Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change into Official Development Assistance: Integration of Long-term Climate Concerns and Short-term Development Needs

One of the key responses to integrating long-term climate change concerns into shortand medium-term development policy decisions in vulnerable developing countries is to mainstream measures for adaptation and adaptive capacity into official development assistance (ODA). However, mainstreaming as a policy practice has been strongly contested in the broader climate and development debate. One reason is that theory development lags behind the practice of mainstreaming climate-change adaptation into ODA, resulting in confusion over objectives and stakes involved for different actors. Drawing on the literature on environmental policy integration, this chapter describes the horizontal, vertical and international dimensions of mainstreaming, and identifies the challenges associated with each dimension. It outlines four complementary approaches to mainstreaming: procedural, organisational, normative and reframing approaches. However, any practical approach to mainstreaming must address and resolve two underlying paradoxes: one concerning visibility and ownership of adaptation when it is mainstreamed; and one concerning mainstreaming as a micro-level programme and project design issue or as a macro-level funding issue. Further conceptual and empirical research should serve to support policymaking in the light of these paradoxes.