Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
projects; in fact, it is a matter of improving governance to make political elites
more responsive. Most climate
nancing gives recipient governments full freedom
to spend the resources as they see
t, which International Alert judges problematic
in terms of pressing those same governments towards political reform. The huge
amount of climate
nancing now provided fails to incorporate any tangible poli-
tical dimension. In turn, peace-building projects are still not
;
donors support job creation and economic development in fragile states, aiming to
reintegrate combatants back into existing modes of production
'
climate-proofed
'
without recog-
nising that these modes are unsustainable from an environmental perspective and
thus risk storing up greater instability over the long term.
27
The second
Climate Vulnerability Monitor
published at the end of 2012 criticises
Western donors for uncritically assuming that investment in generic processes of
economic development reduces the need for adaptation, which still represents only
14 per cent of climate funding to the least developed states. This leads them to be
so short-sighted that in many instances they spend more in disaster response than
the investment in adaptation-defences that would have been needed to avert the
emergency.
28
UK o
-
cials admit that countries like Bangladesh judge that they
have got little bene
erent types of climate aid projects. European
development banks recognise the limits to their climate-proo
t in terms of di
ng of loans made to
emerging and developing economies.
Policy-makers admit that they are already struggling to design governance sup-
port su
ict dynamics: it has proven too much to
require another level of bespoke design, now tailored more speci
ciently tailored to local con
cally to the
con
ict-generating dynamics caused by climate stress. So far there is little evidence
of much attention being given to the way that the renewables sector is managed,
or any attempt to link governance initiatives to renewables policy. European policy
statements have certainly presented good governance in renewables as essential for
energy security. Policy-makers acknowledge that simply subsidising renewables in
developing countries is unlikely to produce maximum bene
t without reform to
governance structures in those third states. But in practice, little tangible action has
been forthcoming. To date, there are few signs of adaptation initiatives being
linked to the EU
'
s myriad projects in the area of democratic governance, for
instance in a way that would enhance decentralised participatory programmes that
empower communities in climate management.
Limited amounts
Second, economists point to the short-fall
nance: current
allocations stand at around $15 billion a year; the 2020 target is $100 billion a year;
$200 billion is required to make any kind of tangible impact.
29
The amount of
in existing climate
