MCA4climate: A Practical Framework for Planning Pro-Development Climate Policy

MCA4climate is a major new UNEP initiative providing 1 Introduction practical assistance to governments in preparing their climate change mitigation and adaptation plans and strategies. It aims to help governments, particularly in developing countries, identify policies and measures that are low cost, environmentally effective and consistent with national development goals. It does this by providing a structured approach to assessing and prioritizing climate-policy options, while taking into consideration associated social, economic, environmental and institutional costs and benefits. In doing so, it seeks to counter the widely held perception that tackling climate change is costly, highlight the potential developmental benefits of addressing climate change and encourage action to that end

Economic Cooperation and Regional Integration in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)

Following a brief survey of the various economic cooperation programs and initiatives in which countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) - particularly Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) - are engaged, this paper examines the extent to which GMS economies have coveraged and become integrated, among themselves but also with other ASEAN countries. Preliminary evidence of stakeholders' involvement in selected subregional cooperation initiatives in also presented. Although all GMS countries have experienced rapid growth over the past 15 years, no evidence is found that participation of CLMV in subregional cooperation and integration initiatives has led to a narrowing of the gap between the least and most developed GMS and ASEAN countries. While significant progress has been made in reducing poverty, within-country inequality also increased during that period. In addition, while intra-GMS and intra-ASEAN trade both increased, trade of Cambodia and Lao PDR with other GMS or ASEAN countries remain small. If the various subregional cooperation frameworks are to significantly reduce the development gap among members, activities more directly aimed at this objective may need to be emphasized. Re-thinking institutional arrangements for regional cooperation at both the national and subregional/regional levels may be considered in order to facilitate participation of a more representative set of stakeholders in the prioritization of activities and to ensure synergies between the various initiatives can be captured.GMS, subregional trade and investment, regional integration, ASEAN, bilateral agreements, economic cooperation, stakeholder participation.

Do the Asian Drivers undermine the export-oriented industrialisation in SSA?

An increase in outward orientation in general, and in export-oriented manufacturing in particular is widely indicated as a suitable developmental path for SSA. The logic for this is drawn both from the demonstration effect of China and the earlier generation of Asian NICs, and from theory. However, the entry of China (and to a lesser extent India) into the global economy as a significant exporter of manufactures poses severe problems for export-oriented growth in SSA. This can be seen from SSA's recent experience in the clothing and textile sectors, often considered to be the first step in export-oriented manufacturing growth. Without sustained trade preferences over Asian producers, SSA's clothing and textile industry will be largely excluded from global markets and face significant threats in its domestic market. This has generalizable implications for other sectors, and for other sets of low income producers

Responding to Climate Change: The Economy and Economics - Part of the Problem and Solution

The Climate Change Starter’s Guide provides an introduction and overview for education planners and practitioners on the wide range of issues relating to climate change and climate change education, including causes, impacts, mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as some broad political and economic principles. The aim of this guide is to serve as a starting point for mainstreaming climate change education into school curricula. It has been created to enable education planners and practitioners to understand the issues at hand, to review and analyse their relevance to particular national and local contexts, and to facilitate the development of education policies, curricula, programmes and lesson plans. The guide covers four major thematic areas: 1. the science of climate change, which explains the causes and observed changes; 2. the social and human aspects of climate change including gender, health, migration, poverty and ethics; 3. policy responses to climate change including measures for mitigation and adaptation; and 4. education approaches including education for sustainable development, disaster reduction and sustainable lifestyles. A selection of key resources in the form of publication titles or websites for further reading is provided after each of the thematic sections

IDS Rising Powers in International Development programme, Development Studies Learning Partnership, Teaching & Learning Visiting Fellowship

Module outline and PowerPoint presentations for the FDI from the BRICS module, taught by Yuriy K. Zaytsev as part of a Teaching and Learning Visiting Fellowship under the IDS Rising Powers in International Development programme's Development Studies Learning Partnership.UK Department for International Developmen

Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk: The United Nations World Water Development Report 4

This report introduces new aspects of water issues: 1) it reintroduces the 12 challenge area reports that provided the foundation for the first two World Water Development Reports (WWDR); 2) 4 new reports on water quality, groundwater, gender, and desertification, land degradation and drought; 3) in recognition that the global challenges of water can vary considerably across countries and regions, a series of 5 regional reports have been included; 4) a deeper analysis of the main external forces of freshwater resources and possibilities for their future evolution; 5) managing water under uncertainty and risk