Justice and adaptation to climate change

Climate change is very much an issue of justice. Our climate is changing because developed countries have used fossil fuels to pursue economic growth. Yet climate change will mostly affect developing countries that have not contributed to the problem and have a weak capacity to cope with it.

The emphasis placed in international debates and negotiations on how to share the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions has concealed the important justice issues regarding adaptation to climate change. These include:

• What is the responsibility of developed countries for climate change impacts?
• How much assistance should be given for adaptation?
• How should the burden be shared among developed countries?
• How should assistance be distributed between and within recipient countries?
• How should assistance be distributed across different adaptation measures?
• Which parties should be recognised and enabled to participate in planning and decision-making processes and to what degree?
• Which parties should be recognised and enabled to participate in planning and decision-making processes and to what degree?

The UNFCCC identifies two duties related to justice in adaptation – the duty to avoid dangerous climate change and the duty to assist with adaptation. Article 2 states that greenhouse gas concentrations should be stabilised at a level that prevents dangerous human interference with the climate system, within a time-frame which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally, ensures food production, and enables sustainable economic development. In essence, this establishes an upper limit to the negative impacts the countries responsible for climate change can create.

Articles 3 and 4 of the Convention create the duty to help particularly vulnerable and least developed countries to adapt. The Adaptation Fund, Special Climate Change Fund and Least Developed Countries Fund have been established to provide assistance to recipient countries. However, there is uncertainty about how much assistance should be provided and how the burden of making it available should be shared. Furthermore, it is not clear how assistance should be distributed across recipient countries and different adaptation measures.

The UNFCCC has also taken some steps to facilitate the participation of affected parties in planning and decision-making regarding adaptation. The establishment of the Least Developed Countries Expert Group gives LDCs more voice in international adaptation planning. The guidelines for the preparation of NAPAs require public consultation and help affected groups to have their interests recognised in national adaptation plans and priorities. However, the Convention’s general working procedures, small delegations and lack of resources to support negotiation teams continue to hold back the effective participation of developing countries at the international level.

While the climate change regime recognises and addresses some justice issues related to adaptation, it does not currently do so in a satisfactory way. These issues demand serious attention and a failure to do so can slow down progress in mitigation. The negotiation of an adaptation protocol would be one way of addressing and clarifying these justice issues. Uncertainties regarding assistance to adaptation should be resolved by making clear commitments regarding the amounts and sources of assistance for developing countries. At the same time, the criteria for distributing assistance should be laid out. These criteria should prioritise the assistance of most vulnerable countries and most vulnerable groups, as already suggested by the convention.

Jouni Paavola
Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE)
University of East Anglia
Norwich
Norfolk
NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom
j.paavola@uea.ac.uk

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