Supporting Science, Technology and Innovation to Respond to

Climate Change in the Least Developed Country Context

Sara E. FarleyInternational Science and Technology Strategist

Portorose, Slovenia * EFC/Republic of SloveniaJune 2008 * Global Philanthropists:

Partners for a Knowledge Based Response to Climate Change

Farley 2

What I Observed:

HUGE Challenges, HUGE Opportunities

Farley 3

The Big Disconnect

DevelopmentPoverty increases vulnerability

to global change.

Global ChangeGlobal change can increase

vulnerability to poverty.

Farley 4

The Big Disconnect

Yet development and global changehave been addressed, researched,and funded as unrelated issues.

Business As Usual

Farley 5

Big Picture Context

Insufficient science, technology, and innovation (STI) capacity: Most developing countries lack the capacity and the voice required to direct, perform, disseminate, and use much research.

A growing STI gap: Differences in growth due to the distribution, use, adoption, adaptation, and generation of knowledge are widening.

STI a low priority for donors: Donors provide relatively little support to STI for development than they do to other sectors.

Different Donor Approaches

Four Clusters of Donor Support to STI for Development CLUSTER 1:

Global or regional public goods

initiatives

CLUSTER 2: Initiatives that deepen local (i.e.,

sectoral, sub-national or national) STI capacity

CLUSTER 3:

Linkage-based initiatives

CLUSTER 4:

Integrated initiatives

Support to research for global or regional public goods

University development in STI-themed disciplinesTechnical and vocation education and training Sector-focused skill upgrading through graduate and post-graduate trainingProductivity enhancement through technology and skills deepening in the private sectorResearch and developmentCenters of excellenceSTI decision making and priority setting Science and mathematics in primary and secondary schools, including teacher trainingInfrastructure developmentICT

North-South linkage initiatives South-South linkage initiativesNorth-North-South linkages for policy alignmentSectoral and cross-sectoral linkages initiatives Linking individuals or institutions

National Innovation Systems InitiativesIntegrated Innovation Initiatives

Cluster 1: Global or Regional Public Goods InitiativesCGIAR/Future Harvest

• Since 1972, WB has put $1 billion into the CGIAR, leveraging $7.5 billion from donors• The CGIAR/Future Harvest supports 15

international agricultural research centers, each focused on a particular crop/challenge addressing food security for poor people• CGIAR research outputs are global public

goods

Cluster 2: STI Capacity DeepeningMillennium Science Initiative Uganda

• Millennium Science Initiative (MSI) challenge: • Support university education and

research to achieve national development goals

• US$ 30 million grant • Beneficiaries: tertiary education

institutions, researchers, research institutions, firms through public-private research component

• 2 components

Cluster 3: Linkage initiatives TOKTEN Rwanda

• Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) challenge: • Facilitate short-term (2-8 weeks) peer-to-peer

visits and collaboration between expatriates in the diaspora with individuals/institutions in the home country

• Goals: “transfer modern know-how” to solve specific challenges and encourage “brain circulation”

• Beneficiaries: key sectors with human resources/knowledge constraints

• UNDP started in 1977, several countries• http://www.toktenrwanda.org

Cluster 4: Integrated initiativesPEARL Rwanda

• Partnership for Enhancement of Agribusiness in Rwanda (PEARL) challenge: • Upgrade quality coffee production

to enhance rural farmer incomes and grow exports

• USAID US$ 7 million• Integrated objectives:

• Graduate training for agriculturalists (MSc Agr)• Quality improvements through technology upgrading

and process improvements• Market diversification through entry into foreign

markets• Farmer empowerment through linkages • Focus on human development—ICT, media, health

• Result: smallholder farmer income per kilo US$ 0.22 US$ 2.0 in 6 years!

Most common donor support to STI for development

• Cluster 2 initiatives (STI capacity building) most common across the donor community• Orientation of most Cluster 2 initiatives:

• Modern versus traditional• National versus global, local, or regional• Institutional versus functional• Strategic versus integrative• Production versus absorption• Inputs versus outcomes

• The most ideal STI initiative for LDCs is the least common: Cluster 4

Farley 12

Like the planet, development aid is vulnerable too.

• Implementing Adaptation Strategies

Farley 13

To address the Big Disconnect and better integrate the approaches of the Development Research and Global Change Research communities we must:

• Understand our differences

• Overcome our differences

• Create a new paradigm for integration, cooperation, and resource maximization

Farley 14

Has the donor/policy community made progress toward rethinking

global change and development aid to promote environmentally and

socially sustainableeconomic growth?

Strides Toward a Better FutureA Challenge and Solution Comparison

[ 5 Case Studies ]

Farley 16

Building Adaptation Capacity in Africa

Challenges:Business As Usual

Solution: Climate Change Adaptation in Africa: Action-Research Programme (CCAA)

• Donors : IDRC, DFID• Funding: CAD $65 million• Goal: Assist poor people, institutions, and researchers vulnerable to climatechange to learn from actual cases of

climate adaptation • Emphases:

• Develop tertiary curriculum • Equip research facilities• Create international network tomentor African researchers• Establish processes to include NGOs and civil society

Example 1

• Little capacity for adaptation to global change in Africa.• No incorporation of climate change-related curricula into teaching at the tertiary level.• Weak linkages between adaptation research communities in Africa and the internationalglobal change research community.

Farley 17

Climate Proofing Development Projects

Challenges:Business As Usual

Solution: ADAPT—Assessment and Design for

Adaptation to Climate Change

• Donors : World Bank• Goal: Create a tool to assist project developers from donor agencies and recipient countries to assess the degree of climate risks • Emphases:

• Easy to use web-based tool • Identify risks—both positive andnegative—that might increase ordecrease as a result of projectedclimate change • Resource and partner identification to address identified risks

Example 2

• 20-40% of Official DevelopmentAssistance subject to climate risk.• Only 2% of projects address this risk explicitly.• Few tools available to help development specialists measureand respond to the climate risksentailed in a given project.

Farley 18

Bridging Poverty and the Environment

Challenges:Business As Usual

Solution: Poverty and the Environment Initiative

• Donors: UNDP, UNEP, EC• Countries: Global (9 African/Asianpilot countries)• Goal: Help developing countries buildcapacity to mainstream poverty-environ-ment linkages into national developmentplanning processes • Emphases:

• Integrate environmental issuesinto PRSPs and MDG Strategies• Forum of Ministers on Pov-Env• Strengthen coordination betweendonors to scale-up results• Provide technical support

Example 3

• Environment and poverty largelydealt with as separate domains forresearch, funding, and projectinitiation.• Too little research exists on the effects that environmental degradation and global change would have on poor people.• Environment and poverty reduction poorly integrated in governance regimes.

Farley 19

Devising and Implementing Adaptation Strategies

Challenges:Business As Usual

Solution:Implementation of Adaptation Measures in Coastal Zones

• Donors: GEF, World Bank• Financing: US$ 2.1 million• Countries: Dominica, St. Lucia,St. Vincent, Grenadines • Goal: Assist countries in implementingadaptation planning and assessmentinto national strategy• Emphases:

• Detailed design of pilotadaptation measures to reducenegative impacts of climatechange on marine and terrestrialbiodiversity and land degradation• Implement pilot investments

Example 4

• The potential economic impact of climate change on Caribbean Community countries is estimatedbetween US$1.4 and $9.0 billion for the impacts that couldoccur assuming no adaptation to climate change.• Realizing the benefits of an adaptation strategy requires resources for implementation.

Farley 20

Promoting Integrated Innovation Initiatives

Challenges:Business As Usual

Solution:Promoting Local Innovation

(PROLINNOVA)

• Donors: Rockefeller Foundation, DGIS, WB, IFAD, CGIAR, NGOs, etc.• Countries: Ethiopia, Uganda, Nepal, Ghana, Niger, Sudan, Cambodia, etc.• Goal: Create a national learning network for the promotion of localinnovation in ecologically orientedagriculture and natural resource management• Emphases:

• Stimulate local innovation• Create partnerships to disseminateinnovations that work• Operationalize cross-sectoral linkages

Example 5

• Few partnerships exist for government, NGOs, and civil society to collaborate in designing, implementing, and disseminating innovations for ecologically-oriented agriculture.• Little donor support for science,technology, and innovation goes to initiatives that blend indigenous knowledge with modernresearch holistic approach missing.• Weak communication channelsbetween researchers and usersminimize uptake of innovation.

Farley 21

Crossing the Bridge Over Troubled Water

Make it useful: Make climate information more relevant and usable

Identify vulnerability: Develop and apply climate risk screening tools

Improve process: Identify and use appropriate entry points for climate information

Just do it: Shift emphasis to implementation, as opposed to developing new plans

Partnership is everything: Encourage meaningful co-ordination and the sharing of good practices

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

Albert Einstein

Development for Global Change

For more information, contact:

Sara E. FarleyInternational Science and Technology Strategist

sara.e.farley@gmail.com

For the 2007 UNCTAD study on Donor Support to Science, Technology and Innovation for Development in Least Developed Countries:

http://www.unctad.org/sections/ldc_dir/docs/ldcr2007_Farley_en.pdf