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Climate change adaptation and the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF): Qualitative insights from policy implementation in the Asia-Pacific

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin K. Sovacool

    (Aarhus University
    University of Sussex)

  • Björn-Ola Linnér

    (Linköping University
    Oxford University)

  • Richard J. T. Klein

    (Stockholm Environment Institute)

Abstract

Least developed countries often lack the requisite capacity to implement climate change adaptation projects. The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) is a scheme where industrialized countries have (as of early 2016) disbursed $934.5 million in voluntary contributions, raised more than four times that amount in co-financing, and supported 213 adaptation projects across 51 least developed countries. But what sorts of challenges have arisen during implementation? Based on extensive field research in five least developed countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, the Maldives, and Vanuatu—and original data collected from almost 150 research interviews, this article qualitatively explores both the benefits and challenges of LDCF projects in the Asia-Pacific. It finds that while LDCF projects do contribute to enhancing multiple types of infrastructural, institutional, and community-based adaptive capacity, they also suffer from uncertainty, a convoluted management structure, and an inability to fully respond to climate risks. Based on these findings, the study concludes that adaptation must be pursued as a multidimensional process; and that LDCF activities have tended to promote marginal rather than more radical or systematic transformations.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin K. Sovacool & Björn-Ola Linnér & Richard J. T. Klein, 2017. "Climate change adaptation and the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF): Qualitative insights from policy implementation in the Asia-Pacific," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 209-226, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:140:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1839-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1839-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Benjamin Preston & Richard Westaway & Emma Yuen, 2011. "Climate adaptation planning in practice: an evaluation of adaptation plans from three developed nations," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 407-438, April.
    2. Robert M. DeConto & David Pollard, 2016. "Contribution of Antarctica to past and future sea-level rise," Nature, Nature, vol. 531(7596), pages 591-597, March.
    3. H.-M. Füssel & Stéphane Hallegatte & M. Reder, 2012. "International Adaptation Funding," Post-Print hal-00801907, HAL.
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    Cited by:

    1. Omukuti, Jessica, 2020. "Challenging the obsession with local level institutions in country ownership of climate change adaptation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Louis Lebel & Mira Käkönen & Va Dany & Phimphakan Lebel & Try Thuon & Saykham Voladet, 2018. "The framing and governance of climate change adaptation projects in Lao PDR and Cambodia," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 429-446, June.
    3. Va Dany & Louis Lebel, 2020. "Integrating Concerns with Climate Change into Local Development Planning in Cambodia," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(2), pages 221-243, March.
    4. Leonardo Zea-Reyes & Veronica Olivotto & Sylvia I. Bergh, 2021. "Understanding institutional barriers in the climate change adaptation planning process of the city of Beirut: vicious cycles and opportunities," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 26(6), pages 1-24, August.
    5. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Burke, Matthew & Baker, Lucy & Kotikalapudi, Chaitanya Kumar & Wlokas, Holle, 2017. "New frontiers and conceptual frameworks for energy justice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 677-691.
    6. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2018. "Bamboo Beating Bandits: Conflict, Inequality, and Vulnerability in the Political Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 183-194.
    7. Marielle Papin, 2019. "Transnational municipal networks: Harbingers of innovation for global adaptation governance?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 467-483, October.
    8. See, Justin & Cuaton, Ginbert Permejo & Placino, Pryor & Vunibola, Suliasi & Thi, Huong Do & Dombroski, Kelly & McKinnon, Katharine, 2024. "From absences to emergences: Foregrounding traditional and Indigenous climate change adaptation knowledges and practices from Fiji, Vietnam and the Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    9. Wanlu Liu & Lulu Liu & Jiangbo Gao, 2020. "Adapting to climate change: gaps and strategies for Central Asia," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 1439-1459, December.

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