Introduction

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is one of only a few global environmental treaties with near universal membership (192 Parties). It includes all main contributors to climate change as well as the majority of those that will need to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change. One of the commitments of developed countries under the UNFCCC is to assist developing countries in meeting costs of adaptation to these adverse effects (Article 4.4). The UNFCCC has therefore developed a dedicated system for providing global financial support for adaptation to climate change in developing countries.

As the need for such adaptation is becoming increasingly clear, the World Bank (2006) notes that the total amount of funding for adaptation projected to be available to developing countries by 2012 falls well short of the estimated amounts needed to cover its costs, and considers this shortfall to be the major impediment to adaptation funding:

However, developing countries have expressed the additional concern that the complexity of current funding arrangements constrains their access to money (Decision 3/CP.12; UNFCCC, 2006a, 2007a, 2007b). This would challenge the World Bank's view that the current financial instruments are ‘technically adequate’.