Structuring climate finance for adaptation measures in vulnerable ecosystems: lessons from India

Abstract

The chapter advances the argument that proactive mitigation of CO2 emissions by fossil fuel‐dependent industries lessens the adaptation burden for farmers and local communities in developing countries. This then is a co‐benefit of mitigation on adaptation. There are two reasons for the co‐benefit principle to acquire importance in developing countries. First, adaptation involves a gradient of measures, advancing from simple natural response measures to more sophisticated techniques that entail high incremental costs that are unfavorable to farming and non‐farming systems in developing countries. Second, an agent who undertakes planned adaptation measures that are designed to address possible climatic variability in the distant future faces the prospect of diminution of their current income. Current climate financing mechanisms, including the Adaptation Fund set up under the Kyoto Protocol, are not tuned to these realities. The chapter bases its analysis on field studies of tropical coastal areas and semi‐arid agro‐ecosystems of south India. With reference to adaptation‐relevant projects in the study area, the chapter assesses the gaps in financing adaptation activities in semi‐arid agro‐ecosystems. It is argued that deficiencies in climate financing need to be plugged through better structuring of Adaptation Funds to enable vulnerable agro‐ecosystems in the tropical zones to cope with climate change. The chapter presents the results of field surveys carried out in 2002–03 and 2007 in the study areas.