COM/ENV/EPOC/DCD/DAC(2002)2/FINAL 
                
                 
                 
                           ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE 
                    DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATION DIRECTORATE 
                 
                       Working Party on Global and Structural Policies 
                  Working Party on Development Co-operation and Environment 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                        ANALYSING THE NEXUS OF 
                   SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND 
                             CLIMATE CHANGE: 
                               AN OVERVIEW 
                                         
                                       by 
                                Mohan Munasinghe 
                Munasinghe Institute for Development (MIND), Sri Lanka 
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
             
             
             
      COM/ENV/EPOC/DCD/DAC(2002)2/FINAL 
       
       
      Copyright OECD, 2003 
      Application for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this material should be addressed to the 
      Head of Publications Service, OECD, 2 rue André Pascal, 75775 Paris, Cedex 16, France. 
       
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                        FOREWORD 
          This document is an output from the OECD Development and Climate Change project, an 
      activity being jointly overseen by the (Environment Policy Committee) Working Party on Global and 
      Structural Policies (WPGSP), and the DAC (Development Assistance Committee) Working Party on 
      Development Co-operation and Environment (WPENV). The overall objective of the project is to provide 
      guidance on how to mainstream responses to climate change within economic development planning and 
      assistance policies, with natural resource management as an overarching theme. Insights from the project 
      will be shared with the development assistance community in OECD countries, and national and regional 
      planners in developing countries.  
          The paper served as a basis for discussions in an initial OECD expert meeting, held in March 
      2002, aimed at constructing a framework for future OECD work on development and climate change.  It 
      therefore outlines key concepts, relevant principles, and tools for analysis that could support OECD work 
      on this theme.   
          Partly drawing on this report, a subsequent Concept Paper (Agrawala and Berg 2002) outlined a 
      more specific framework for launching and structuring case studies that are now being carried out under 
      the project.  These case studies are focusing on adaptation, to develop an understanding of how climate 
      change adaptation policies in various natural resource management sectors (e.g. coastal zone, water 
      resource and forestry management) can be mainstreamed into economic development planning and 
      assistance policies.  Although the case studies are principally addressing adaptation policies, they are also 
      considering opportunities for combined adaptation-mitigation and development outcomes (for example, in 
      the areas of land use and forest management). 
          Mitigation is also recognised by the international community as a key connection between 
      economic development and climate change policies. Future work in this project may wish to consider 
      mitigation connections more specifically or, drawing on the results of the adaptation and natural resource 
      management case studies, begin to assess the appropriate balance between investment in adaptation and 
      mitigation options in different national contexts.  Mitigation is, therefore, also discussed in this document, 
      alongside vulnerability and adaptation issues.  Ultimately, climate change solutions will need to identify 
      and exploit synergies, as well as seek to balance possible trade-offs, among the multiple objectives of 
      development, mitigation, and adaptation policies.   
          The paper was prepared by Mohan Munasinghe (MIND, Sri Lanka). The author is grateful to all 
      the participants in an OECD expert meeting held on March 13-14, 2002. The contributions of 
      Cannon (2002), Huq (2002), Klein (2002), OECD (2002), Sari (2002), and Virdin (2002) are especially 
      noteworthy. Thanks are also due especially to Jan Corfee-Morlot and other OECD staff (Martin Berg, 
      Shardul Agrawala, Georg Caspary, David O’Connor and Nils-Axel Braathen) for their constructive 
      comments, and to Nishanthi De Silva and Yvani Deraniyagala of MIND for help in preparing the final 
      version. 
       
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          The views expressed in the paper are those of the author alone, and do not necessarily reflect the 
      positions of either the OECD or its Member countries.  The report is published under the responsibility of 
      the Secretary-General. 
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