European Development Co-operation to 2020: Challenges by New Actors in International Development2009/05 - EDC2020 Project, Working Paper No.4, Authors: Sven Grimm et al.
Abstract:
This paper focuses specifically on the challenges Europe faces by the emergence of new actors in international development co-operation. In the past 10-15 years, the established development donors in the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) have forged a consensus about what aid is for, where it should be best directed and how it should be managed. With the increasing salience of a variety of new actors in international development, both governmental and nongovernmental, this consensus is being challenged at a time when aid budgets are under threat and when there are other new challenges for development co-operation, not least climate change.
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The Human Dimension of Climate Adaptation: The Importance of Local and Institutional Issues 2009/05 - Swedish Commission on Climate Change and Development et al.; Report, Authors: Ian Christoplos et al.
Abstract:
This paper presents a conceptual framework that turns the mainstream adaptation discourse upside down, with understanding and respect for autonomous adaptation as the starting point for a new agenda to manage the human dimensions of climate change.
It suggests that adaptation should be built on efforts to more effectively support individuals,households, and businesses as they struggle to adapt to climate change and that this should be done with a deeper awareness of the social, economic, cultural, and political factors that frame their actions, incentives, opportunities,and limitations for action.
The paper examines the climate-related adaptive capacity of people, businesses, and ecosystems and discusses their interactions, complementarities, and competition. It also looks at adaptive capacity across scales – local, national, international – and how interfaces among these scales facilitate or stand in the way of adaptation.
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Driving Factors of Carbon Dioxide Emissions and the Impact from Kyoto Protocol2009/05 - Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research (IAI), Discussion Paper No. 190, Authors: Nicole Grunewald, Inmaculada Martinez-Zarzoso
Abstract:
In the last two decades increasing attention has been paid to the relationship between environmental quality and economic development. According to the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis this relationship may be described by an inverted-U curve. However, recent evidence rejects the EKC hypothesis for GHG emissions in a broad sense. In this paper we aim to investigate whether the EKC behavior for CO2 emissions could be proved on the behalf of institutional regulations. We analyze the driving factors of Carbon Dioxide Emissions (CO2) for developed and developing countries to test the theory of the EKC in the context of environmental regulations using a static and dynamic panel data model. We consider the Kyoto Protocol and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The results from this study indicate that the Kyoto obligations have a reducing effect on CO2 emissions in developed and developing countries and highlight the differences behind the driving forces of CO2 emissions for those two groups of countries. Finally, it is still too early to predict accurately the expected effects of CDM projects on emissions.
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The Future of Climate Finance: A New Approach is Needed 2009/06 - Overseas Development Institute (ODI); Opinion, Author: Jessica Brown
Abstract:
Despite the promises made, developing countries are being short-changed by the industrialised north for the costs of putting right the damage caused by climate change. Current climate change aid commitments fall far short of the estimated $100 billion needed each year, with actual disbursements even lower. This Opinion argues for a shift away from the traditional official development assistance (ODA) approach, outlining three possible funding approaches that would generate funding in a spirit of partnership.
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Forest management in Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua: reform failures?2009/05 - Institute of Social Studies (ISS) Working Paper No. 474; Author: Lorenzo Pellegrini
Abstract:
In this study we contrast forestry reforms and their stated objectives against the state of the forestry sector in Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. Once we look at the policy failures that underlie the gap between policy objectives and the state of forestry, we find that stated policies are not implemented and their design is marked by intrinsic flaws. We conclude that there is a reform failure matched by a failure to reform. The Poverty Reduction Strategies of the three countries followed –and possibly reinforced– existing policy trends but they were unable to solve implementation problems and lack of coherence that mark the policies of the sector.
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Le Pacifique tropical ouest se rechauffe, sa salinite chute2009/04 - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD); Fiche Scientifique No.314, Author: Fabrice Dupochelle
Abstract:
L’immense masse d’eau chaude à l’ouest du Pacifique tropical, appelée « Warm Pool », se réchauffe et devient moins salée. Des chercheurs de l’IRD et leurs partenaires viennent de montrer qu’en 50 ans ses eaux ont gagné près de 0,3°C en moyenne et que sa salinité a baissé. De plus, sa surface s’est considérablement étendue. L’élévation de température du Pacifique tropical ouest est liée au changement climatique global. Mais pourquoi la salinité baisse-t-elle ? Les scientifiques pensent que le phénomène serait dû à une dilution des eaux de surface du fait de l’augmentation des précipitations dans la région. La « Warm Pool » est la principale « pompe à chaleur » de la planète: elle alimente les flux de chaleur et d’humidité de la majeure partie de l’atmosphère terrestre.
Ses modifications en température et salinité pourraient modifier la fréquence d’El Niño, dont les conséquences peuvent être graves pour les populations des pays équatoriaux.
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Current Dilemmas in Aid Architecture Actors & Instruments, Aid Orphans and Climate Change 2009/04 - European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) Policy Management Report 16; Edited by: Gwénaelle Corre
Abstract:
The French Presidency of the European Union organized an Informal Meeting of European Development Ministers in Bordeaux, France on 29 and 30 September as part of a specific context in relation to international collective refl ection on aid effectiveness and development financing. For this event, the French Presidency of the European Union asked the ECDPM to draw up a framework document on European aid architecture and on how best to deploy actors and European aid instruments in the face of global challenges. The present document also returns to the issue of ‘aid orphans’ and how best to respond to their needs, particularly through the implementation of the EU Code of Conduct on Complementarity and Division of Labour in Development Policy. Lastly, a brief case study allows for the concise introduction of several factors relating to climate change.
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Participatory Governance in Nepal – Why the Poor and Excluded Matter 2009/05 - Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Blog Entry, Author: David Walker
Abstract:
Nepal is going through enormous change, with a new constitution, a new government and a new prime minister, Madhav Kumar. To mark the country’s first peacetime Republic Day, ODI and NEPAN (the Nepal Participatory Action Network) are publishing the results of the Nepal Participatory Governance Assessment (PGA). This is based on the first participatory research initiative carried out at community level with poor and excluded groups in Nepal since the peace process began in 2006. As such, it represents a marked, and positive, shift for Nepali citizens in having an opportunity to be heard by those who represent them.
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Alternative Development Financing Mechanisms for Poverty Reduction 2009/04 - Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS); DIIS Report 2009:11, Author: Sam Jones
Abstract:
Over the past decade, development policy has witnessed a clear shift towards a poverty reduction agenda. Unsurprisingly, this has been accompanied by changes in views concerning development finance. A dominant refrain of the present agenda is that ‘traditional’ approaches to development finance, characterised by official bilateral and multilateral assistance to discrete projects through a combination of loans and credits, have been inadequate. In response, reforms of traditional aid and alternative approaches to financing are being advocated.
This study assesses the recent evolution of non-traditional approaches to development finance. It includes 1) an examination of the characteristics of the alternative financing mechanisms that have emerged over recent years; 2) an analysis of their (combined) contribution to addressing development financing challenges in the poorest countries; and 3) considerations over the future prospects of alternative financing mechanisms.
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Global Transparency: Fighting Corruption for a Sustainable Future 2009/04 - UN University - Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU -CRIS), Working Paper No. 2009/6, Author: Charles Sampford
Abstract:
The primary focus of corruption studies and anti-corruption activism has been corruption within sovereign states. However, over the last twenty years ‘globalization’, the flow of money, goods, people and ideas across borders, has threatened to overwhelm the system of sovereign states. Much activity has moved outside the control of nation states at the same time as nation states have ‘deregulated’ and in so doing have transferred power from those exercising governmental power at the nominal behest of the majority of its citizens to those with greater wealth and/or greater knowledge in markets in which knowledge is typically asymmetric.
It is now recognized that many governance problems have arisen because of globalisation and can only be addressed by global solutions. It must also be recognized that governance problems at the national level contribute to governance problems and the global level and vice versa. Nevertheless, many of the lessons learned in combating corruption at the national level are relevant to a globalized world – in particular, the need for ethics and leadership in addition to legal and institutional reform; the need to integrate these measures into integrity systems; and the awareness of corruption systems. These are applied to areas of concern within sustainable globalisation raised by the conference – including peace and security, extractive industries, climate change and sustainable banking.
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