Sustainable adaptation measures to climate change: a need of a balancing act between developed and developing countries.

Abstract

The international debate and the discourse about policy directives of climate change have unfortunately focused on the question of which countries should be held responsible for reducing its effects rather than making a collective effort towards dealing with the problem. Facilitated by United Nations (UN) through its Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), there has been disparities pertaining to the role of both developed and developing countries on the issue of promoting both mitigation and adaptation. There exists a narrative that industrialised countries are obligated to do the most to avoid climate change, because their emissions have caused most of the increase in greenhouse gas concentration. On the other hand, commentators reflect that developing countries account for a large and growing share of emission and that no climate policy will succeed without significant participation by these countries. Both these narratives are important to consider, however, neither of them has a realistic basis for designing a policy that sovereign nations should ratify and implement. The purpose of the article is to examine the role of international climate change agencies by looking at their efforts towards the promotion of both adaptation and mitigation. The paper uses an integrative literature review method in which sources such as academic journal articles, reports and books are analysed, critiqued and synthesised. Case studies from Asia and Africa such as South Africa and China are used to demonstrate the devastating effects of climate change to the socio-economic well-being of their population. Lessons are drawn from other countries, combined with the observations and thorough review of literature, to develop and provide a way forward towards sustainable mitigation and adaptation measures at a global scale. The paper concludes by stating that there should be a clear balancing act on the facilitation of climate change discourse by UN and other climate change agencies, particularly when it comes to the roles and responsibilities of developed and developing countries in adaptation and mitigation efforts of climate change.