On Wednesday, 9 December 2009, Members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) approved a policy marker to track official development assistance (ODA) in support of climate change adaptation.

Adaptation-related activities are defined as reducing the vulnerability of human or natural systems to the impacts of climate change and climate-related risks, by maintaining or increasing adaptive capacity and resilience.
This encompasses a range of activities including information and knowledge generation, capacity development, planning and the implementation of climate change adaptation actions.

The marker will complement the existing DAC markers on climate change mitigation, biodiversity and desertification.

DAC members will assess their new assistance activities against the adaptation marker as of 1 January 2010, identifying which aid projects have climate change adaptation as either their principal, or a significant, objective. This will make it possible to track all assistance in support of developing countries' efforts to address climate change. The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will support the introduction of the adaptation marker by providing guidelines for implementing agencies.

What markers can and cannot do

The Rio Markers were introduced as a tracking system for policy decisions. However, there is no internationally agreed methodology for tracking the exact proportion of ODA that contributes to climate change adaptation or mitigation. This is particularly true for adaptation, given its intricate linkages with development. Until such a methodology exists, the markers will allow an approximate quantification of the amount of aid that targets climate change concerns, but not the exact amount of aid specifically directed to helping developing countries mitigate or adapt to climate change.

Michael Wahl, Climate Protection Programme, GTZ

Further information:

• IRIN - Humanitarian News and Analysis
  GLOBAL: Climate Change and Adaptation Funding equally unpredictable
  www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88070
• DAC Network on Environment and Development Co-operation
  The following document provides an overview of work undertaken by the Network on Environment and Development Co-operation (ENVIRONET) in the areas of integration of development co-operation and environment.
  www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2010doc.nsf/...
• Focus on development aid targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions
  The developed countries that signed the three Rio Conventions in 1992 committed themselves to assist developing countries in the implementation of these Conventions. DAC has monitored aid targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions through its "Creditor Reporting System" (CRS) and the so called "Rio markers".
  www.oecd.org/dac/stats/rioconventions