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14 Rev. Eur. Comp. & Int'l Envtl. L. 225 (2005)
Funding for Adaptation to Climate Change: UNFCCC and GEF Developments since COP-7

handle is hein.journals/reel14 and id is 229 raw text is: RECIEL 14 (3) 2005. ISSN 0962 8797 Funding for Adaptation to Climate Change: UNFCCC and GEF Developments since COP-7 M.J. Mace INTRODUCTION The United Nations Framework Convention on Clim- ate Change (UNFCCC) aims to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere 'within a time- frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner'. It is increasingly clear that this timetable will not be met, with poten- tially devastating effects.2 In 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected an increase in global average surface temperature by 2100 from 1.4 to 5.8 degrees centigrade over 1990 levels.3 What does this mean for small island developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific and elsewhere that are vulnerable to sea-level rise from the expansion of warming oceans, and to the impacts of more frequent and severe typhoons and hurricanes? What does this mean for countries and communities dependent upon glaciers for their water supplies, or countries that already suffer from drought in Africa or floods in south-east Asia? The design and implementation of adaptation measures to address the needs of vulnerable countries has become more and more pressing, and now reflects a central challenge of the UNFCCC. The issue is one of equity that cannot be ignored, as often the countries that have the least adaptive capacity are also those that have contributed the least to the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that now threaten their physical and economic existence. Section I of this article provides a brief overview of UNFCCC commitments on adaptation. Section II 1 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (New York, 9 May 1992) (UNFCCC), Article 2. 2 By 2025, world emissions are projected to increase by 57%, with developed-country emissions increasing by 35% and developing-country emissions by 84%; see K. Baumert and J. Pershing, Climate Data: Insights and Observations (World Resources Institute, December 2004), at 15. 3 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Third Assessment Report, Working Group 1, Summary for Policymakers (Cambridge University Press, 2001), at 13, available at <http://www.grida.no/climate ipcc-tar/wgl/008.htm>. attempts to place adaptation funding in context within the Global Environment Facility's (GEF) over- all portfolio of activities, looking at the GEF's focal areas, operational programmes, strategic priorities and governance as they impact climate change funding. Section III catalogues the existing sources of funding to address adaptation within the climate regime, including the GEF Trust Fund and its new strategic priority on adaptation, and the three new funds estab- lished by decisions taken at the UNFCCC's Seventh Conference of the Parties (COP-7) (Special Climate Change Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund and Adaptation Fund). It reviews related COP guidance and GEF actions to operationalize these funds. Section IV briefly describes UNFCCC reporting requirements on adaptation funding, noting efforts to develop markers to identify climate-related development fund- ing. Section V outlines the GEF's newly adopted performance-based Resource Allocation Framework and its implications for adaptation funding. The article then draws lessons from these developments and highlights substantial gaps that remain to be addressed. I. COMMITMENTS ON ADAPTATION The UNFCCC contains very clear substantive obligations for all parties on adaptation to the adverse impacts of climate change, most of which are found in Article 4.' Under Article 4(1), all developed and developing countries agree to: * formulate and implement national programmes containing measures to facilitate adequate adapta- tion to climate change (Article 4(1)(b)); 4 For a very good discussion of obligations on adaptation, see R. Verheyen, Adaptation to the Impacts of Anthropogenic Climate Change - The International Legal Framework', 11:2 RECIEL (2002), 129. For a broad background paper, see M.J. Mace, Adaptation Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change: The Legal Framework (FIELD, August 2003), available at <http:// www.field.org.uk>. @ 2005 Foundation For International Environmental Law And Development (FIELD). Journal compilation @ Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2005, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Maiden, MA 02148, USA. 225

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