Climate change adaptation

Where governments are tackling urgent needs in, for example, healthcare, basic infrastructure or education, and where resources are at a premium, climate change may seem like a distant concern. However, studies by the World Bank make it clear that “developing countries face 75-80 percent of the potential damage from climate change.” A policy of climate change adaptation, rooted in an understanding of local risk factors and what can be done to respond to them, is therefore a vital and practical way forward.

As long as climate change is assessed solely in scientific terms, governments in developing countries will struggle to justify investment in policies that help combat it - no matter how loud investors shout. Quite simply, responding to a future increase in temperature of less than a degree, rising sea levels or changing rainfall patterns may seem an expensive luxury when set against existing and immediate needs.

However, when this scientific evidence is translated into human terms, perspectives change. Instead of appearing distant, when climate change is shown to put at risk vast numbers of homes and livelihoods – for example, through increased crop failure, reduced access to clean water or damage to infrastructure – the need to act becomes clearer. Take the issue of water shortage: if temperatures rise and rainfall decreases or becomes more unpredictable, what steps – or further steps – could and should be taken to preserve and distribute water, which in some areas is already a precious commodity?

As numerous studies have highlighted, developing countries typically have less capacity to adapt to such changes, both in terms of available resources and existing infrastructure and skills – even though adaptation finance is increasingly available. That’s why it is imperative that governments are given practical choices and affordable options around adaptation, based on an in-depth understanding of the most significant risks within their countries, and the viability of potential responses.

OPM’s analytical approach helps identify those risks and responses and can enable governments to make more informed decisions about the steps they can take. For example, our study of Recent trends in disaster impacts on child welfare and development 1999-2009 sought to bridge the gap between the advocacy perspective and economic analysis, providing a more comprehensive picture of how children have been affected by different types of disaster, and the comparative impact of “intensive” and “extensive” disaster risk.

Importantly, adaptation should take place alongside efforts to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.