AdaptNet for 3 June 2008

1. Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate Change: Stern Revisited
2. Climate Change and Urban Children – Implications for Adaptation
3. Role of Adaptation in Climate Change Policy
4. Tropical Forestry and Climate Change – Challenges and Opportunities
5. Climate Change Adaptation and Poverty Reduction
6. Conference: Sustainable Coasts and Better Life – China

AdaptNet Policy Forum: The Copenhagen Legal Instrument for Adaptation – Thea Dickinson and Ian Burton

1. Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate Change: Stern Revisited

The paper explores the challenges facing orthodox economic approaches to assessing climate control as if it were appraisal of an investment project. It notes serious flaws in the work of economists with especial attention to the UK Government report by Stern and colleagues.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate Change: Stern Revisited, Paul Baer and Clive L. Spash, Socio-Economics and the Environment in Discussion (SEED), CSIRO Working Paper Series, Canberra, Australia, May 2008 [PDF]

2. Climate Change and Urban Children – Implications for Adaptation  

The paper discusses the probable impacts for children from the increasing risk that climate change is likely to bring to most urban centres in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It explores the implications for adaptation, focusing on preparedness as well as responses to extreme events and to changes in weather patterns.

Climate Change and Urban Children: Impacts and Implications for Adaptation in Low and Middle Income Countries (Draft), Sheridan Bartlett, Human Settlements Discussion Paper-Climate Change 2, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), May 2008 [PDF]

3. Role of Adaptation in Climate Change Policy  

The article analyses the concept of adaptation into ‘impacts-driven’ and ‘vulnerability-based’ methods. It argues that only the latter truly takes account of the socio-economic determinants of climate vulnerability, and thus offers effective adaptive solutions to the challenges posed by climate change.

Emerging Trends in Climate Change Policy: The Role of Adaptation, James Ford, Department of Geography, McGill University, Canada, The International Public Policy Review, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2007 [PDF] 

4. Tropical Forestry and Climate Change – Challenges and Opportunities      

The paper discusses how tropical forestry practices can contribute to maintaining or enhancing the adaptive capacity of natural and planted forests to global climate change. It considers challenges and opportunities for the integration of tropical forest management in broader climate change adaptation.

Mitigation Needs Adaptation: Tropical Forestry and Climate Change, Manuel R. Guariguata et al., Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change, Open Access, Springer, December 2007 [PDF]

5. Climate Change Adaptation and Poverty Reduction 

The report identifies the linkages between poverty and adaptation to climate change, and how these linkages can be addressed in development aid. It examines the institutional context of integrating climate change adaptation measures in development assistance policies. 

Climate Change Adaptation and Poverty Reduction: Key Interactions and Critical Measures, Siri E.H. Eriksen et al., Report prepared for the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS), University of Oslo, Norway, 2007 [PDF]

6. Conference: Sustainable Coasts and Better Life – China

Coastal Zone Asia Pacific Conference-2008 will take place in Qingdao, China from 19-22 October 2008. ‘Climate change and adaptation’ will be a cross-cutting issue through several of the conference program topics. Abstracts may be submitted by June 15, 2008.

Coastal Zone Asia Pacific Conference – 2008, Ocean University of China (OUC), Qingdao, China, October 19-22, 2008

The Copenhagen Legal Instrument for Adaptation – Thea Dickinson and Ian Burton

Thea Dickinson (a researcher for the Clean Air Partnership in Toronto, Canada) and Ian Burton (an Emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto and a Scientist Emeritus with the Meteorological Service of Canada) write,

“The current design for National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPAs) is not adequate for the post-Kyoto period; New National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) need to be initiated in a continuing process and should be incorporated into a country’s long term sustainable development, with a strategic approach that addresses both policy and specific adaptation measures; The past complacent approach of ‘trickle down adaptation’ is not enough. There must be a ‘flood up’ of ideas and support for substantial adaptation commitments. Do not wait for instructions of further guidance. Act now.”

The Copenhagen Legal Instrument for Adaptation, AdaptNet Policy Forum 08-04-E-Ad, Thea Dickinson and Ian Burton, 03 June 2008

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• 气候变迁适应性研究网中国版: 2008.

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua.