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Contributions from
the Column
Media
Fantu Cheru, Colin Bradford Jr. (eds.): Financing the Millennium Goals
Andreas Mehler, Henning Melber et al. (eds.): Africa Yearbook 2004
Franz Kolland, August Gächter (eds.): Introduction to development sociology
OECD (ed.): Climate change and development
8-9/2006 |
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Include climate change in future plans
Global warming is a fact of life which we must learn to live with – it can no longer be prevented; at best, it will only be slowed down. This OECD publication emphasises the need for development planning to take account of climate change. A large proportion of development assistance is invested in projects, such as infrastructure, which are vulnerable to floods and storms. However, foreseeable implications are often ignored. According to the study, one of the reasons is that different ministries are responsible for questions of development and the environment, and the list of cross-cutting issues is already quite long (“mainstreaming overload”). Also, measured against climate change, development projects have a limited time horizon, and the goals of maximising short-term gains and minimising long-term risks tend to conflict. On the one hand, the book demonstrates that the OECD is facing up to the issue of climate change. On the other, it deals only with the poor countries and how they can adapt to its impacts. The OECD unfortunately overlooks how the advanced nations contribute to global warming, when analysing their economic performance. (bl)
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