Volume 1
Global climate change and sustainable development : third report of Session 2001-02 / International Development Committee.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. International Development Committee
- Date:
- 2002
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Global climate change and sustainable development : third report of Session 2001-02 / International Development Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![play a leading role by developing such criteria and then spreading best practice. The outcomes from the research DFID has commissioned should be used to help develop the criteria and indicators. 108. Clare Short was clear about the need for developing countries to integrate climate considerations and risks into their national strategies and planning processes.** How they do this will depend on the support they are given to help address the lack of information on, and the lack of local capacity for addressing, climate change. While donors are primarily focused on 2015 as the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, many developing countries need to be taking a longer-term view for policy development. Given the dependence of many countries on donors and the fact that countries will often respond to what they perceive are donor priorities, it is important that DFID and other donors show that climate change is an issue that deserves serious consideration within the context of their national and local priorities.** 109. There has been some criticism of the failure by donors, notably the World Bank, to integrate goals on climate protection into their mainstream activities.°°° Criticism has centred around energy policy and the reform of energy sectors in developing countries where decisions have been driven more by price than social or environmental considerations. Export credit agencies have attracted similar criticism as they play a vital role in controlling and restricting the investments made by development banks. Through its position on the board of the MDBs and through the advice it provides bodies like ECGD, DFID must ensure that climate change is recognised as an issue and that the policies and actions of these organisation will not increase climate risk. 110. DFID should assess which actors and institutions are best placed to work on climate change using criteria of equity, efficiency and effectiveness. Some interventions, like many current proposals for reducing greenhouse gases, may not be the most equitable or efficient but they are effective; others that are more equitable may not be so effective.°’ DFID should assess the comparative advantage of donors and encourage those with particular expertise on climate change issues to take a lead. DFID also needs to examine the scope for working with UN agencies on climate issues. Andy Haines, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told us that UN agencies often did not have sufficient staff to co-ordinate the surveillance and research work on climate change and health; the World Health Organisation (WHO) had one person working part-time on climate and health. Sari Kovats, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, agreed that WHO lacked the capacity to support individual assessments in particular countries .*°* It may be possible for other agencies, such as bilateral donors like DFID, who have a presence on the ground, to work in partnership with WHO on such assessments. 111. DFID should also ensure that support for work on climate change by multilateral agencies links with the poverty reduction agenda. Action on climate change needs to be reflected in Country Assistance Strategies and Country Strategy Papers. These should make the appropriate links to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), National Strategies for Sustainable Development (NSSDs), National Adaptation Programmes for Action (NAPAs) and other national strategies of developing countries. Donors must also take account of the impact their projects and programmes will have on climate and the Ql 63 soe 72 [para 20] Financing Climate Change: Providiag Public Goods, preventing public bads, Dr Peter Newell, Institute of Development Studies (IDS). An abridged version of this paper appears in Financing and Providing Global Public Goods: Expectations and Prospects, prepared for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden by IDS. Ibi 3°80)55](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32221356_0001_0062.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
