Speech
UK Parliament 27 April 2009
Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Cooperation
Speech by Minister Gunilla Carlsson in the UK Parliament: "Adaptation: Hitting a Moving Target?"
Adaptation to the inevitable effects of climate change is needed in many sectors. Which sectors should be targeted? How can this be done most effectively?
Honourable Members of Parliament, Mr Speaker,
I am delighted to be here with you today to discuss the important and timely topic of adaptation to climate change. I wish to express my gratitude to ODI (Overseas Development Institute) and APGOOD (All Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development) for hosting this event and for inviting me to take part.
People are coping with climate change as we speak. It is already overturning economic gains; it is depleting investments and it is threatening future growth. But climate change is also an opportunity to redefine the way we measure growth and prosperity. Climate change provides new markets for new technology and new ways of development, for us all.
In December, the world will come together in the city of Copenhagen with the aim of reaching an agreement on a new deal on climate change. I am optimistic that we will succeed in this endeavour. However, to reach a truly significant agreement, we must take into account the links between climate change and development, and between adaptation and mitigation.
The climate change challenge is as crucial as urgent, in every respect. Those hardest hit by climate change are the poor people everywhere. When resources - water, arable land, assets - become more scarce, we know that those without power will lose out and become further vulnerable. In my view, there is no contradiction between climate change and development, between tackling climate change and pursuing development. Rather, the links are obvious and should be highlighted. I believe that if we can lift more people above the poverty line of two dollars a day, this - perhaps more than anything else - will help to build resilience. We need to secure a win-win situation, and that requires new thinking and careful management.
To underline the importance of the linkages between climate change and development, in 2007 the Swedish Government launched an international independent Commission on Climate Change and Development. I am honoured to be the chair of this Commission. Our task is to propose action to support climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction among the poorest and most vulnerable countries and communities. There are three issues that I'd like to point out that has been prominent in our discussions:
1. how the resilience of vulnerable communities and countries can be strengthened,
2. how appropriate institutional and financial architecture for adaptation can be established, and
3. how new financial resources can be mobilised.
We will launch our final report in New York in a few weeks' time. The added value of our work is that we decided early on to focus on the importance of the local level. Coping with the challenge of climate change is about people. The human dimension of climate change is often overlooked.
The Commission has met in countries severely affected by climate change: Cambodia, Mali, and most recently, in Bolivia. At 5 300 metres I saw a glacier that was no more. I like to ski, and was happily surprised to find an old Swedish ski lift that people were using until the year 2000. But now, all that was left was a small spot of a few metres of snow. Down in the valley, we met with the local peasants and their representatives; we visited their small farms and saw their crops, diminishing due to a drier climate. I and the other commissioners have gained a much deeper understanding of the local perspectives on adaptation to climate change and how people will be affected. We need to continue to be attentive to the views and the rights of the poor.
Climate change is happening at an accelerated pace and countries and people are, to certain extents, adapting to its effects. Adaptation concerns all sectors of society. Looking at adaptation as a moving target can perhaps help us better understand the concept and make better use of the means we have to respond to adaptation needs. The UNFCCC has defined adaptation as "a process through which societies make themselves better able to cope with an uncertain future". What we need, therefore, are responses that are both flexible and effective.
To me, adaptation is about forms of development in which the capacity to manage risk determines progress. There is a clear link between adaptation and risk reduction. Adaptation measures are hard to separate from other development components. Hence we need to further integrate adaptation in our development policies. What is important to remember in this regard, is the synergies between adaptation measures and cutting emissions. Sustainable forest management is perhaps the most effective ways of reaching both goals.
Recognising the complexity and uncertainty of adaptation, how can we most effectively deal with it? ODI puts it like this: "The journey from Bali to Copenhagen is one of great opportunity for developing countries". Let's all see it this way. That, as I mentioned in my introduction, faced with the need to adapt to accelerating climate change, we are given an opportunity to rethink development. The right to development should guide our actions, and we need to take into account the differences in countries' levels of development. But we need to ask ourselves, the right to what kind of development? For all of us.
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Much attention has been given to the measures needed to respond to the impacts of climate change. They include building sea walls, strengthening roads and bridges, protecting cities from floods, and so forth. We also focus on measures we must take to ensure that food production can be sustained by growing heat and drought tolerant crops, for example.
But we have to some extent neglected to look at the natural adaptive capacities of the individuals and their local communities. We must view climate change from a bottom-up perspective, recognising the climate change challenges that affect poor countries and poor peoples possibilities and priorities. Adaptive capacity must be strengthened at individual level. Adaptation actions are best implemented at local level. Knowledge, responsibility and accountability, and resources are needed locally. We must focus on these individuals and families and understand how they can be protected, how their adaptive capacity can be built and their resilience strengthened. It's about building wealth and assets, health, education, governance and institutions. This requires targeted measures to reach those without means. We have much to learn, for instance, from the way targeted social protection programmes have been designed to reach the grandmothers and grandfathers of aids orphans.
In the age of climate change, the institutions of accountable and responsible government are more important than ever. People need democratic and political space. That is how they inform themselves and articulate their needs and concerns. Decentralisation is essential in order to strengthen the role and responsibility of local authorities and organisations.
Climate change is of local importance and of global concern. Climate change demands an urgent global response. International organisations must become more adept at reaching the local level directly as well as through national and regional organisations. National ownership can not be overlooked. The responsibility for integrating and coordinating adaptation, poverty eradication and disaster risk management should rest at the highest national political level.
Honourable Members of Parliament,
The global financial crises we are now experiencing has something to tell us. It is a serious crisis, affecting all countries, slowing economic growth. Here in the EU, we have agreed on far-reaching measures that will stabilise the situation, while protecting savers, as well as tax payers. We have agreed on rules and regulations for the financial markets, funds are being mobilised and there is a discussion about reforming the Bretton Woods institutions. I call for the same resolve to deal with the challenges of climate change. The handling of the financial crisis has demonstrated what is possible.
In fact, the way that nations respond to the global recession can provide the basis for a new path of sustainable development that can ease the planet's interrelated crises, where ecosystems are valued as much as other forms of capital, and where the inherent inequity in the climate process is resolved, within nations, among nations and between generations. It is our obligation to ensure that these opportunities are realised.
A common question is if aid will be raided to fund climate change measures? My answer is that climate change impacts will fundamentally affect development contexts and costs. Resources are essential but getting adaptation right is not only about money. Moreover, the price tag is very uncertain. However, I'd like to emphasis that resources are needed now, and that these sums will grow in the future if we are to succeed in supporting developing countries in their adaptation measures. Due to the many uncertainties regarding the financing of adaptation, we should approach step by step as we acquire more knowledge and information about the needs and means.
ODA should be used in a catalytic manner, in order to "kick-start" other forms of financing, that are needed to follow. The principles of the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action should continue to lead us. In the long-run we should aim for a mix of ODA and non-ODA funding, including new funding sources from carbon markets and the domestic resources that developing countries already use.
Climate change is already costing us all - governments, communities, households, individuals. It will be even more important for us donors to find ways of aligning and coordinating with domestic resources and other finance streams that we have not been used to in the development assistance practice. And this means that coordination between donor countries will become even more essential to avoid over burdening the governments of developing countries.
The Swedish budget for 2009 contains a special commitment to climate change. It includes a considerable increase in ODA allocations for adaptation and a special recognition of NAPAs, of disaster risk reduction and risk transfer. The package amounts to almost 400 million euros over three years.
I would like to conclude by outlining Sweden's plans and ambitions for our Presidency of the EU starting on 1 July. Climate change is one of the overarching priorities of our Presidency. The Swedish Government will make every effort to secure a new international climate agreement in Copenhagen in 2009.
Adaptation, as you know, is one of the five elements of the Bali Action Plan under the UNFCCC. I believe that adaptation can become a deal-breaker in the negotiations in Copenhagen. However, my focus on adaptation is only partly due to how important I view it in the realms of UNFCCC negotiations.
Highlighting adaptation to climate change in development cooperation during the Swedish Presidency of the EU has a longer perspective than Copenhagen and December of this year. EU development policy should serve as an input to the COP in Copenhagen but also confirm the links and coherence between development and climate change, with a specific focus on adaptation, in the EU's policies and commitments.
I want to make sure that EU development assistance is climate-proofed. My ambition is for the EU to take further action (through Council Conclusions in the GAERC) on issues of adaptation and the link with disaster risk reduction, the financial need to cope with adaptation and the role of ODA, and how to support the inclusion of climate change adaptation into PRSPs. In other words, the issues that I have been elaborating on today.
It is my ambition that the final report of the Commission on Climate Change and Development will be an inspiration to us during our Presidency. I very much look forward to further discussions with the UK on these matters.
Honourable Members of Parliament,
"Hitting a Moving Target". That's a powerful title for our meeting here today. Effective measures to deal with climate change, and more specifically adaptation, are hard to identify as our challenge is uncertain and changing.
But, I am optimistic. Together we will be able to tackle the need for short-term action and long-term vision when dealing with climate change. Most importantly, while addressing these difficult and at times highly technical issues we must not lose sight of our objective: to act responsibly to create a better world for our children and for the generations to come.
Thank you.
