Climate Change in the Caribbean: Impacts and Opportunities for Enhancing China/South-South Cooperation

Guyana's embassy in Beijing was the centre of environmental interest on March 25, 2015, when dozens of representatives from a wide cross-section of international governmental organisations, the diplomatic community and Chinese low-carbon technology companies came together to look at how changes in climate are affecting the Caribbean.

The workshop was organised by INTASAVE Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean Caucus of Ambassadors, with support from the China South Low Carbon Academy. It was attended by about 40 people and explored the impact climate change is having on the Caribbean, and its people, economies and infrastructure.

The event was also a chance for Chinese experts to share progress on China/South-South Cooperation policy and approaches to mitigating the effects of climate change. The forum explored the ways that public-private partnerships can be improved to tackle climate change in the Caribbean.

Professor David Dabydeen, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of Guyana, China gave the opening remarks.

Dr Murray Simpson, CEO of the INTASAVE-CARIBSAVE Group and visiting Research Fellow, Oxford University, was the key speaker, addressing issues in the Caribbean, climate change adaptation and low–carbon projects in the region and beyond. Dr Simpson also talked about the challenges and opportunities for south-south cooperation.

Ms Li Ting, Executive Director, China South Low Carbon Academy, shared her organisation's perspective on developments in Chinese climate change south-south policy.

The event ended with a panel discussion and informal talks.

Culture of Climate Change Index; Temperature Fluctuations for 27 Countries

The Culture of Climate Change Index accounts for a variety of factors and a wide range of data that set a benchmark for 27 countries to see how far each is along the road to sustainability.

Sponsored by the British Council (China), the index is a combination of soft and hard information that incorporates factors as diverse as public awareness and civil society to average surface temperatures and energy consumption.

INTASAVE provided the critical temperature data for each of the countries, spanning the globe from Australia to Sudan to Venezuela. These numbers are essential if the index is to have a solid foundation of climate science evidence on which to base later comparisons.

Using triangulated methodologies, INTASAVE’s researchers calculated and plotted mean average temperature fluctuations across each country over a five-decade period. It was a vast task that revealed significant variations in temperature in all but one of the countries over the study period.

Numbers are not solutions but they serve as important guides for measuring a country’s impact on the environment. The data provided and index, as a combined analysis, can also give impetus to action and point to models that other countries might follow to improve sustainability.

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For more information contact: admin@intasave.org

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China and South-South Scoping Assessment for Adaptation, Learning andDevelopment (CASSALD)

Developing countries and small islands face huge challenges from global warming and climate change and few countries face greater impacts than China. All countries, particularly those in the developing world, can learn from the Asian giant’s experience and share each other's knowledge to assist one another.

INTASAVE’s goal with the China and South-South Scoping Assessment for Adaptation, Learning and Development project, or CASSALD, is to identify where and how 10 developing countries in three regions can use China’s knowledge of adaptation in their own communities. It also sets out how resources in China can best be channeled to those countries to make a difference and how South-South countries can help each other with adaptation to climate change.

China’s history of lifting millions of people out of poverty gives it a high level of respect in development work. It has an important role to play in global development and has much to offer in terms of practical knowledge and technical expertise such as weather forecasting, disaster prediction, sustainable agriculture and water conservation. It is also a growing source of conservation technology and training.

INTASAVE’s partner and donor in the project is Adapting to Climate Change in China (ACCC), an innovative research initiative that links climate research with policy and development at the highest levels.

Partnerships of this kind are essential if developing countries and their people are to flourish in an ever-changing natural environment. No one country has the resources to stand alone and no one nation is an island from the others’ actions. International exchanges can also steer partners clear of strategies that haven’t worked, conserving scarce resources and saving valuable time.

Over the life of this initial project, INTASAVE identified priority countries for exchanges and the ties between development and adaptation. It mapped out ways each partner could plug gaps in knowledge and analysed their relationship with China, now and in the future. The research was undertaken in Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Grenada and Jamaica, spanning sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Caribbean.

The end result was a 12-point list of recommendations in which international development agencies could promote cooperation between China and the global South. Underpinning all recommendations is the need for every project to be driven by verifiable demand and with a long-term outlook and perspective.

For further information contact: admin@intasave.org or murray.simpson@intasave.org

OVERVIEW

The overarching aim of Phase 1 of the China and South-South Scoping Assessment for Learning and Development initiative is to identify key opportunities and avenues for South-South learning and climate compatible development and how to best channel resources to share China's and developing countries' experiences of integrating climate adaptation into the development process. This project is being implemented in ten (10) countries across three regions including Africa (Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda); Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia) and the Caribbean (Grenada, Jamaica). Final outputs from Phase 1, including the Full Report and Country Reports follow details on the project below.

BACKGROUND

The project Adapting to Climate Change in China (ACCC) is an innovative policy research initiative focusing on linking climate change research with policy making and development. ACCC started in June 2009 as a collaboration between UK, China and Switzerland; it is funded by DFID China, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation, DFID Research and the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). ACCC is building on the results of a long standing collaboration between UK and China in the area of climate change adaptation. The main national institutional partner is the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) which is responsible for the formulation of Five Year National development plans and has also the mandate to coordinate climate change actions both in adaptation and mitigation.

CONTEXT

Climate change is a global problem with the need for collective action. Whilst the global element to action has traditionally been seen as emissions targets and mitigation ambition, how each country adapts to the impacts of climate change is also a trans-boundary issue. When done well, successfully replicating and learning from other’s adaptation experience can rapidly accelerate a country’s capacity to effectively adapt. Conversely, maladaptation poses the risk of aggravating tensions around resources and borders and can undermine a country’s mitigation efforts. For this reason, adaptation cannot remain a national issue and can be greatly enhanced by international sharing, particularly between developing countries who share similar challenges and contexts.

China has an important role to play in global development, climate resilience and South-South cooperation. Numerous Chinese ministries are working with developing countries on climate compatible development through adaptation strategies, science and technological advances across a range of sectors. During its 11th Five-Year Plan period, China established 121 assistance programmes for climate change implementation that provided capacity building to over 207,000 personnel. The 12th Five-Year Plan includes provisions to assist other developing countries even further to address climate change.

At COP 17, on 5 December 2011, Xie Zhenhua, NDRC Vice Minister and head of the Chinese delegation, announced 4 major areas of investment through South-South collaboration:

1. Adaptation: help developing countries that are most vulnerable to extreme weather to develop weather forecasting, disaster prediction capacity, and improved early-warning capacities;


2. Promotion of climate change adaptation technology, including sustainable agriculture assistance, and technology to help needy countries with drought resistance, water conservation, and biodiversity;


3. Dissemination and donation of technology in energy conservation, water conservation, and renewable energy to small island developing states and least developed countries;


4. Continuation of capacity building programs for developing countries that need it. In the next 3 years, China plans to continue to carry out a series of capacity building activities in climate change and train 1,000 officials in developing countries.

The project ‘China and South-South Scoping Assessment for Learning and Development’ (CASSALD) focuses on addressing climate adaptation needs and potential for south-south learning in 10 developing countries.

AIM

To identify key opportunities and avenues for South-South learning and climate compatible development and how to best channel resources to share China's and developing countries' experiences of integrating climate adaptation into the development process.

OBJECTIVES

1. Identify priority countries and regional and national partners in the 'south' regions


2. Identify how development and adaptation are linked in the selected countries


3. Establish a framework for a learning-centred approach across regions and countries for south-south learning and collaboration with China on climate compatible development


4. Identify and evaluate the 'gaps' and 'needs' of each country and region in relationship to their existing needs, practice and experience


5. Examine, analyse and report the regions' and countries existing relationships with China and their potential to work with China on climate compatible development


6. Establish and recommend how international development agencies (ACCC-DFID-China) can engage with these countries to best channel resources most effectively

SCOPING ASSESSMENT

Framework for Assessment

• national adaptation strategies and capacity


• main actors and responsibilities


• adaptation mainstreaming into decision-making processes

Needs assessment

• climate impacts and priorities


• external input needs and benefit of Chinese engagement


• operationalising international sharing

Attitudinal assessment

• political will to act on climate change and political drivers


• Development priorities


• policy makers information sources


• perspectives on working with China

Existing links evaluation

• Chinese contacts and context


• South-South learning underway

OUTPUTS

Final outputs from Phase 1, which include the Final Report, Executive Summary and Country Reports (Appendices) are available for download from the INTASAVE Asia-Pacific website.

South-South Summit, Beijing - July 2013

South-South Summit: Climate Change Adaptation: Policy, Practice and Legislation

A milestone climate change conference took place in July 2013 in Beijing with participants endorsing the new Guiding Principles for Climate Change Adaptation: South-South Cooperation, Practice, and Legislation, a landmark guide for future policy, legislation, implementation and cooperation on climate change adaptation in the global South.

The three-day International Conference on Climate Change Adaptation: Policy, Practice and Legislationdrew 150 leading policymakers, legislators, experts and representatives of multilateral agencies from China and 35 developing countries to Beijing to explore major opportunities for China and developing countries to work together to make their countries and communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Conference participants also had the opportunity to learn of China's achievements in planning for and responding to climate impacts.

The conference was organised by the Adapting to Climate Change in China (ACCC) project in partnership with The Global Legislators’ Organisation (GLOBE International) and The INTASAVE Partnership & CARIBSAVE.

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“[We] wish for a continuing successful relationship through triangular cooperation as China meets its South-South Cooperation commitments and international commitments on climate change.”

Madam Huang

Director of the International Cooperation Division of the Climate Change,
Department of China's NDRC*

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Conference Outcomes

• Every participant gave their unqualified support to the conference’s landmark document, Guiding Principles for Climate Change Adaptation; South-South Cooperation, Practice and Legislation and their support for another conference in 2014.


• GLOBE International will take the Guiding Principles to the 2nd GLOBE Climate Legislation Summit in Bogota, Colombia, in October, where they will be discussed and endorsed by legislators from over 60 countries.


• The INTASAVE Partnership has announced a joint initiative to continue to build on this work with China, the UNFCCC, and developing countries around the world.


• The INTASAVE Partnership will establish a high-level international advisory board and will also hold an annual event on South-South Adaptation: Policy, Practice and Legislation taking place in South Africa in 2014.

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"Although the impacts of climate change are local and varied, there is much we can learn from each other about how to approach our response. That is why we have developed a set of Guiding Principles that will help legislators and policymakers to ensure that the response is as effective as possible and learns the lessons from others' experience."

Hon. C.T. Frolick, MP

National Assembly of South Africa

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About the "Guiding Principles"

The Guiding Principles provide concrete recommendations for the future direction of climate change adaptation, a synthesis of good practice and ways to strengthen responses by working together.

The primary points of the document are:

• There is a strong need for anticipatory adaptation, underpinned by a risk management approach, solid monitoring and evaluation, and scaled up knowledge platforms to inform future work;


• Adaptation requires a broad range of practice, policy, and legislation that builds on responses from and engagement with all stakeholders. Responses will include those that use traditional knowledge;


• Public funding continues to be important but so too is an enabling environment for private sector involvement. This will include Public-Private-Partnerships, private investment, corporate responsibility and climate-compatible business practices;


• South-South Cooperation should provide opportunities to share lessons learnt and to contextualise these to national and subnational circumstances;


• Developed countries have an important role to play in encouraging and enabling South-South cooperation, in line with existing international commitments, to support the efforts of developing countries.

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The principles are based on an agreed need to establish a principled and flexible model of climate change adaptation in order to pursue the goals of increasing the resilience and adaptive capacity of societal and ecological systems. The principles reflect the four stages of successful adaptation: planning, implementation, evaluation and dynamic refinement.

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