What is climate change adaptation mainstreaming and how it can be made operational at national and sub-national levels? This report looks at the ways in which mainstreaming of climate change adaptation has been defined and it gives an overview of available resources and screening tools to support components of mainstreaming. It argues that although available definitions point ...» more
Library
This e-library contains more than 4500 external publications on governance, social development, conflict and humanitarian issues. It includes academic and grey literature selected for its basis in good quality research and coverage of a range of perspectives. Policy-oriented summaries of each document are provided, plus links to the full text.
Report of the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights on Preventable Maternal Mortality and Morbidity and Human Rights
Of the Millennium Development Goals, Goal 5 on improving maternal health is the furthest from being achieved. This report discusses the human rights dimensions of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, reviewing the international and regional initiatives and programmes in place, and the current legal framework. It concludes that a collective commitment from the ...» more
Where’s the Money? The Status of Climate Finance Post-Copenhagen
What progress was made regarding climate finance at the 2009 talks in Copenhagen? The 'Copenhagen Accord' gives some clear promises and numbers for both short- and long-term financial support to help developing countries, especially the most vulnerable, to address climate change. It pledges US$10 billion per year from 2010-2012, then US$100 billion per year from 2020. However, ...» more
Adaptive Social Protection: Mapping the Evidence and Policy Context in the Agriculture Sector in South Asia
The concept of Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) has been developed in an attempt to combine the three prominent approaches to vulnerability reduction – social protection (SP), disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA). This paper provides an initial assessment of the ways in which these elements are being brought together in development policy and ...» more
Synthesis Report on Efforts Undertaken to Monitor and Evaluate the Implementation of Adaptation Projects, Policies and Programmes
How effective is the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of adaptation implementation by the EU and its member states? This report examines the range of M&E efforts being undertaken and finds that some areas, such as the monitoring of policies, are more advanced than others. Furthermore, the majority of adaptation projects are still under development or implementation. This is an ...» more
Climate Not to Blame for African Civil Wars
Will global warming increase the severity and number of civil wars in Africa? This paper analyses the links and correlation between climate change, climate shocks and intrastate violence in Africa. It finds that, while environmental conditions may not be irrelevant to conflict risk, scientific claims about a robust correlation between climate change and the risk of civil war in ...» more
Keeping a Big Promise: Options for Baselines to Assess ‘New and Additional’ Climate Finance
All major climate policy agreements have stated that climate finance for developing countries will be 'new and additional'. But new and additional to what? This article explores options for agreeing a baseline, and related methodological challenges. It identifies two viable baselines: 'new funding sources only' and 'above pre-defined business as usual level of development ...» more
Micro Insurance for Local Adaptation
How can micro-insurance programmes reduce developing countries' vulnerability to climate change? This paper examines a micro-insurance pilot project in Malawi. The project provides a loan guarantee that enables farmers to access higher-yield seeds. By raising productivity, it decreases their vulnerability to droughts. Findings also show that micro-insurance in Malawi can ...» more
Ethics and Climate Change: An Introduction
What are the ethics of climate change? This paper offers an overview of the emerging field of climate ethics. It argues that ethical analysis can contribute to five central concerns of climate policy: the treatment of scientific uncertainty, responsibility for past emissions, the setting of mitigation targets, and the places of adaptation and geo-engineering in the policy ...» more
Human Development in a Changing Climate: A Framework for Climate Finance
How can climate finance be raised from a variety of sources at scale? How can this finance be delivered to where it is most needed with sufficient speed and in way that is nationally owned? A country-driven, multi-stakeholder climate finance framework is proposed to meet these objectives, built on four country-level mechanisms. It involves: 1) formulation of low-emissions, ...» more
Business as Unusual. Direct Access: Giving Power Back to the Poor?
Finance for climate action in developing countries is widely agreed to be an essential element of a post-2012 climate agreement, and a key factor in negotiating such finance will be 'Direct Access' (DA). This paper explores the DA concept, examining its challenges and merits, by discussing existing funds that have adopted this modality. Whilst DA is an efficient and effective ...» more
Responding to a Changing Climate: Exploring how Disaster Risk Reduction, Social Protection and Livelihoods Approaches Promote Features of Adaptive Capacity
How can other humanitarian and development approaches help enhance communities’ capacity to adapt to a changing climate? This paper examines which aspects of disaster risk reduction, social protection and livelihoods approaches can contribute to adaptive capacity and how these approaches can better respond to climate change and facilitate adaptation. While recognising that each ...» more
Climate Change and Conflict: Moving Beyond the Impasse
What is the connection between climate change and conflict? This study suggests that the desire to identify a clear causal path between climate change and conflict overlooks the complexity of both phenomena; it is important to take a more nuanced view of climate change and to understand better the causes of conflict. The multifaceted nature of climate change reduces the ...» more
‘State-building for Peace’ – A New Paradigm for International Engagement in Post-Conflict Fragile States?
What challenges are common to both statebuilding and peacebuilding? What are the tensions between them? This paper examines the implications for donors seeking to engage in 'statebuilding for peace'. International actors have an important role, but it is accompanying and facilitating domestic processes, leveraging local capacities, and complementing domestic initiatives and ...» more
Property Rights for the Poor: The Effects of Land Titling
Secure property rights are considered a key determinant of economic development, but examining the effects of land titling programmes is complex. Are they a tool for rapid poverty reduction? Would credit accessed through land ownership be invested as capital in productive projects, increasing labour productivity and income? This study of land allocation in Argentina examines ...» more
Taxation and State Building: Towards a Governance Focused Tax Reform Agenda
How can tax reform support statebuilding and improve governance? This paper argues that particular reforms within the tax system can generate significant gains in state capacity and trigger the expansion of responsive and accountable government. Development agencies should focus more on the political economy of taxation. They should move beyond technocratic reforms towards an ...» more
State-Society Relations and the Intangible Dimensions of State Resilience and Statebuilding: A Bottom Up Perspective
Crucial social and cultural elements underpin state institutions and ensure that they function. This is especially important to understand in 'fragile' settings. This paper argues that conventional perspectives need to be broadened beyond tangible dimensions of state resilience, institutions and statebuilding to include intangible dimensions. International actors need to gain ...» more
Climate Financing and Development: Friends or Foes?
Will finance for climate change adaptation in developing countries compromise support for meeting the Millennium Development Goals? This study analyses country proposals for climate change funding put forward at recent UN-led climate change negotiations. It argues that while the aims of development and adaptation to climate change often overlap, additional funds are needed to ...» more
The Economics of Low Carbon, Climate Resilient Patterns of Growth in Developing Countries: A Review of the Evidence
To what extent can developing countries move towards low carbon growth without compromising economic development? This study reviews the literature on the economics of climate change. It finds that all countries need to act decisively in order to reduce emissions, and that preventing economic growth targets from increasing emissions will require significant additional ...» more
State-Building Taxation for Developing Countries: Principles for Reform
How can taxation policy and administration promote economic growth and political legitimacy, while also mobilising revenue for the state? This article reviews the literature on the connection between taxation and governance and extracts seven principles for creating a statebuilding tax system. Drawing on evidence from DFID/World Bank projects in Sierra Leone, Yemen, and ...» more
