Climate change adaptation and the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF): Qualitative insights from policy implementation in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

Least developed countries often lack the requisite capacity to implement climate change adaptation projects. The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) is a scheme where industrialized countries have (as of early 2016) disbursed $934.5 million in voluntary contributions, raised more than four times that amount in co-financing, and supported 213 adaptation projects across 51 least developed countries. But what sorts of challenges have arisen during implementation? Based on extensive field research in five least developed countries-Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, the Maldives, and Vanuatu-and original data collected from almost 150 research interviews, this article qualitatively explores both the benefits and challenges of LDCF projects in the AsiaPacific. It finds that while LDCF projects do contribute to enhancing multiple types of infrastructural, institutional, and community-based adaptive capacity, they also suffer from uncertainty, a convoluted management structure, and an inability to fully respond Climatic Change (2017) to climate risks. Based on these findings, the study concludes that adaptation must be pursued as a multidimensional process; and that LDCF activities have tended to promote marginal rather than more radical or systematic transformations.

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Are Rainfall and Temperature Really Changing? Farmer’s Perceptions, Meteorological Data, and Policy Implications in the Tanzanian Semi-Arid Zone

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Integrating Concerns with Climate Change into Local Development Planning in Cambodia

“…Subnational planning bodies are more likely to pay attention to climate change concerns if funding is potentially available for implementation of projects (Vincent & Colenbrander, ; Vogel, Henstra, & McBean, ). The possibility of future funding for projects is an incentive to plan; in developing countries external financing has often played a large role with consequences for accountability and legitimacy (Lebel, Salamanca, & Kallayanamitra, ; Sovacool, Linnér, & Klein, ). Apart from organizational budgets, adaptation projects may also provide individual incentives, for instance, training, new skills, or money.…”