Topic: international policy

Climate change vulnerability and food insecurity often have common root causes. Accordingly, measures that address these causes can reduce both problems at once. This is especially important for the many countries in sub-Saharan Africa that face truly daunting agricultural challenge.

The World Resources Institute, with CDKN, has developed a series of policy briefs that highlight how climate compatible development can be achieved in a range of developing countries.

When decision makers in government, business and civil society speak to us about their aims and needs, they often ask about best practice in other countries or, indeed, mistakes to avoid. Key questions usually include:

What are the leading innovations in integrating climate change planning with economic growth strategies and poverty reduction?

What are the biggest challenges faced along the way: institutional, financial, political, technical?

This series of policy briefs aim to answer these questions by exploring the Inside Stories on Climate Compatible Development.

Bangladesh is afflicted by a multitude of natural hazards including tropical cyclones, tornadoes, tsunamis, drought, earthquakes, riverbank erosion, landslides, salinity intrusion and arsenic contamination. In an average year, roughly 10 million Bangladeshi citizens are affected by one or more such hazards, and their frequency and severity is projected to increase as a result of climate change. The impacts of these disasters are exacerbated by the fact that almost one third of the nation’s population lives below the poverty line and has little capacity to adapt.

This paper builds a case for the need to clarify the assumptions, methodologies, and other critical details underlying non-Annex I nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs). It also explains how common accounting rules for Annex I targets will resolve the lack of clarity surrounding targets for developed countries. It concludes with decisions that can be made in COP17 Durban to formalize both common accounting rules for Annex I targets and a clarification process for non–Annex I actions.

This paper was originally written as an input into the sixth meeting of the International Partnership on Mitigation and MRV in Panama City in October 2011.

This working paper seeks to identify concrete pathways for building an international “climate change regime.” It surveys and analyzes the academic literature as well as proposals by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments.