The international community has agreed on four building blocks of response to climate change: adaptation, mitigation, technology and financing.

Adaptation includes all activities that help people and ecosystems adjust to and reduce their vulnerability to the impact of climate change. There is no universal way to adapt; specific measures need to be tailored to specific contexts. Traditionally, agriculture has adapted to climate variations. Today, unsustainable land practices are no longer viable. Good adaptation strategies must build on sustainable development.

Mitigation aims to reduce greenhouse gases or enhance the ability of nature, in particular forests, to absorb them. Poor rural people can play an important role in climate change mitigation by using better agricultural practices and by promoting forestry activities that contribute to carbon absorption. But governments need to put policies and the right incentives in place to make this happen.

Technology has a significant role to play in tackling the causes of climate change and helping people adapt to its impact. We can develop new, cleaner technologies and breed plants and animals more able to tolerate climate variability. A major push in research and development, and information exchange and training, is needed to create farming systems that are more resilient to climate change, as well as new technologies to sequester carbon.

Financing the response to climate change will cost billions of dollars and involve massive shifts in investment patterns across a huge range of sectors, from power generation to agriculture and forestry. New finance is essential because the reality is that climate change is making development more costly. An estimated US$49 billion to US$171 billion per year will be needed for adaptation alone by 2030. The pledge of almost US$30 billion for the period 2010-2012 – agreed at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen – is an important step, but we have a lot further to go.

The carbon market, which is already playing an important role in shifting private investment flows, will have to be significantly expanded to address needs for additional investment and financing. National policies can help by encouraging private and public investment in more climate-friendly alternative technologies, and by spreading the risk across the private and public sectors.

Multilateral financial institutions, bilateral and multilateral aid agencies and, of course, the United Nations, all have important roles to play. They must respond to the needs of poor rural people to help them address the challenges of climate change.

Source: IFAD