Climate Relief

　　As the debilitating results of climate change sweepthe globe, China has launched a host of South-South initiativesto share its climate adaptation experience with otherdeveloping countries and facilitate dialogue and resourcesharing.

　　The collaboration is being implemented under the aegisof Adapting to Climate Change in China (ACCC) - a uniqueand innovative UK-Chinese-Swiss initiative linking climatechange research to policy making and development. Now inits fourth and final year, ACCC has facilitated unprecedentedprogress in China’s response to climate change. Amongthe initiative’s funders is the Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID) China, an aid office linked to the UKGovernment.

　　The initiative was reinvigorated at the 2011 United NationsConference of Parties (COP17) in Durban, South Africa,when National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC) Vice Minister and head of the Chinese delegation,Xie Zhenhua, announced the formation of the China andSouth-South Scoping Assessment for Learning and Development(CASSALD) to address climate adaptation needs andpotential in developing countries.

　　CASSALD allows China to share its experiences dealingwith climate change with other developing countries. Theimplementing institution is NDRC.

　　CASSALD also identifies opportunities and avenuesforSouth-South learning and resource sharing, and facilitates dialoguebetween China and other developing countries concerningbest practices in integrating climate adaptation intotheir development processes. During the current 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), China has established climate changeassistance programs in participating countries by strengtheninghuman resources, skills and knowledge to advancegreen, low-emission and climate-resilient development.The collaboration was fine-tuned at the 15th BRICS meetingon Climate Change in Cape Town, South Africa, from June26-28, 2013, and recommendations will be represented atthe January 2014 GLOBE Climate Legislation Summit,Washington DC. The collaborations will contributeto the successful implementation of theKyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism(CDM) and other climate change mitigationand financing mechanisms in Africa.

　　To solidify the project, a milestone three-dayclimate change conference held in Beijing in Julythis year endorsed a landmark guide for futurepolicy, legislation, implementation and cooperationon climate change adaptation within theglobal South.

　　CASSALD offers 10 countries across three world regionsenvironment and climate finance advisory services, includingaccess to carbon markets. In Africa, selected implementingcountries are Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa andRwanda. Each chosen country faces numerous individualand specific challenges in response to current and futureclimate change challenges. By successfully analyzing, sharingand learning from China’s adaptation experience, China’splans will be replicated in selected countries.

　　One country keenly embracing this protocol is Kenya,which has fast tracked itself toward achieving a middleincomestatus with a high quality of life through its ambitiousVision 2030 development plan. To achieve this vision,President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration has made climatechange mitigation and adaptation a key concern. China’s experience,as it grapples with these issues on its own path todevelopment, has become an important example for Kenya.Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Water and NaturalResources, Professor Judy Wakhungu, said that throughCASSALD, Kenya has strengthened its human resourcescapabilities and skills to advance green, low-emission andclimate-resilient development. This, she argues, ensures thatpeople, especially youths, have the right knowledge and skillsto build a climate-smart future.

　　In Angola, UNFCCC country coordinator Abias Huongosaid that, through the South–South partnership, Angolahas achieved the necessary technological know-how andhuman capacity to develop reliable climate resilience for acountry with one of the world’s most diverse marine habitatsand one of the globe’s most productive fishing stocks.

　　Meanwhile, Rwanda has joined the ranks of Africancountries showing concern for the environment by producinga national strategy for climate change and low carbondevelopment. Increasingly, it is turning to China for helpimplementing and adapting to these protocols.

　　“There is significant potential for further assistancefrom China in climate change adaptation.

　　Both countries face similar challenges fromclimate change and China has gained experience inbuilding adaptive capacity in a number of Rwanda’spriority sectors,” said Rwanda’s Environmentand Lands Minister Stanislas Kamanzi.

　　In South Africa, CASSALD has helped formstrategies to battle against perennial temperatureincreases, floods and drought which usuallyaffect the country’s most vulnerable sectors likehealth, agriculture and water supply.

　　(Reporting from Kenya)