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Adaptation and international climate policy

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  • Mizan R. Khan
  • J. Timmons Roberts

Abstract

Because of the failure of the world to agree an adequate regime to limit greenhouse gas emissions to a safe level, adaptation to climate change has risen rapidly in UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations since 2007. We closely review the development of policies, institutions, and financing of adaptation in international agreements from 1992 to the present. We conclude that the way the treaty has been built—first as a mitigation regime with adaptation added on only later—has led to some profound problems for marrying the goals of economic development and building climate resilient societies. Particularly there are two problematic areas. First, following mitigation approaches, technical solutions are often the focus in adaptation projects, when social, political, and cultural problems lie at the roots of vulnerability and should be addressed directly. Second, early requirements that external funding would only come if the adaptation effort was clearly ‘additional’ to what would have been done without a changing climate have been extremely pernicious. By attempting to divide a development project from the ‘additional’ costs of adapting to climate change, the global policy has shaped adaptation efforts at the local level. To understand how we ended up with such quirky definitions of what counts as adaptation, we need to review the history of adaptation in the negotiated regimes. Finally, we trace the incomplete negotiations over who will pay for adaptation in developing countries, whether that funding will come as grants or loans, as private investment or public funds, and what say recipient countries will have. WIREs Clim Change 2013, 4:171–189. doi: 10.1002/wcc.212 This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Institutions for Adaptation Policy and Governance > International Policy Framework

Suggested Citation

  • Mizan R. Khan & J. Timmons Roberts, 2013. "Adaptation and international climate policy," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(3), pages 171-189, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:wirecc:v:4:y:2013:i:3:p:171-189
    DOI: 10.1002/wcc.212
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    Cited by:

    1. Adis Dzebo, 2019. "Effective governance of transnational adaptation initiatives," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 447-466, October.
    2. Kevin Grecksch & Carola Klöck, 2020. "Access and allocation in climate change adaptation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 271-286, June.
    3. Kian Goh, 2020. "Flows in formation: The global-urban networks of climate change adaptation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(11), pages 2222-2240, August.
    4. Magnus Benzie & Åsa Persson, 2019. "Governing borderless climate risks: moving beyond the territorial framing of adaptation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 369-393, October.
    5. Åsa Persson & Adis Dzebo, 2019. "Special issue: Exploring global and transnational governance of climate change adaptation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 357-367, October.
    6. 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.
    7. Mizan R. Khan & Sirazoom Munira, 2021. "Climate change adaptation as a global public good: implications for financing," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-18, August.
    8. Adzigbli, Wonder Kofi & Duku, Eric & Atampugre, Gerald & Fürst, Christine & Nyarko, Benjamin Kofi, 2024. "Agricultural land use policies and landscape dynamics: Evidence from rainforest agroecological zone," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).

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