Governance design addresses the
question of how to design effective institutions, in light of the
theoretical assumption that the link between institutions and outcomes
can be understood and predicted with some confidence. One particular
kind of governance design approach that has been applied extensively in
the CCVIA literature is policy analysis. Policy analysis addresses the
question of "determining which of various alternative policies will
achieve a given set of goals in light of the relations between the
policies and the goals" (Nagel 1999). In particular, this is applied
ex-ante to improve the design of policies, programmes or projects.
An
expanding body of literature has employed policy analysis to analyse
mainstreaming of CCVIA into policies. Because adaptation occurs in all
sectors and at all levels of social organisation, the goal of climate
change adaptation policy may be generally stated as to incorporate the
consideration of climate risks into existing policies and increasing
the capacity of individuals and societies to respond to these risks. In
this sense, adaptation is not a stand-alone policy domain, but rather
the task to integrate, or mainstream, the consideration of climate
change risks into existing sectoral policies. The recommendations of
high-level adaptation policy documents, such as the EU White Paper on
Adaptation, are illustrative, as they focus on the need to increase the
consideration of climate risks across all sectors.
One
focus of mainstreaming studies has been development policy (e.g. Gupta
2009; McGray et al. 2007). Mainstreaming has been carried out through
portfolio screening in order to identify climate risks which might
conflict with development policy goals. For example, Sietz et al.
(2011) report on the proportion donor investments in Mozambique made in
climate sectors, while Dasgupta and Baschieri (2010) identify which
goals in the national poverty-reduction strategy are threatened by
climate impacts in Ghana. Klein et al. (2007) screen the project
portfolios of 6 development agency donors to identify the extent to
which climate hazards are considered. These studies address the
question of whether existing policies are at risk due to climate
hazards.
On the other hand, if climate is
already being considered, the critical task is
“climate-proofing” the policy in question.
‘Proofing’ policies involves addressing relevant
risks early in the policy formulation process, to identify any obvious
effects on other sectors or objectives. The practice of proofing
policies is well-established in other sectors, such as health, and
rural development (Urwin and Jordan 2008: 188). In the case of climate
adaptation, this activity is in its infancy, though several tools have
been developed to support this process.
Exemplary methods and tools
| Name | Description | References
|
| Policy climate-proofing
| Dasgupta and Baschieri (2010) analyse poverty reduction strategies and climate impacts on the rural poor in Ghana. They find that rural poverty reduction strategies do not account for climate impacts, and focus on money-metric indicators of poverty. They find that mainstreaming climate change into development strategies, which would mean including broader indicators of poverty, is necessary to protect poverty reduction goals.
| Dasgupta A, Baschieri A. 2010. Vulnerability to climate change in rural Ghana: Mainstreaming climate change in poverty-reduction strategies. Journal of International Development 22: 803-820.
|
| Portfolio climate-screening
| Klein et al. (2007) develop a method for mainstreaming climate adaptation concerns into development organisations. The study conducted interviews and examined project documents for several prominent aid organisations, considering the extent to which climate change has been taken into account in the policy and project planning stages.
| Klein, R. J. T., Eriksen, S. E. H., Naess, L. O., Hammill, A., Tanner, T. M., Robledo, C. and O'Brien, K. L., 2007: Portfolio screening to support the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into development assistance, Climatic Change, 84 (1), 23-44.
|
