WRI Stories Feed: Vulnerability and Adaptation: Institutions

Why Institutions Matter For Climate Change Adaptation In Developing Countries

Heather McGray — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:15:35 -0400

This post was written with Youba Sokona, coordinator of the African Climate Policy Center (ACPC) at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ACPC and WRI…

National Adaptive Capacity Framework Helps Countries Get Ready for Climate Change

Heather McGray — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:43:30 -0500

This week, WRI released a new report summarizing assessments of institutional readiness for adapting to climate change. The report, Ready or Not, focuses on pilot applications of…

South Africa: An Experiment in Climate Change Adaptation Planning

Preeti Verma — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:21:25 -0500

As South Africa moves forward with its own preparations for climate change, other countries are taking note.

As African leaders and climate negotiators flock to Copenhagen’s COP15 meeting in December, many will look to South Africa for guidance. With a historically progressive climate policy, South Africa’s leadership in international climate negotiations has helped to unite the “Africa Group” in seeking support from industrialized nations in order to address climate change. However, South Africa has chosen to move forward on adaptation – the process of preparing for changes in the environment – even before that finance materializes. The country’s alternative adaptation experiment may yield fruitful insights into how nations can achieve climate resilience without solely depending on external assistance.

Building on Existing Strengths

South Africa’s adaptation strategy outlines the nation’s key social and ecological vulnerabilities, climate projections, and basic adaptation needs. The National Climate Change Response Strategy and Framework for Sustainable Development both provide a roadmap for how South Africa will react to and address climate change and other sustainable development challenges in the future.

South Africa’s adaptation strategy makes use of the country’s existing capacities and resources, setting it apart from adaptation strategies that depend on outside assistance. By pursuing an alternative to the traditional adaptation financing model, South Africa can avoid the many conditions that often come with assistance from international donor organizations. South African policymakers can draft their own policies, pursue strategies specific to their own circumstances, and create ownership over their process.

South Africa’s adaptation strategy makes use of the country’s existing capacities and resources, setting it apart from strategies that depend on outside assistance.

Even though South African society faces many stressors (such as high HIV/AIDS infection rates), the country enjoys a comparative wealth of natural and human resources. The country also has a strong and influential scientific and academic tradition, which has played a pivotal role in developing climate models, weather projections, and other ecological information that is then integrated into policy. Under the leadership of former environment minister Martinus Van Schalkwyk (2004-2009), South Africa built bridges within the G77 and developed a strong domestic climate agenda.

Addressing Capacity Gaps

Even with its strong policymaking and science research capacity, adaptation planning in South Africa has been hindered by deficient coordination and social capacities. Integrating climate concerns and adaptation with national development priorities can be difficult in practice. Climate programs currently do not directly address basic human development needs such as AIDS prevention, employment, health care, and housing.

Coordination

The idea of integrating climate projections with developmental policy in South Africa is still in its nascent stages. Although the higher echelons of government recognize the dangers of not adapting to climate change, many provincial and local level authorities have yet to realize its importance. Agricultural policies in agrarian provinces such as Northern Cape and Limpopo have yet to fully understand, or even incorporate, climate projections and its corresponding economic development needs in policy-drafting and formation.

Communication

The government also has difficulty communicating climate information to civil society. The national climate agenda, based on the stance of the nation’s international climate negotiators, is developed through the National Climate Change Committee (NCCC). The NCCC is supposed to share climate information amongst government and non-governmental actors. In practice, however, little effort is put into information sharing with the broader society as a whole. The NCCC’s quarterly meetings have strayed from their original intent, and most time is now spent on feedback events from international negotiations rather than consultation or discussion amongst agencies and stakeholders. In addition, attendance and participation within the NCCC is not consistent, leading to frequent gaps and inconsistencies in the Committee’s policy recommendations.

Public Support

South Africa lacks broad awareness and public support for climate change adaptation, where poverty, social equality, access to basic infrastructure, and other challenges continue to dominate. Moreover, much of the general public lacks access to adequate education or other information sources. As a result, much of the government’s policy and plans may go unimplemented or sidetracked by more “pressing” policies that promote immediate economic benefits.

Prospects for South Africa’s Adaptation Planning Model

South Africa has a wealth of institutional and research capacities, but traditional planning problems, such as the lack of coordination and broad-based participation, remain. The country needs to reconcile these deficiencies by increasing both its accountability to the general public and the public’s ability to actively participate.

South Africa needs to increase both its accountability to the general public and the public’s ability to actively participate.

Nonetheless, South Africa’s adaptation planning experiment demonstrates that an emerging economy can make use of existing capacities to develop adaptation strategies that are uniquely tailored to specific national circumstances. Their experience so far indicates that countries may not need to rely solely on external assistance for adaptation projects. For the rest of Africa, the challenge is to develop similar capacities, and to build their own alternative mechanisms for adaptation planning to the existing donor-driven model.

Moving Forward on Climate Adaptation in South Africa

Preeti Verma — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:31:44 -0400

To be successful, adaptation efforts must dovetail with human development needs such as poverty reduction and employment.

South Africa’s winter season is turning out to be one of the stormiest and wettest on record. The recent floods in Cape Town were reminiscent of the severe storms that thrashed the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal almost exactly a year ago, resulting in nearly US$500 million in damages. South Africa is Africa’s strongest economy, yet it remains highly vulnerable to extreme climate events—a susceptibility that will likely worsen as the earth warms. This vulnerability is partly due to projected environmental changes, such as increasing severe storm events and decreasing water availability, as well as a lack of social, institutional, and governance capacities for addressing these projected changes.

Barriers to Integrating Adaptation and Development

South Africa is increasingly realizing the importance of pursuing a social development course that helps communities adapt to changes in their environment. This can be called “climate-resilient development.” However, integrating climate concerns with national development priorities can be difficult in practice. In South Africa, climate programs currently do not directly address basic human development needs such as AIDS prevention, employment, health care, and housing. Adaptation planning must address these social issues if it is to be successful; otherwise, adaptation efforts will be sidelined.

An Overview of Adaptation

Enabling Climate Adaptation
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Redirecting Adaptation Planning at the National Level

Many working in South Africa’s climate policy arena understand this dilemma and are taking steps to plan for a climate-resilient society. With a dedicated and resourceful core group of researchers and advocates, the country recently developed several climate policies that address development. These include the Long-Term Mitigation Scenarios (South Africa’s roadmap for reducing emissions), the National Sustainable Development Framework, and important climate response strategy documents from both the environment department and the department of science and technology.

In March 2009, the South Africa government officially inaugurated the process for creating a National Climate Change Response Policy (NCCRP). The NCCRP is intended to be the country’s comprehensive adaptation strategy, creating a roadmap for dealing with projected climate change impacts. Although the final policy document is not slated for completion until sometime in 2010, this high-profile endorsement by the national government has increased public understanding of climate change issues and has generated support from all sectors of society.

Local Level Adaptation Planning

Meanwhile, many important actors at other levels of society are building momentum on adaptation. The cities of Cape Town (PDF, 1.8 Mb) and Durban and the provinces of Western Cape and Limpopo (Word File) have taken a lead in drafting localized strategies for incorporating adaptation efforts into development. Belynda Petrie, CEO of Oneworld Sustainable Investments in Cape Town, who also helped draft Western Cape’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (PDF), believes there is huge potential for integrating adaptation planning and sustainable development, particularly at the municipal and provincial level. Furthermore, Petrie believes that South Africa has incredible research and institutional capacity for synthesizing climate efforts across different sectors.

Perspectives on the South African Experience

The general sentiment among stakeholders involved in climate legislation and adaptation planning in South Africa is positive. South Africa’s newly elected administration, under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma, is on its way to developing a coherent national climate change strategy. However, this effort cannot succeed on the ground without the engagement of a wide diversity of governmental departments, academic institutions, NGOs, and citizens. In the national government and at the “grass tops” of civil society, many of these players understand the need for reconciling adaptation with national development priorities. However, broad public awareness about climate change remains low, and many citizens do not yet see how climate adaptation is relevant to their own social and economic concerns.

Nonetheless, many are concerned that even with South Africa’s relatively advanced industrial base and infrastructure, the majority of its people remain highly susceptible to climate change impacts. Since apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa’s development agenda has focused on reducing poverty and eradicating racial inequality; work that remains far from complete. Even still, South Africa continues to face challenges—such as corruption, limited resources, and lack of local capacity—that prevent it from reaching a level of development that would provide adequate resilience to climate change impacts.

Meanwhile, other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa are beginning to watch South Africa’s progress for ideas and lessons. The South African experience in developing its climate response strategy may have a strong bearing on future prospects for adaptation planning across the rest of the region.