Social Dimensions of Climate Change Workshop Report 2008:

The main aim of the workshop was to identify and discuss impacts of climate change through a social lens, including potential negative impacts of the emerging climate policy architecture. Building on the platform created by the workshop, efforts are now being made to galvanize an international peer-learning network to take this agenda forward through advocacy, policy analysis and operational work.

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Executive Summary

In March 2008, the World Bank convened an international workshop on the social dimensions of climate change, which brought together government representatives, leaders of Indigenous Peoples, NGO representatives and academia. The main aim of the workshop was to identify and discuss impacts of climate change through a social lens, including potential negative impacts of the emerging climate policy architecture. Building on the platform created by the workshop, efforts are now being made to galvanize an international peer-learning network to take this agenda forward through advocacy, policy analysis and operational work.

Climate Change - a Global Challenge
While significant uncertainties remain, there is increasing consensus on the scope and drivers that shape global climate change. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that climate change is not only accelerating but has been induced by human activity. Without significant action, the IPCC warns, global surface temperature could rise to 4-5ºC, with severe attendant impacts. The IPCC highlighted five particular reasons for concern: risks to unique and threatened ecosystems such as coral reefs; risks of extreme weather events; the uneven distribution of impacts, meaning that some groups of people will be more immediately vulnerable than others; aggregate impacts, implying that vulnerabilities will increase over time; and finally the risk of significant ‘tipping points’ or threshold effects in the global climate system that could force the pace of change by orders or magnitude.

Climate change is a phenomenon with pervasive and farreaching social, economic, environmental, and political repercussions. The IPCC’s assessment and other analyses have highlighted the potential negative impacts for poverty alleviation efforts, threatening to unravel many of the development gains made in recent decades. Climate change has the potential to undermine the existence of many of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, lacking the financial, technical, human and institutional resources to adapt. Existing forms of vulnerability are compounded by climate changerelated risks such as increased water stress, food insecurity resulting from droughts, desertification, new health risks, and increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events.

Shifting the Global Debate
Workshop participants stressed the need to supplement the current emphasis on ecosystem and infrastructure impacts with a perspective on social systems and dynamics. Much discussion centered on how we should analyze the social dimensions of climate change, and what this would mean for diagnosing problems and framing pro-poor, socially accountable forms of climate action. Developing a framework for analysis emerged as another priority for knowledge deepening, with many participants considering it important to further our understanding of the dynamics of power and vulnerability under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Key elements of such a framework would likely include assets, livelihoods, power, institutions, vulnerability and resilience.

Redefining Vulnerabilities
But in all geographic settings that are highly exposed to climate hazards, people are differently vulnerable, whether as a result of their sources of livelihood, levels of income and asset holdings, social class, gender, age, ethnicity, caste, access to public support, or ability temporarily or permanently to migrate in search of economic opportunities. Just as levels and forms of vulnerability to the effects of climate change vary, so too does the capacity for societies to adapt to the changes that they will face. The adaptive capacity of developing countries is generally constrained by the limited availability of technology, weak institutional capacity, low levels of education, and inadequate financial resources.

In addition, some segments of society tend to be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to their direct and often exclusive dependence on ecosystem goods and services. This includes most Indigenous Peoples, given their dependence on natural resources for subsistence and income purposes. Similarly, women are often at higher risk, as they lack assets and access to resources diminishing their adaptive capacities. While direct natural resource dependence is an important element of vulnerability, also the urban poor are susceptible to climate change, as they often fall outside the scope of municipal services and safety nets.

Policy Challenges
Long time horizons, uncertainty, and challenge of coordination among a vast number of decentralized actors involved in climate action point to the importance of developing climate action approaches as a socially inclusive learning process. There is scope for ‘win-win’ or ‘no-regrets’ policies and programs that simultaneously help to address existing forms of vulnerability and provide a foundation for adaptation to future climate change. In many respects, sound development is the best form of adaptation: strong and accountable institutions, effective delivery of education and health care services, integrated water resources management, pro-poor agricultural research and extension, good infrastructure and a diversified economy all contribute to societal resilience.

At the same time, trade-offs exist, not least between the two main avenues of climate change policy: adaptation and mitigation. It has been argued that the more mitigation is undertaken, the less adaptation will be needed - that is, mitigation should be seen as the first and best form of adaptation. In a similar vein, while mitigation necessitates global analysis and global collective action, all adaptation is necessarily local. Appropriate forms of adaptation support need to be based on country- and context-specific analysis and to be tailored to suit local conditions.

Emerging Themes
Six inter-related themes emerged from the workshop that help frame global debate on the social dimensions of climate change and shape an agenda for research, policy and action:

• Equity and Social Justice: The causes and the consequences of climate change are deeply intertwined with global patterns of inequality. Those people who have contributed least to the causes of climate change, such as Indigenous Peoples or the inhabitants of lowlying coastal regions and small island developing states, are the most vulnerable to its consequences and have the least capacity to adapt. In addition, they also risk being further marginalized by many of the mitigation measures such as large-scale hydropower schemes, biofuels, or forest carbon schemes.
• Putting Poor People First - Who is Affected and How? Many of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people are already feeling the effects of climate change, and future changes are already unavoidable for many millions more. A first step in knowing how to help them adapt to the inevitable is to understand who is affected and how. The degree of vulnerability is shaped by livelihood context, gender, age, social class, ethnicity, and caste. While such knowledge needs to inform strategic planning for adaptation at all levels from the global to the local, a common theme is who has the power, voice and capacity to adapt?
• Social Dynamics - Consequences of Climate Change for Social Cohesion and Resilience: Climate change will produce complex social responses and may magnify migration, conflict, crime and violence. If the urgency of meeting the challenge is met, then there may also be positive effects, in terms of enhanced collaboration and cooperation in the management of environmental systems and social impacts. The potential implications of climate change for social organization and social cohesion are highlighted as a priority area for deepening knowledge and understanding. Little is known as yet about the implications of climate change for conflict, human security and state fragility, and this is a priority area for further research.
• Pro-poor Climate Action - Making Climate Action Work for Poor People: It is imperative that climate action is made to work for rather than against the interests of poor people. While undertaking actions to mitigate the causes of climate change (for example, hydropower, biofuels, forest carbon finance), it is vital to strengthen the benefits and reduce the potential costs to the poor. In terms of tackling the consequences of climate change, it is important to build the adaptive capacity and resilience of vulnerable social groups and the institutions that support them. This includes the capacity to organize at the local level for adaptation, voice priorities and make claims on public policy, and mediate and resolve potential conflicts arising
  over competition for resources.
• Social Policy - Moving from a ‘Residual’ to an Integrated Social Policy Approach: Social policy needs to be brought fully into the picture for effective, pro-poor climate action. Climate change provides an opportunity for an integrated approach to policy development that takes on board both economic and social concerns while being contextualized within global political debates. Social safety nets and other mechanisms for social protection will be critical both for helping poor people to adapt and for when adaptation fails. Inclusive and responsive institutions are needed to ensure that the provision of critical services (health care, housing, education) can adapt to a changing situation.
• Governance and Climate Action - Politics, Power and Voice: Climate change gives rise to formidable governance challenges at the global, national and local levels, calling for collective action among nations and among groups within societies. Among the critical questions arising are which actors and institutions need to be involved, how to give voice to the vulnerable in crafting such governance arrangements, and how various forms of social accountability can be built in. Governance and institutions powerfully shape adaptive capacity at the national level, and are critical in ensuring that results of mitigation efforts match intentions.

As climate change has become a core challenge for development a policy research agenda that focuses more on its economic and social impacts is called for. First, it will be important to devise best practices for integrating local knowledge with scientific knowledge in the formulation of adaptation strategies. While local knowledge has much to offer in terms of informing adaptation strategies, combining the two has proven challenging to date. Second, it will be critical to develop indicators which can be used to track progress towards achieving results on the social dimensions of climate change. Third, we need to better utilize frameworks and tools for social analysis (e.g. poverty and social impact analysis, participatory poverty and vulnerability assessments) when modeling the effects of climate change and assessing the impact that policies could have on the poorest and most vulnerable.

 Click here to download the report. (PDF 3.1MB)