Abstract
Chapter 3 looks into various case studies of capacity building programmes and finds that foreign aid for capacity building is more successful when it is self-initiated, or country driven and demand driven. Further, in order to make aid work and to allow it to be scaled up, emphasis is placed on the need for strengthening cooperation among climate change aid projects and on raising public awareness, among various other key conditions.
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Notes
- 1.
For example, increased maximum temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns are already having a negative impact on agriculture and food security in many low-income communities. Many coastal nations are suffering from damage to their ocean fisheries resulting from problems of ocean acidification (Howes and Wyrwoll 2012).
- 2.
Green growth can be defined as ‘fostering economic growth and development, while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our wellbeing relies’ (Hallegatte et al. 2011). Unlike the traditional pattern of economic growth, which was achieved largely at the expense of the environment, green growth aims to achieve synergy between economic progress and environmental protection that is vital to realizing the goal of sustainable development.
- 3.
Capacity is the essential lubricant of international development. Examples of areas particularly relevant to developing countries include education, training and raising public awareness of climate change . Strengthening government delivery with trained professional staff is a reoccurring theme, as is the establishment of climate change research and policymaking bodies. The term ‘adaptive capacity ’ has entered the language of the fight against climate change.
- 4.
Some aspects of capacity are generated formally through education and training, while others are obtained informally through doing and observing (UNDP 2009).
- 5.
Capacity at the organizational level is where the benefits of an enabling environment are put into action and where a collection of individuals gather together for one purpose (UNDP 2009).
- 6.
An enabling environment covers the rules, laws, policies, power relations and social norms that govern civic engagement (UNDP 2009).
- 7.
Many people actually misunderstand the risks of climate change, believing that simply stabilizing GHG emissions at the current rate would stabilize GHG concentration in the atmosphere and stop further climate change (World Bank 2010).
- 8.
The usual difficulties faced by LDCs include linguistic barriers, lack of scientific climate policy and action plans, and lack of coherent negotiation techniques and methodologies.
- 9.
This aid project is jointly organized by FAO, other UN agencies and youth organizations (UNFCCC 2012).
- 10.
As specified in Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol , the CDM was set up with two major yet equally important aims: to mitigate GHG emissions in a cost-effective manner and to boost sustainable development in the host countries.
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Chen, Z., He, J. (2018). Lessons Learnt about Foreign Aid for Climate Change Related Capacity-Building. In: Huang, Y., Pascual, U. (eds) Aid Effectiveness for Environmental Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5379-5_3
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