Waking up to the Challenge – How Climate Change Threatens Development?

The climate change issue can seem remote, compared with immediate problems, such as poverty and economic development, especially for developing countries (United Nations Development Programme, 2009). However, climate change presents a multifaceted problem to development. It not only threatens efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but could also lead to major reversals for certain groups in terms of income, health and education outcomes, while increasing global inequities (UNDP.2009).

Academicians, scientists and development practitioners alike have predicted the role that melting glaciers, rise in sea level, increasing disasters will have on developing nations. Climate-induced changes to resource flows can fundamentally affect the viability of the livelihoods of the poor in these nations. Indeed, in many ways, this is what climate change impacts are all about: changes to resource flows critical for livelihood sustainability (Inter Cooperation, 2010). Thus, the challenge becomes more worrisome in the context of the poor and the marginalised, as they are the ones who face an unprecedented amount of pressure due to climate change, being dependent on the environment for their livelihoods.

In many cases where development has been taking place without considering the impact on the environment, the situation of livelihoods in the region has worsened. Take for instance the semi-arid regions, a UN report says that semi-arid areas are worse off in terms of human well-being as a result of a high degree of sensitivity and pressure which also generates the highest degree of land degradation. Moreover, indiscriminate deforestation and unsustainable agricultural and mining practices have resulted in conditions of extreme land degradation and poverty. In fact some studies estimate a 40 to 90 per cent decline in grassland productivity in the semi-arid and arid regions (IASC, 2009).

If we take South Asia as an example, we find that its natural resource base is already stressed and largely degraded due to its geographical conditions, which combines with extreme poverty and high population density. The situation gets worse with high dependence of the rural population on the environment. Moreover, with water resources being likely to be affected by climate change through its effect on the monsoon, which provides 70 per cent of annual precipitation in a four month period, the consequences on an agriculture dependent populace, is frightening (World Bank, 2010). The breakdown of agricultural systems as a result of increased exposure to drought, rising temperatures and more erratic rainfall can leave hundred and thousands of people facing hunger, malnutrition and unemployment (UNDP, 2007). The adverse effects this will have on the South Asian economies would be phenomenal, with the sector being the single largest contributor to GDP in the region. In the event of a failure, the worst affected are the landless and the poor, whose sole source of income is from agriculture and its allied activities (Kelkar & Bhadwal, 2007). If you look at a UN account, it has been said that, the adverse effects of climate change on grain yields would push prices up, more than doubling the price of wheat. What is worrisome is that if things are not controlled, the per capita consumption of cereals would fall by a fifth by 2050, leaving 25 million additional children malnourished and South Asia would be the worst affected United Nations Human Development Report (UN HDR) 2010.

The effects on human health is also an emerging threat with an additional population of up to 400 million people facing the risk of malaria worldwide (UNDP, 2007). The disease even at present kills approximately three quarters of a million children under five per year. However, governments and development agencies alike have been making progress in fighting this scourge. In fact, one third of the countries confronting malaria have seen the number of cases drop by at least half since the year 2000. Regrettably however, with the effect of climate change, malaria is now reappearing in areas, where it was once eliminated, like the Kenyan highlands. The challenge is exacerbated by the fact that this isn’t the only disease likely to be on the rise due to changing climatic conditions. In fact, it has been warned that "climate change could be the biggest global health threat of the 21st century" (Kerry, 2010).

The concern thus, is for the poorest and the marginalised, the very people that the development policy and practices are trying to address. Here only two examples of the effect of climate change on development have been shared, whereas the extent projected in several other areas is far more. The chain that links climate change and development is so intertwined that one cannot address either in isolation, especially since the worst impact will be felt by the lowest income groups in low-income nations.

Addressing Climate Change and Development Together – The Eco-systems Approach

To address the emerging development challenges due to climate change some of which were described in the previous section, an all encompassing approach is needed which prioritises scientific and technological innovation that addresses climate and development goals simultaneously. For example, replacing old, dirty cook stoves with affordable, fuel-efficient ones can reduce deforestation, protect public health and even reduce flooding by strengthening soil (Kerry, 2010).

Many such initiatives can be taken up, which include well documented ones of using renewable energy, decentralised energy sources, and a myriad of adaptation practices. However, the question in the context of the issues discussed here is, which initiatives are critical for the poor and vulnerable populations? With this in mind, the threats to natural resources and hence livelihoods of the poor become significant as climate-induced changes to resource flows will affect the viability of livelihoods unless measures are taken to protect and diversify them through adaptation and other strategies(Inter Cooperation, 2003).

These strategies should include ecosystem management and restoration activities, such as watershed restoration, agro-ecology, etc. In fact, these activities can represent "win-win" approaches to climate change adaptation and poverty alleviation, as they serve immediate needs and bring benefits to local communities, while also contributing to longer-term capacity development that will create a basis for reducing future vulnerabilities (Inter Cooperation, 2003).

Local ecosystem-based initiatives have demonstrated potential to generate economic, social and environmental benefits for the participants. There is a direct relationship between the health of ecosystems and the opportunities for the poor to build assets, increase their food security, improve their health, reduce risks, and have more secure lives— in short, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (Hazelwood and Mock, 2010). The importance of ecosystems services is seen through the change that United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has made to its definition of poverty and its indicators by including ecosystem services as one of the measureable services necessary for poverty alleviation. These services provide opportunities for local development. At a larger scale (national level) some of the services provided by the eco-system act as carbon sinks. The identification of such services, their evaluation, sharing of benefits with local communities and linking to human well-being should be a multi-sectoral integrated approach.

Effective channelling of resources and developing capacity at the local level, combined with supportive policy and institutional reforms at higher levels is essential. A joint effort to provide the enabling conditions for scaling up local ecosystem-based initiatives could be an effective route to localising the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), sustaining ecosystem services and biodiversity, and improving rural adaptation to climate change (Hazelwood & Mock, 2010).

The importance of the multi-sectoral integrated approach was indicated at the world conservation congress. Non-regulatory longer term approaches to restoring, protecting and sustainably using natural resources that can lead to new livelihood and economic opportunities and renewed ecosystem vitality are necessary. Indigenous crops and traditional knowledge of biodiversity and water management, for example, will increase agricultural productivity, improve health and ensure long-term sustainability of forests. New products, services and payment models will make finance and technology affordable and accessible to the poor to create self sustaining pathways, out of the vicious circle of poverty and related degradation of natural resources. For this, the conceptual frameworks and institutions tailored to social value creation, where the objective is to benefit the maximum number of people from the effort, are needed (Sanwal, 2010).

An action framework proposed in UN-MDG Summit (held in September 2010) clearly indicates five key elements required in order to scale up local ecosystem-based initiatives (Hazelwood & Mock, 2010).

Investments in managing and securing ecosystem services alone however will not eradicate poverty. It needs to be part, but a significant part, of broader poverty alleviation initiatives. Local projects to secure ecosystem services can certainly be useful, but the functional scale of ecosystems and their drivers is typically at larger spatial and temporal scales than at which such projects operate. Consequently, better management and appreciation of ecosystem services and their role in alleviating poverty will be best achieved by interventions at the policy level that serve to change the understanding, attitudes and values that policy-makers, planners and land managers have towards ecosystem services (Shackleton et al, 2008).

In the end, it is important to note that while there are a myriad of initiatives, these will only be of consequence if they are helping the developing nations and the poor populace to emerge victorious from the vicious circles of poverty, taking into account all the shocks that climate change have added to their already complicated daily existences.  q

Hazelwood, P. and Mock, G. (2010). Ecosystems, Climate Change and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): Scaling Up Local Solutions: A Framework for Action. WRI and UNDP

IASC. (2009), Climate Change, Food Security and Hunger. Technical Paper of the IASC on Climate Change

Inter Cooperation (2003).Livelihoods and Climate Chang: Combining disaster risk reduction, natural resource management and climate change adaptation in a new approach to the reduction of vulnerability and poverty.

Kelkar, U. & Bhadwal, S. (2007) South Asian Regional Study on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation: Implication for Human Development. UNDP

Kerry, J. (2010) Climate change threatens to undermine progress in Development. The Huffington Post.

Sanwal, M (2010) Making the transition to a low carbon economy in the context of eradication of poverty.

Shackleton,C., Shackleton,S., Gambiza, J., Nel, E., Rowntree, K. and Urquhart, P. (2008). Links between Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation: Situation analysis for arid and semi-arid lands in southern Africa. DFID, NERC, ESRC

UNDP (2007) Fighting Climate Change; Human Soladarity in a Divided World. United Nations Development Programme

UNDP (2009). Linking Climate Change Policies to Human Development Analysis and Advocacy: A Guidance Note for Human Development Report Teams. United Nations Development Programme

World Bank (2010) Regional Vulnerability to Climate Change. World Bank Data and Research