Brussels, 06/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - According to a new report published by the OECD, international donors acknowledge the importance of climate risks in their development cooperation policies but are having a hard time translating their concerns into practice.
The report on 4 September entitled “Stocktaking of Progress on Integrating Adaptation to Climate Change into Development Cooperation Activities” will be used as a contribution to the next United Nations conference on climate change (Bali, 3-14 December) which is to negotiate an international system for combating post-Kyoto global warming.
The United Kingdom is stated in the report as being the country that has taken the largest number of international initiatives to better integrate climate concerns into development policy. Australia, Ireland, Canada, Austria, Norway and Portugal have national and/or agency-level training and information programmes to heighten awareness of the need to adapt development projects to climate change. As another sign of progress, the report gives the example of Germany's technical cooperation agency which now has several projects that take into account the risks posed by climate change - a concern that was practically unheard of six years ago, the report notes.
We would point out that, within the EU, reflection on adaptation to climate change is still in its infancy. It was launched in June this year by the European Commission via a Green Paper and public consultation. The Green Paper, entitled “Adapting to Climate Change in Europe - options for EU Action”, comprises an external chapter aimed at integrating the need for global adaptation in EU external relations and the formation of a new alliance with partners throughout the world, in particular the least advanced countries that will suffer the most from climate change (EUROPE 9458).
Contact OECD Environment Directorate, Shardul Agrawala, tel.: (+331) 45 24 89 42. (an)