Development under Climate Change
- Project name/title
- Development strategy and climate change / Climate change and mitigation policy
- Year:
- 2010
- Theme:
- New Challenges in Development Economics
- Abstract:
- This project sets forth a research and capacity building programme on sustaining economic development in the context of climate change. UNU-WIDER, in collaboration with external partners, has developed an analytical framework, labeled Robust Development Path Assessment, that integrates comprehensive biophysical and economic analysis. Using this approach, the research programme seeks to contribute in four areas. First, the considerable uncertainties associated with the science of climate change at the country/regional level will receive explicit attention. Second, the programme will incorporate the potential evolution of world market prices under alternative climate and policy scenarios into the evaluation of strategic options at the country level. Third, the programme will help identify and analyze low-carbon growth paths for developing countries. Finally, UNU-WIDER will adopt a regional approach to the analysis of climate change.
- Keywords:
- climate change, development, climate uncertainty, regional analysis, capacity building
- Contact:
External Project Director:
Channing Arndt (University of Copenhagen)UNU-WIDER focal point:
James Thurlow Research Fellow;
Finn Tarp Director of UNU-WIDERProject Assistant:
Lisa Winkler- Participants:
Panel of Experts and Instructors for the courses:
- Workshops
-
- 11 June 2012 Workshop: Climate Change Modelling of Biophysical Impacts, Accra, Ghana
- 1 December 2011 Workshop: AERC and UNU-WIDER Curriculum on Development in the area of Climate Change.
- 25 June 2011 Project activity: UNU-WIDER in collaboration with the African Economics Research Consortium (AERC). A one week course on the 'Economics of Climate Change' in Cape Town, South Africa
- 27 April 2011 Project activity: UNU-WIDER, in collaboration with the African Economics Research Consortium (AERC). A three week online course on the 'The Science of Climate Change and Biophysical Modeling'
- 11 April 2011 Project meeting: Development under Climate Change, Boulder, USA
- 15 December 2010 Seminar: Green Growth in Development
- 7 October 2010 Workshop: Systematic Analysis of Climate Resilient Development (SACReD), Washington DC, USA
- Seminars
-
- 18 January 2012 Seminar on 'Biofuels, Poverty and Gender in Mozambique and Tanzania', held at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
- 18 November 2010 UNU-WIDER and HECER Autumn Seminar on Climate Change Adaptation and Fair Trade Agriculture
- 18 October 2010 Seminar: Climate Change and Low-Income Countries, UN University Office in New York
- 10 May 2010 Seminar: Climate Change Uncertainty and Adaptation Policy (held in Bergen, Norway)
- Presentations
-
- 3 April 2012 Development Policy Seminar: organized jointly by UN-DESA and UNU-WIDER. Development Strategy and Policy Analysis, 'The Economics (and Politics) Behind South Africa’s Carbon Tax'. New York, USA
- 31 January 2012 Presentation: Meeting of environment specialists from the Nordic Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Development Agencies, Helsinki, Finland
- 5 May 2011 Guest lecturer: Development under Climate Change. University of Helsinki, Finland
- 22 March 2011 Guest lecture: Climate Change and Economic Development. University of Tampere, Finland
- 31 January 2011 Public lecture: Sustainable Development in a Period of Climate Change, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2 September 2010 Development under Climate Change (special session at PEGNET 2010 Annual Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa)
- Publications:
-
- Adaptation Advantage to Climate Change Impacts on Road Infra-structure in Africa through 2100
- Adapting to Climate Change: An Integrated Biophysical and Economic Assessment for Mozambique
- Agriculture and Trade Opportunities for Tanzania
- Are Biofuels Good for African Development?
- Article: Biofuels and economic development: A computable general equilibrium analysis for Tanzania
- Article: The Political Economy of Green Growth: Cases from Southern Africa
- Climate Change and Infrastructure Investment in Developing Countries: The Case of Mozambique
- Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security in Tanzania
- Current Climate Variability and Future Climate Change
- A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis of Adaptation to Climate Change in Ethiopia
- Gender Implications of Biofuels Expansion
- Measuring the Carbon Content of the South African Economy
- Power Ahead: Meeting Ethiopia’s Energy Needs under a Changing Climate
- Report: ‘Implications of Climate change for Economic Growth and Development in Vietnam’
- Review of Development Economics Special Issue: Climate Change and Economic Development
- A Stochastic Simulation Approach to Estimating the Economic Impacts of Climate Change in Bangladesh
- WP/2012/011 The Political Economy of Green Growth: Illustrations from Southern Africa
- WP/2012/105 Infrastructure and Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptations for South Africa
- WP/2012/46 The Economic Implications of Introducing Carbon Taxes in South Africa
- WP/2012/60 Informed Selection of Future Climates
- WP/2012/65 Implications of Alternative Mitigation Policies on World Prices for Fossil Fuels and Agricultural Products
- WP/2012/79 Impact of Climate Change on Irrigation, Crops and Hydropower in Vietnam
- WP/2012/80 Road Infrastructure and Climate Change in Vietnam
- WP/2012/81 Risks of Coastal Storm Surge and the Effect of Sea Level Rise in the Red River Delta, Vietnam
- WP/2012/82 The Economic Costs of Climate Change: A Multi-Sector Impact Assessment for Vietnam
- WP/2013/036 Assessing the risk of cyclone-induced storm surge and sea level rise in Mozambique
- WP/2013/039 Impact of climate change on crops, irrigation and hydropower in the Zambezi River Basin
- WP/2013/040 Regional climate change of the greater Zambezi River Basin: A hybrid assessment
- WP/2013/041 Infrastructure and climate change: Impacts and adaptations for the Zambezi River Valley
- WP/2013/042 Climate uncertainty and economic development: Evaluating the case of Mozambique to 2050
- WP/2013/052 Optimum fisheries management under climate variability: Evidence from artisanal marine fishing in Ghana
- Content:
Research Uptake Report 2012—Carbon Taxes and Low Carbon Development in South Africa.pdf
(456.11 kilobytes)
In addition to the research programme, the project will collaborate with the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and with analytical units within key central ministries in focus countries to build capacity for analysis. The rationale is that climate change as an issue is unlikely to disappear for many years into the future. By forming links with academic researchers through the AERC and key policy institutions within governments, UNU-WIDER hopes to create a platform on which both research and capacity- building efforts can take place. Due to the complexity and interdisciplinary nature of climate change research, individual researchers within developing countries interested in the economics of climate change are disadvantaged relative to researchers who are linked to international and regional networks. Through this programme, the AERC and UNU-WIDER will develop a framework that generates high quality, locally owned, relevant research that achieves impact.
Descriptive outline of Online course on Climate change.
(27.26 kilobytes)
Media video presentations by course participantsIndividual interviews with participants from the Project activity: UNU-WIDER in collaboration with the African Economics Research Consortium (AERC). A one week course on the 'Economics of Climate Change' in Cape Town, South Africa. These can be viewed on You Tube.
Terfa Williams Abraham, PhD student, Environmental Economics Unit, Dept. of Economics, University of Nigeria.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eequ1xTp4lIKwabena Nkansah Darfor, Lecturer in Dept of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vdD-oiEzJINicia Giva, Agriculture Faculty, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDxweCO2xuY
Shalini Ramessur, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Economics and Statistics/ Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies; University of Mauritius.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDKXU93kyZIJonathan Quartey, Head of Dept. of Economics/Lecturer and Researcher in Envir and Resources Economics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APY_x_CxZfg
In the Media
Carbon or Resource Rent Tax?
Mail & Guardian online, March 2012. The treasury's carbon tax model, done by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research, showed that if the revenues were recycled in the form of tax breaks on income, for example, there was a small negative impact on gross domestic product (GDP). Read moreThe Guardian: Poverty Matters Blog. Climate change will cost poor countries billions of dollars, studies say.