Strategic Cooperation / Policy Development NEW Local experiences shape the adaptation debate submitted 071105 (sustainable landuse) Both ENDS has been addressing issues of climate change since 2000. In the early days, our focus was directed at enhancing the sustainable development impact of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). We monitored Dutch investments under the CDM, actively lobbied against non-sustainable projects, and advocated the so-called gold standard. CDM is still a relevant issue in the current policy discussions, but the discussions on emission reduction (mitigation) measures and related financing mechanisms are broadening. Since 2003, we have started working on adaptation. Here, our main concern is to show how local communities are already experiencing the consequences of climate change, and how they are adapting at this stage. Based on case studies from all over the world, we facilitate the development of policy recommendations on the additionality of adaptation to sustainable development interventions, on the climate proofing of development policies, and on ways to assure local participation in decision-making and policy design. In addition, we have been lobbying to assure that additional money for adaptation will not be made available from ODA, but from new taxes or through the general government budgets. The Polluter Pays Principle should be respected! NEW Publication: Adapting to Climate Change: how local experiences can shape the debate The effects of climate change are already being felt: especially by local communities in developing countries. They have to adjust their livelihood practices and cope with these changes. This briefing paper analyses the current international debate on adaptation to climate change from the perspective of local organisations working on sustainable development and poverty reduction. Drawing on eight case examples and a background paper on gender and adaptation, it provides policy recommendations to experts, donors and policy makers in developed and developing countries. To download the Briefing Paper, please click here The Briefing Paper is written in close cooperation with organisations working on adaptation to climate change in different countries of Africa, Asia and South and Central America. They have described their local adaptation strategies and assessed the policy responses and institutional challenges within their own countries. Brief summaries of these case studies can be found in ANNEX 1 of the Briefing Paper. The full versions can be downloaded below: Adaptation in mountain communities in Tajikistan, by Dazé, Angie and Firouz Ibrohimov; CARE Canada/Tajikistan, www.care.org Adapting to climate change in the Ocoňa River Basin in Arequipa/Andacucho, Peru, by Tejada, Manuel; Asociación Especializada para el Desarrollo Sostenible (AEDES), Peru, www.aedes.pe Community based adaptation to climate variability and change in agriculture and water resources in the dry tropics in Nicaragua, by Perez, Carlos J., Raffaele Vignola and Hernán Perez E.; Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), Costa Rica, www.catie.ac.cr Gender, climate change and adaptation. Introduction to the gender dimensions, by Rohr, Ulrike; Genanet, Germany, www.genanet.de Local adaptation strategies to climate change around Mount Kenya, by Murage, Peter: Mount Kenya Organic Farming (MOOF Africa), Kenya Local adaptation to climate change in agriculture: experiences from Southern Africa, by Nhemachena, Charles; Centre for Environmental Economics and Policies (CEEP), University of Pretoria, South Africa, www.ceepa.co.za Local perspectives and adaptation to climate change in Chikwawa District, Malawi, by Sibanda, Mxolisi; Southern Africa Regional Programme Office (WWF SARPO), Zimbabwe, www.panda.org/sarpo Local strategies to adapt to climate change in the Chiquimula region of Guatemala, by Rojas, Varinia; Asociación Coordinadota Indígena y Campesina de Agroforestería Comunitaria (ACIFAFOC), Central America, www.acicafoc.net Quenching the thirst of an arid landscape: adaptation strategies of small-scale rooibos tea farmers in Suid Bokkeveld, South Africa, by Malgas, R.R., B.R.I. Koelle, N.M. Oettlé, AE.M.R. Archer; Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG), South Africa, www.emg.org Other Publications: draft paper Local experiences shape the adaptation debate Both ENDS Policy Note: Dutch Foreign Policy and Climate Change: Meeting the Challenges (submitted 070625)