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Liza Leclerc
Liza Leclerc
Topic: Adaptation to Climate Change
Liza has been studying and working on adaptation to climate change for over ten years. She currently develops and manages adaptation projects for UNEP and the Global Environment Facility....
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Number of questions: [5]
Posted on 31/08/2007 09:53:32
how human greed is responsible for degrading the environment?what are the major concerns in this context?
nitin vyas (from India)
I am not sure I understand your question but if I can guess on it a bit, I would agree with you that humans do have a responsibility to protect the environment and in many cases have failed to do so, which is why climate change is happening, amongst other problems such as water shortages, land degradation and loss of important biodiversity which is vital to maintaining the health of the environment. The world and local economies have been very dependent on natural resources supplied by the environment and too often we have exploited these. Awareness that we are coming to a dangerous tipping point in this has never been higher and we are starting to see more and more people taking action.

Posted on 31/08/2007 08:36:53
What are the current UNEP projects currently being conducted in Kenya and what is your latest strategic plan?
Rose Mureithi (from Kenya)
UNEP itself does not have a national plan for Kenya but it is the government itself, led by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) which has does this. UNEP has supported the government to prepare its National Communications on Climate Change, a report to the UN Convention on Climate Change. This is the mechanism provided by the UN (through the climate convention) for the country to identify its priorities.

Together with national partners, UNEP is supporting a priority identified in this plan: to understand and practice mainstreaming adaptation concerns into national planning exercises. Together with national partners, the Centre for Science and Technology Innovations as well as the national Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Development Program, adaptation measures are being tested in a farming community in Makueni District. These include downscaling local meteorological data and communicating this to farmers along with suggestions on how they can adjust plantings based on this information. They are also applying water conservation measures and diversifying the varieties of maize planted as a risk management measure. This project builds on capacity built from a previous and recently complemented UNEP implemented project where a team of east African researchers worked together to examine how malaria and other disease patterns would be affected by changes in climate in the Lake Victoria region.

Posted on 31/08/2007 08:14:05
1. What strtegies exist for the poorest of the poor in adaptation of climate change?
2. Who are the most propellers of nagative climate change and why?
Thanks
Abubakar Moki (from Uganda)
It is generally accepted that human induced climate change is caused by greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere from things like burning fossil fuels (driving cars). This disrupts the energy balance in the atmosphere leading to some chaos in things like temperature and rainfall patterns.

Strategies for the poor, often the most affected, can include the types of measures communities can take themselves and those related to broader national planning to assist those most vulnerable. For the first, humans have always been adapting to changes and have an arsenal of tools to pick from. These include changes in behavior and choices. Some examples of how people cope against unpredictable changes include: diversifying seeds and crops to ensure survival of some; conserving resources including water, money; developing new income sources to balance the risk of farm failures; collecting and conserving excess rainwater during excessive rainfall events to balance for times of rainfall shortages; and planting trees to increase shade during high temperatures, protect against wind and storms and stabilize soils against landslides.

In east Africa where we are, one of the problems with relying only on existing community practices only is that the environmental cues have changed. Many farmers no longer know how to predict the rainy seasons as they have become increasingly unpredictable. This is where government and other assistance can assist in informing what types of behavioral changes are needed. Some changes include very difficult choices such as managing population distribution, limiting certain traditional practices and relocating people which is always very sensitive. See the question on projects in Kenya below for an example of this.

Posted on 31/08/2007 08:09:03
1.What guidelines are there that can help Uganda Network of Businesses develop a code of conduct for her members that can help cover areas of minimisation of business activities that impact negatively on climate?
2. What success practices are there under membership business organsiationsin the self regulations of their members so as not to bring about negative climate change?
Thanks
Abubakar Moki (from Uganda)
This is an excellent question as the private sector has so much to contribute in this area and also responsibility.

Two initiatives where UNEP has a steering role are the UN Global Compacts and the Global Framework for Climate Risk Disclosure and would be good sources of business contacts. The UN Global Compact provides a forum for business leaders who want to advance climate solutions. This is a good place to network with business leaders who are active in addressing climate change and for exchanging sector specific best practices. The framework for climate risk disclosure includes assessing and disclosing how climate and weather affect their business and the costs of adapting.

I also did a bit of extra searching and found two websites that offer resources on this subject. The UK Climate Impacts Program published a guide for business planning for the impacts of climate change (www.ukcip.org.uk). The guide suggests actions and outlines impacts per sector. Also, the Tyndall centre sponsored a one day conference on climate adaptation for business in 2003. The forum looked at specific issues facing the financing, housing and development and water sectors. In the water sector, the conference report lists the ADAPT project looked at the ways in which companies in the water services and house-building sectors are learning to adapt. Finally, the forum for the future (www.forumforthefuture.org.uk) examines the emerging good practices on climate adaptation by the private sector.

It is clear from the literature that adaptation challenges are largely being addressed by sector and that the private sector increasingly recognized that they cannot ignore climate change and are acting!

Posted on 31/08/2007 05:36:41
What strategies do you propose for educating policy-makers in your area of specialization ?
Centre for Environment Education (from India)
Thank-you for your question. Policy makers are usually faced with making time and cost bound decisions and are accountable for the use of public funds. Climate experts need to learn to speak in policy language and provide the type of information in the format that policy makers need to justify public spending in climate change rather.

A good starting point is to demonstrate how climate change impacts the development sectors such as health, water and infrastructure. Presenting data on the costs and benefits of adaptation options will assist a policy maker to understand and to make a case for spending on risk management types of measures in the various sectors or regions.

Secondly, most experts in the climate community see that changes are occurring now and are no longer seen as issues to be dealt with in the future. This is more in line with the political realities and planning timeframes. There is some good information which has been collected by the insurance sector on how the costs related to climate disasters has been rising steadily which can communicate that action needs to be taken today. It is important to present the challenges with solutions to these and the costs of action versus inaction!

    
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