incorporate climate-resilience objectives and respond to the different needs of women and men
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Is adaptation the missing ingredient from the new UN biodiversity action plan?
This week governments from across the world will meet in Rome to discuss the first draft of a new global action plan to tackle biodiversity loss. Dilys Roe asks whether there is something missing from the agenda
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2020: the year to get money where it matters
More new initiatives, such as the Global Commission on Adaptation’s Locally Led Adaptation Action Track, are beginning to recognise the critical role of poor and marginalised people in tackling the climate emergency. From the Gobeshona conference, Andrew Norton and Saleemul Huq explain why a reimagined climate finance system that gets money into the hands of those people must be high on the 2020 ‘super year’ agenda
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Monitoring climate change adaptation: the importance of linking global and national reporting
The Paris Agreement provides a foundation for the most robust climate change transparency system to date. IIED research has identified ways to improve this reporting by aligning global and national activity
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Towards better assessment of adaptation results
How can countries align their climate adaptation assessment mechanisms with other frameworks? Barry Smith highlights opportunities for achieving effective adaptation monitoring and evaluation
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South Africa’s national development monitoring and evaluation
IIED has undertaken a series of 'light touch' case studies to show how some countries are developing adaptation M&E for learning systems. This study looks at South Africa
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How the Philippines’ national M&E system integrates climate and development
IIED has undertaken a series of 'light touch' case studies to show how some countries are developing adaptation M&E for learning systems. This study looks at the Philippines.
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Subnational adaptation monitoring and evaluation in Morocco
IIED has undertaken a series of 'light touch' case studies to show how some countries are developing adaptation M&E for learning systems. This study looks at Morocco.
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Assessing climate adaptation in Mexico
IIED has undertaken a series of 'light touch' case studies to show how some countries are developing adaptation M&E for learning systems. This study looks at Mexico.
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Transparent climate reporting in Malawi: what’s needed, what’s next?
The Paris Agreement’s transparency guidelines allow least developed countries extra time and support to meet new climate reporting criteria, but meet it they must. Yamikani Idriss describes Malawi’s progress to date and support still needed
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Supporting adaptation through local-level climate finance: lessons from Kenya
Kenya’s transformational County Climate Change Fund (CCCF) mechanism demonstrates how to get climate funds to the local level and involve the people who are most vulnerable to the hazards of a changing climate in deciding how to spend them
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Least Developed Countries launch 2050 Vision for a climate-resilient future
The world’s least developed countries have launched a long-term strategy for climate resilience and net zero emissions by 2050
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LDC 2050 Vision for a climate-resilient future
The world's least developed countries have set out their response to the climate challenge, with a long-term vision for 2050 that aims to ensure that no country is left behind
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IIED and partner events at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit
This page summarises the activities of IIED, its researchers and partners around the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York in September
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To stay ahead of climate change, cities need to act now
How can cities in low- and middle-income countries address climate change risks? IIED's David Satterthwaite looks at the challenges facing city governments across the world
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Leading from the front: responding with urgency to the climate emergency
Representatives of the least developed countries, grassroots community organisations and climate action leaders will attend an IIED-organised series of high-level debates during London Climate Action Week in July
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Adapting to climate change in Europe: building a systemic and urgent vision
The fourth European Climate Change Adaptation conference takes place in Lisbon later this month. Susannah Fisher and Andrew Norton argue that researchers can play an important role in raising Europe’s ambitions on adaptation by highlighting whole systems approaches and transformative public narratives
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‘Participatory’ adaptation plans aren’t working for migrants in cities
A paper in the latest issue of the journal Environment and Urbanization highlights how urban plans for adapting to climate change often leave out migrant populations living in informal settlements. Guest bloggers Eric Chu and Kavya Michael call for a rethink.
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Book summary: Resilience – The Science of Adaptation to Climate Change
The term ‘resilience’ – one of today’s hottest buzzwords in climate and development – comes under the spotlight in a new book that includes a chapter IIED’s Saleemul Huq has co-authored with researchers Yousuf Mahid and Nadine Suliman from the International Centre for Climate Change and Development
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Author Q&A: Resilience – the science of adaptation to climate change
Saleemul Huq discusses a new book exploring the term ‘resilience’ – one of today’s hottest buzzwords in climate and development. The book includes a chapter he has co-authored with researchers Yousuf Mahid and Nadine Suliman from the International Centre for Climate Change and Development
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"Follow the science": Least Developed Countries Group lead negotiator
The chair of the UNFCCC Least Developed Countries Group, Gebru Jember Endalew, called for climate action to be guided by science when he spoke at the closing of Development and Climate Days 2018
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Delivering climate finance at the local level: the Gungano Urban Poor Fund
The Gungano Fund provides loans to low income urban households that cannot access other financial services. The fund aims to develop a scalable and replicable housing finance model and partner with central and local government to upgrade informal settlements
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Development and Climate Days 2018
This year's Development and Climate (D&C) Days event explored four themes that are vital for delivering climate resilience for all
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LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR)
The LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR) aims to develop an over-arching least developed countries (LDC) vision for adapting towards a climate resilient future by 2050. The vision will be LDC led and driven, driving forward climate action in line with LDC needs and priorities
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Delivering climate finance at the local level: the Dema Fund
This case study looks at how the Dema Fund supports community action to protect the Brazilian Amazon. The fund reaches geographically remote communities that are largely excluded from social programmes and government services, including indigenous peoples, Afro-Brazilian communities, subsistence farmers and women
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Call for evidence: long-term effective adaptation
The Least Developed Countries Group is inviting submissions on effective long-term adaptation to climate change. The submissions will contribute to a major new initiative that seeks to develop a long-term vision for climate resilience up to 2050
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Delivering climate finance at the local level: the Babacu Fund
This case study looks at how the Babacu Fund is delivering climate finance to landless palm nut collectors in the Brazilian Amazon. The fund is supporting remote communities that conventional development interventions are failing to reach, and is giving these communities the opportunity to prioritise investments that will make the greatest difference to them
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As climate changes, Himalayan farmers return to traditional crops
Traditional crops and innovations are offering Himalayan farmers a way to deal with the challenges of climate change, but there is much work to be done for this to become a truly viable alternative
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Q&A: Why indigenous seed-saving women are the stewards of biodiversity
In the latest in a series highlighting how women around the world are safeguarding biodiversity, Krystyna Swiderska discusses how women are sustaining biodiverse farming by combining traditional knowledge and innovation to protect local seed systems
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Supporting national monitoring and evaluation systems to enable adaptation assessment and reporting
IIED is working on a programme to improve and share understanding about monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for climate change adaptation planning and reporting.
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Addressing the political and technical challenges of measuring adaptation
Susannah Fisher outlines the challenges that need to be addressed in order to effectively measure progress on adaptation as part of the first global stocktake in 2023
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EbA Evidence and Policy: Peru
In Peru IIED, IUCN and ANDES are using practical experiences of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in mountain ecosystems, learning and reflecting on their effectiveness, and contributing to the ongoing country efforts to position and mainstream EbA into national climate change and development policies.
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Webinar: Benefits of investing in national monitoring and evaluation systems
Join our webinar on 2 Oct 2018 to discuss how developing countries can benefit from investing in national M&E systems for climate change adaptation - and go beyond narrow project or indicator-based monitoring systems.
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Consensus grows on nature-based solutions to climate change, but challenges remain
Experts point to growing awareness of the potential of nature-based solutions to climate change – but say work must be done to improve understanding and policy take-up
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Assessing adaptation and development progress
Countries need to know whether their efforts to adapt to climate change are working. The first in a new series of webinars discussed approaches that can help governments assess their progress
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Webinar: What does successful adaptation look like, and what do we want to measure in the context of adaptation, national development and SDGs?
IIED organised a webinar on 28 June 2018 to discuss how developing country governments can assess adaptation actions to inform national planning and international reporting.
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The International Centre for Climate Change and Development
Building long term capacity for adaptation to climate change in Bangladesh and across the Global South
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Sharing knowledge on climate change adaptation in Brazil
The AdaptaClima online knowledge platform supports effective adaptation to climate change in Brazil by allowing users to share information and tools online
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Tiempo
Tiempo was a printed bulletin published quarterly by IIED and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
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Responding to climate change in Tanzania by strengthening dryland governance and planning
District governments in Tanzania are improving their capacity for effective adaptive planning by strengthening planning processes and establishing local adaptation funds. With support from a consortium of government and non-government stakeholders, they are testing a devolved climate finance mechanism for building resilience, which could inform policy and action in other drylands
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Responding to climate change in Kenya by strengthening dryland governance and planning
The Kenya Adaptation Consortium is demonstrating that local climate adaptation planning, supported by county government-managed devolved funds, informed by community priorities and enhanced by climate information services, renders significant benefits for people in poor and marginalised households in the most drought prone areas
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Book summary: Financial Inclusion for Poverty Alleviation – Issues and Case Studies for Sustainable Development
Essam Yassin Mohammed, of IIED, and Zenebe Bashaw Uraguchi, co-edit 'the book Financial Inclusion for Poverty Alleviation: Issues and Case Studies for Sustainable Development'
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Book summary: Enhancing Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries Through Community Based Adaptation
IIED's Saleemul Huq contributes to a chapter in a new book, 'Enhancing Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries Through Community-Based Adaptation', published by the African Centre for Technology Studies and partners.
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Negotiators from developing countries get skills boost ahead of UN climate talks
More than 40 climate negotiators from vulnerable developing countries were briefed on key issues and negotiating strategies at a workshop just before the opening of the Bonn climate talks
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Call for feedback: inventory of tools to support ecosystem-based adaptation
IIED, IUCN, UNEP-WCMC and GIZ are seeking feedback on an inventory of ecosystem-based adaptation tools, designed to help practitioners and policymakers incorporate EbA into climate adaptation planning
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Fieldnotes from two cities in India: learning about social learning and climate uncertainty
How can urban planners deal with the unpredictable future impacts of climate change? IIED researchers visited two Indian cities to see how a learning-based approach can help
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Monitoring and evaluation in a local context
Assessing how climate change adaptation and development investments can strengthen local people's resilience to climate extremes
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Can we transform our cities?
Can cities prosper while meeting their responsibilities for acting on climate change? This is the focus of a new book by IPCC authors, co-edited by IIED's David Satterthwaite
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Accessing climate finance in Kenya
Devolved powers are allowing communities greater access to climate finance in four counties in Kenya
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1st International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA1)
In January 2005, IIED and partners organised the first major conference on community-based adaptation (CBA) in Dhaka, Bangladesh
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The Paris Agreement – a framework for local inclusion
The Paris Agreement commits governments to climate action. To deliver this agenda successfully, they must engage with all sectors of society, including indigenous peoples, and recognise traditional knowledge
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Comparing approaches to riverbank vulnerability in Indonesia
What lessons can be learned from two markedly different cases of vulnerability among urban riverbank settlements in Indonesia?
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Local climate finance mechanism helping to fund community-prioritised adaptation
County and local governments in the drylands of Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania have established local-level climate adaptation funds with technical support from IIED and government and non-government organisations. These funds improve their readiness to access and disburse national and global climate finance, supporting community-prioritised investments to build climate resilience
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Q&A: We need long term actions on climate change
In the first of our interviews with representatives from the Least Developed Country Group ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris (COP21), Tracy Kajumba shares some of the challenges created by climate change in Uganda
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Climate finance from the aid budget must also deliver on poverty
The UK has promised to increase funding for climate finance up to 2020, but if this money comes from the aid budget, how can we be sure that climate spending will also deliver on poverty eradication and the sustainable development agenda?
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Supporting the LDCs on climate change adaptation
As climate negotiators meet in Bonn, Batu Uprety says the mandate of the Least Developed Countries Expert Group must be renewed at COP21 to continue to support the LDCs on climate change adaptation
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Insuring farmers – adapting to climate change
Climate change is increasing the risks for farmers, but a new form of insurance may provide support
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Ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation
Ecosystem management and restoration can be a very important part of climate change adaptation, and communities can play a central role in the process, but the evidence base needs strengthening. IIED and partners are working in 12 countries to promote effective EbA and sustainable development.
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The political economy of financing climate resilient development
IIED is undertaking a three-year research programme to understand the policy linkages between the two themes of climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. This research focuses on countries that are investing in what has been termed 'low-carbon climate resilient development' (LCRD) – policies and strategies that address the challenges posed by climate change in an integrated response.
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Sharing knowledge to climb the adaptation ladder
When it comes to climate adaptation, the Least Developed Countries have the greatest expertise and other countries may benefit from learning from what they have done
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Conflict resolution: a key part of adaptation in North Darfur
As CBA9 gets under way in Nairobi, Kenya, Jodi Sugden from Practical Action highlights how work on conflict resolution is a key part of the adaptation process
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The economics of local adaptation in the dryland ecosystems of Isiolo County
Investments to support pastoralists in Northern Kenya to adapt to the changing climate pay immediate dividends – but the benefits are even greater if the indirect impacts can also be taken into account
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Award win highlights collaboration for Kenya climate resilience
A consortium working to support climate change adaptation in Kenya has won a prestigious UK award. The Adaptation Consortium is a partnership of six organisations, including IIED
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Financing urban resilience
Cities need to adapt to climate change: but how it be financed? IIED is working to build the case for more direct control of funding for resilience by urban residents and local governments
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How to measure a global goal for adaptation?
Climate negotiators are discussing how to set a global goal for climate change adaptation. It's important for the negotiators learn from experiences and evidence gained at country level – so they can develop a goal that reflects differing national realities
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How do we measure adaptation?
How do we effectively measure and enhance adaptation? Saleemul Huq looks at possible answers which will be discussed at the 9th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation (CBA9)
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From knowledge to action – how top down training is driving bottom-up resilience in Tanzania
Supporting government engagement with communities in Tanzania has identified three key ways in which the government can improve climate resilient planning
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Developing nations strengthen ability to demonstrate effective climate change adaptation
A tool for developing countries to provide evidence of effective adaptation to climate change, allowing them to access international climate funds, will be launched today (27 February) after three years of development by IIED and partners
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Recognising the concerns of women and girls can improve the effectiveness of climate change adaptation
Including the perspectives and experiences of women and girls in monitoring and evaluation can lead to better outcomes for climate change adaptation measures, IIED research has found
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Recognising the risks – what do people in Lima think about climate change?
While heads of state, ministers and negotiators met in Lima, Peru, to try to negotiate a global deal at the UN climate talks, local people have been developing their own adaptation strategy – and seem to find it equally difficult to face up to the scale of the problem
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Development and Climate Days event at COP20 focuses on zero-zero
An IIED-hosted event looks at how to get to zero poverty and zero emissions within a generation
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Toulmin: "Soil is the foundation for a prosperous society"
IIED director Camilla Toulmin tells the BBC's Science in Action that much of the soil across sub-Saharan Africa needs urgent attention if it is to feed the continent
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Why the private sector must be included in efforts to curb deforestation
Making the links between green supplies chains, zero deforestation and the private sector at COP20 in Lima
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Negotiating a fair future at COP20
On Monday 1 December, the UN Climate Change Conference 2014 kicks off in Lima. Peruvian IIED board member Francisco Sagasti discusses his hopes for a successful conference
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How are Rwanda, Ethiopia and Bangladesh preparing for climate change?
Ethiopia, Rwanda and Bangladesh are developing their national low carbon climate resilient strategies. The public policy team within the Climate Change Group at IIED have just finished 18 months of research into these planning processes. The research helped clarify what is motivating countries to become more climate resilient. It also highlighted some ways these processes could be better supported and brought together.
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Africa moves ahead to tackle climate change
As last month's fourth conference on Climate Change and Development showed, Africa will need strong leaders such as Fatima Denton – who will deliver IIED's 2014 Barbara Ward Lecture on Thursday – to tackle the issues of climate change
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The IPCC and an urbanising planet
The IPCC's Fifth Assessment gets the importance of understanding and acting on urbanisation
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IIED responds to IPCC climate change report
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its Fifth Assessment Report, issuing the starkest warning yet on the perils of continuing with 'business as usual'
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Who should use Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD)?
A key benefit of the TAMD framework is that it can be used by many different types of organisations for both evaluation and planning
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Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD): Country work
TAMD is being piloted in countries in Africa and Asia. Each country adapts the framework to its own needs and contributes towards the further development of the framework
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The Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD) framework
The TAMD framework uses two key measures to measure adaptation success
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Latest news and events on Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD)
International meetings allow organisations to share their experiences of applying the TAMD framework and make plans for developing it further
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Climate-related 'loss and damage' in cities: exploring a new urban frontier
Highlighting and assessing the urban impacts of climate change can help cities find a more consistent, multi-level approach to climate adaptation
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Room for optimism on Africa, the "hopeful" continent
Climate expert Fatima Denton from the Economic Commission for Africa will say it's time for more optimism on Africa and climate change at an IIED lecture to celebrate Barbara Ward's birthday
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A marriage to save the earth: Farmers and researchers innovate to conserve biodiversity
Traditional knowledge combined with the latest science could increase food production while safeguarding biodiversity, new research shows
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Tracking adaptation and measuring development (TAMD)
IIED is working with partners to develop and pilot a framework, called Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD), to track adaptation and measure its impact on development
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Climate change and urban health
As well as increasing loss of life and injury from extreme events, climate change will exacerbate health risks from diseases that are among the main causes of premature death in informal settlements
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Indigenous mountain communities call on governments to support traditional knowledge-based adaptation
An International network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples has been formed to advocate for community biocultural heritage rights and help achieve food sovereignty and climate change adaptation
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Indigenous farmers from Peru, China and Bhutan agree to share seeds for climate adaptation
In the spirit of the International Year of Family and Peasant Farming, indigenous mountain farmers from China, Bhutan and Peru have agreed to share seeds in an effort to cope with global climate change
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Indigenous spiritual values guide climate change adaptation in mountain communities
Cultural and spiritual values of indigenous peoples and climate change will be the focus of an international event in the Potato Park, Cusco, Peru
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Kenya's new climate fund listens to community ideas for building resilience
"Climate consists of so many things to us," says Ibrahim Shone, a pastoralist in Isiolo County in Northern Kenya. "It's not only weather, it's also about how we prepare for droughts and diseases, and find enough grass for our animals. These things change with the seasons."
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The IPCC rings the warning bell louder. Is anyone listening?
IIED Senior Fellow Saleemul Huq, one of the co-authors of the latest IPCC report on climate change, highlights the key findings of the publication and what policymakers need to do next
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IIED statement on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has today published its latest report on the impacts of climate change and how to adapt to them
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Six nations to share progress on measuring adaptation to climate change
The governments of six countries will share their experiences of assessing the effectiveness and developmental impacts of climate change adaptation, at an international meeting in Kenya on 24-27 March.
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Least developed countries take climate adaptation to next level
While many policymakers in the world's richest nations continue to deny the urgency of action on climate change, governments in the 48 least developed countries are pushing ahead with plans to adapt – or at least trying to
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Nepal: Measuring resilience to climate change from the community up
Effective monitoring and evaluation of changes in community resilience that arise from both development and climate change resilience, can help Nepal can make smart moves to protect its people, says Susannah Fisher.
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Kenyan local climate fund's success heralds expansion to 29% of nation
A pilot project to support adaptation to climate change at the local level in Kenya's Isiolo County has been such a success that it is being replicated in four more counties, to cover a combined 29 per cent of the nation. The move is significant as it shows how county governments could access global climate finance, which is set to rise to US$100 billion a year by 2020.
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Maps that build bridges
Thanks to digital participatory mapping, pastoralists are proud of their local knowledge and policymakers want to act on it.
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Typhoon Haiyan shows why COP19 must deliver on loss and damage
Even the best of efforts to adapt to climate change may not be enough to prevent loss and damage, and that's why the UN climate talks need to agree a mechanism to handle this new issue, says Saleemul Huq.
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Seven ways equity can promote success at the UN climate talks
For a new global climate agreement to be truly equitable —and get global buy-in — it must share the burden of adaptation as well as that of mitigation.
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To build climate resilience cities must assess diverse drivers of vulnerability
Three new studies from Vietnam show how research can help governments devise solutions that help their citizens adapt to the effects of climate change.
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Offer extended: Free access to papers on cities and climate change
The new edition of the journal Environment and Urbanization focuses on ways cities can increase their resilience to climate change.
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Least developed countries lead on low-carbon resilience
Some of the least developed countries are at the forefront of an approach that combines efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to climate change and achieve economic and social development.
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Inclusive environmental investments
Inclusive environmental investments — from both public and private sector finance — are essential if local forest people are to benefit from deals that are both fair and support climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
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Smallholder innovation for resilience (SIFOR)
IIED worked with partners in China, India, Kenya and Peru to revitalise traditional knowledge-based – or 'biocultural' – innovation systems of smallholder farmers in order to strengthen food security in the face of climate change. Traditional farmers continually improve and adapt their crops and farming practices in response to new challenges, using local knowledge and biodiversity, generating new technologies and practices
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Bangladesh: from adaptation to low carbon resilience?
Is it fair to ask Bangladesh to adapt to the impacts of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions? How does the government view this approach?
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8 points on financing climate change adaptation in urban areas
As the urgency for governments and international agencies to address climate change increases, an expert meeting identified eight key points on finance priorities.
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The private sector’s role in low carbon resilient development
How can the private sector be effectively engaged not just to reduce the long-term impacts of climate change, but also to help communities adapt to the changes they’re experiencing now?
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CBA7: Highlights from day three
Missed our live blog and webcast? Here are some highlights from the third day of the 7th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation
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CBA7: highlights from day two
Here are some highlights from today's events at the 7th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to climate change (CBA7) in Dhaka
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Challenging inequality is at the heart of climate change adaptation
People won’t become more resilient to the impacts of climate change unless the underlying causes of their vulnerability are analysed and addressed.
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CBA7: Highlights from day one
Here are some highlights from the first day of the 7th International Conference on community-based adaptation to climate change (CBA7) in Bangladesh
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Vulnerable communities tackling climate change are our best teachers
The poorest communities (and poorest countries) are leading the world in learning about and practising adaptation to climate change. The rich would do well to learn from them.
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CBA7: Live debate on climate change adaptation tweet-by-tweet
Read highlights from a fast-moving live online chat on how the poorest and most vulnerable can act to adapt to climate change.
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Rwanda: test case on international commitment to financing climate change adaptation?
Rwanda hopes climate change will provide an opportunity to secure additional climate finance. Will its new finance mechanism succeed?
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Learning how to adapt to climate change: advocacy, training and capacity building
IIED works to help support southern countries as they adapt to climate change and the extreme weather events it brings. We do this by supporting partner organisations and experts that offer climate change adaptation training, advocacy and capacity building.
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How do we tell whether climate change adaptation is making headway?
IIED and its partners are developing tailored frameworks to help developing countries evaluate their climate adaptation investments.
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Climate change adaptation needs to be part of national development planning
Policymakers need to better integrate strategies for dealing with climate change into their country’s development plans, rather than leaving them isolated as stand-alone policies and projects.
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New fund to help Kenyan communities adapt to climate change
On 29 October, the government of Kenya will launch a new fund to help communities in the north of the country adapt to climate change and other development challenges.
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Vietnam: project with children at its heart wins CBA6 Solidarity Grant
The children in Hong Ca commune, Vietnam, know that practising rescue drills can save lives in the event of a real natural disaster.
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Analysing the cost of adapting to climate change
How do you estimate the cost of adapting to the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities, and involve stakeholders in identifying the costs and benefits of the approaches identified?
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Conference buzzes with stories of communities adapting to climate change
The meeting, organised by IIED and partners, included three days of visits to communities across Vietnam that are already adapting to climatic changes.
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CBA6: tweet by tweet and blog by blog
Given that the theme of the 6th International conference on community-based adaptation to climate change was communications, it's only fitting that participants embraced social media with open arms.
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Where honey means money and climate means change
Ngan lives in a village called Ri in the remote highlands of Vietnam's Thanh Hoa province. It's beautiful. Everywhere you look is green-green-green, from the forested limestone mountains that look like the humps of long dead dragons to the flat sheets of emerald rice fields that shimmer in the sun.
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Building one village’s resilience to climate change starts with a cave
It might talk about the people living in the cave thousands of years ago.
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Vietnam: Mangroves break waves and help the people of Dai Hop Commune break even
Well-fed women smile out from under their hats as they pull in their catch of fish, shrimp and crabs from the mangrove forest. The simple images are in an educational booklet on the benefits of mangroves, with tips on how to grow seedlings.
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Top ten highlights from 2011
December is traditionally the month of 'top 10s'. Every year, as journalists, bloggers, commentators and organisations across the world reflect on the year that's gone, the online world is flooded by lists highlighting the highs and lows. Search in Google and you'll instantly have to hand more than 150 million top 10 lists for 2011.
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Taking the long view on adaptation
The impacts of climate change do not happen overnight but play out over decades. Funders looking to support people to adapt to those impacts must take the long view and accept that their investments may not provide measurable outcomes for ten years or more.
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Hope from action
As climate-related impacts become more frequent and extreme, the primary preoccupation of a progressive global society should be to protect the more vulnerable amongst us – countries and individual
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UN climate negotiations video update: Trying to find "common ground"
This is the last video update from Saleemul Huq, Senior Fellow of IIED's climate change group, from Durban, South Africa where high-level Ministers have arrived and are making statements.
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Consensus grows behind the scenes at the UN climate negotiations
It’s too early to talk about the end-game in the 17th conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks that are underway in Durban. But amid the shifting diplomatic sands of talks and texts, there are signs that some of the ground is starting to solidify.
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UN Climate negotiations video update: climate adaptation on the agenda
Closed negotiations have begun at the UN Climate Change conference. Parties are looking at two key issues behind closed doors: national adaptation plans and loss and damage.
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Five-nation study sheds light on costs of adapting agriculture to climate change
Research in Africa and Asia has shown that efforts to assess the costs of adapting agriculture to a changing climate often fail to reflect the diversity of the sector.
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Three ways Durban climate conference can ensure rich world meets finance promises
A briefing paper published today (21 November) by IIED outlines three steps to ensure developed countries meet their agreed commitments to help poorer nations adapt to climate change.
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Multi-billion dollar climate change fund hits barrier
Plans for a multi-billion dollar fund to help developing countries deal with climate change hit a big barrier this week when countries could not agree on the design of the fund.
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Donor nations get low scores on climate finance transparency scorecard
Developed countries are being far from transparent about the climate-change finance they promised to developing nations at the Copenhagen summit in 2009, according to a scorecard published today (19 September) by IIED.
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Pastoralism videos/Vidéos pastoralisme
A selection of short videos, in English or French language, exploring the impact of climate change on drylands pastoralists
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How can air travel contribute to the costs of adapting to climate change?
Climate change negotiators are still meeting this week in Bonn to try and find a way forward on, amongst many other subjects, climate change mitigation, adaptation and finance. Sources of ‘innovative’ finance, such as taxes on international transport, have been proposed. Might these provide a way to break the deadlock on finance and prove to be sources of significant and stable financing to address the impacts of climate change?
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VIDEO: Saleemul Huq on new research into how communities adapt to climate change
In this short video Dr Saleemul Huq — senior fellow in IIED's Climate Change Group — talks about an international research project that is looking at how communities can adapt to the impacts of climate change.
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Urban societies can adapt to resource shortage and climate change
Cities can break the link between high living standards and significant contributions to climate change, using many technologies and policies that are already available if not widely used.
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The opportunities of climate change
It's not always a great idea to acknowledge that bad things can create opportunities – but they can. Bad things cause suffering and tragedy, but they can also destabilise the status quo, open space for new discussions, and give an impetus to groups looking for positive change.
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How ‘just giving money to the poor’ helps them adapt to climate change
Programmes which transfer money directly to the poor help them adapt to climate change. That´s what I´m suggesting in a new briefing paper to be presented at the upcoming conference on ‘Social Protection for Social Justice’, will be held at the Centre for Social Protection in Brighton between the 13th and 15th of April.
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Better science and communication needed to help vulnerable adapt to climate change
A major international conference in Bangladesh has ended with strong recommendations on how to help communities in developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
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Tiny flight tax could raise billions to protect people from climate change
A small tax on international airline tickets could raise US$10 billion a year to help people to adapt to the impacts of climate change, say economists at the International Institute for Environment and Development.
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Is this a climate change issue or a human rights issue?
We had been driven for seven hours from Dhaka through hair-raising traffic to see some of the practical approaches that Caritas was using in th
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Reality check: climate change and the poor
Hannah Reid reports on a field trip to a site in Manikganj District, about three hours from Dhaka city in Bangladesh, to see how vulnerable people are coping with climate-change related impacts
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Community based adaptation: conference video blog
The 5th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change, takes place in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 24 to 31 March 2011. Saleemul Huq will be keeping us updated from the conference in a series of daily video logs.
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Lessons from vulnerable communities show how to adapt to climate-change
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, will next week open an international conference at which more than 250 delegates will share the latest knowledge on how vulnerable communities can adapt to the impacts of climate change.
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Climate change: governments should support migration, not fear it
Governments risk adopting policies that increase people’s vulnerability to climate change because of a general prejudice against migration, according to research published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development.
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Afloat: Bangladesh adapts to climate change
'Afloat', a film from IIED and Panos, shows how in Bangladesh they are combining tradition and innovation to adapt to climate change
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COP16: United Nations climate change negotiations
IIED researchers undertook a range of activities at the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16)
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Storm watch for Cancun climate talks
Striking a deal at this month’s UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico will largely depend on negotiators’ ability to settle stormy disputes, particularly between the developed and developing world, over six key issues.
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Less erosion, less warming
I recently met with a Member of the Bangladesh Parliament to discuss the potential for mitigation in the agricultural sector under IIED’s work on the economics of climate change in the agricultural sector. Agriculture produces 10–12 per cent of total global emissions but also has considerable mitigation potential — 70 per cent of which is in developing countries — and I expected the Honourable Member, a well known climate change champion, to back the cause. But he did not seem entirely convinced. Why should decision makers listen? What’s in it for them?
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Adaptation finance: Why not just give it to the poor?
A new book argues that the best approach to reducing poverty is the simplest: giving money to the poor. In Just Give Money to the Poor, Hanlon, Barrientos and Hulme argue that cash transfers put money directly in the hands of those that need it, and that the poor are both willing and capable of using the money to benefit themselves and their families. Given the uncertainties and pitfalls of spending money on climate change adaptation, could we do worse than simply giving money to the poor themselves?
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Renewables, why bother?
For much of the developing world producing clean energy that also mitigates carbon emissions is a very low priority. After all, why should countries that haven't significantly contributed to climate change worry about reducing their relatively tiny carbon emissions? In any case who would pay for it all?
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4th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA4)
The 4th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA4) to climate change took place in February 2010 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
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Beyond buzzwords: making adaptation a development norm
Day 1 of IIED’s Development and Climate Days: Land, Water and Forests
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Road to recovery: mapping a sustainable economy
The world has a unique but brief opportunity to tackle several major challenges. Evidence of the linked causes of financial, energy and climate crises, and not just their symptoms, is on the table
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Climate change media partnership
Internews, Panos and IIED have joined forces to support developing world journalism and perspectives from the heart of the international climate negotiations.
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Expert Group Meeting on Population Dynamics and Climate Change
London. June 09 Papers from this meeting are now available as downloadable pdfs.
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Climate refugees of the future
Bangladesh is calling for the rights of environmental refugees to be recognised as the country battles rising sea levels and chronic poverty
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Least Developed Countries
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are the poorest countries in the world. A number of criteria determine this status. As of May 2009, LDCs number 50. Roughly 65 per cent are in Africa; a number of others are known as Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Many SIDS are low-lying and located in parts of the world already prone to extreme weather events, factors that make them highly vulnerable to climate change impacts such as sea level rise and fiercer and more frequent tropical storms.
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Keeping the forests we've got
The conservation of forests in countries like Suriname with high forest cover and low deforestation rates is not a priority for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Yet forest people suffer enormously from the effects of climate change.
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Q&A: Admit
Highlights the key elements about this ethical and effective new way to compensate your carbon emissions and support adaptation, now in its pilot phase.
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COP14 UN Climate Change Conference
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP14) took place in Poznan, Poland from 1st - 12th December 2008. Find out about IIED's activities at this COP
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Just the beginning
Yvo de Boer, who runs the UNFCCC secretariat, laid out clearly where we are with agreement on the text in his inimitable laconic style: ‘We are near to the end of putting things in and near to the beginning of taking things out.’
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Thank you for the days...
Amid the debates swirling round this conference with cyclonic intensity is one very big question: how can the world’s most vulnerable countries adapt to climate change with such a serious shortfall in targeted funding? Oxfam estimates the task as demanding US$50 billion a year — some US$49 billion more than what’s actually available.
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Supporting Adaptation to Climate Change: What role for Official Development Assistance?
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has instigated several funding mechanisms in an attempt to meet adaptation needs in developing countries, however these funds have been heavily criticised by both the development and academic communities for being both fiscally and technically inadequate.
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Moveable feast: the floating gardens of Bangladesh
The farmers of southern Bangladesh have seen it all: cyclones, catastrophic flooding, silted-up rivers and creeping salination. Their South Asian homeland — a wedge of the tropics regularly exposed to searing heat and heavy monsoons — is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries on Earth.
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Capacity Strengthening in Least Developed Countries for Adaptation to Climate Change (CLACC)
Through CLACC, IIED works with researchers in 15 Least Developed Countries to generate knowledge, strengthen capacity and encourage action on climate adaptation.