Social Dimensions of
Climate Change
Presentation to the Closing
Conference of the Global Livestock
Collaborative Research Support
Program (GL-CRSP), Naivasha,
Kenya, June 16-20, 2009
Robin Mearns
Lead Social Development Specialist
The World Bank

Social Development
Department
Framing the issue: climate change & social justice
 Causes & consequences of climate change deeply
intertwined with global patterns of inequality
 Acts as a multiplier of existing vulnerabilities in a
warming and transforming world
 Threatens to reverse hard-earned development gains
 Dual-track approach needed: both aggressive mitigation
and pro-poor adaptation
 Importance of governance, institutions and social
accountability in climate action and response measures
 Profound implications for the practice of development

Social Development
Department
Per capita emissions from rich world
dwarf those from global South
(Source: EIA 2009, drawing on 2006 emissions data)

Social Development
Department
Inequity even starker when population
is taken into account

Social Development
World map reflecting Department
carbon emissions
*Annual aggregate national CO2 emissions 2000
Source: SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan), 2006,
cited in Global Humanitarian Forum (2009), The Anatomy of a Silent Crsis

The lower the GDP,
Social Development
Department
the more people killed
by natural disasters

Social Development
Department
Emissions and vulnerability
to climate change
(adapted from SEG 2007)
Highest vulnerability towards climate change vs. largest CO2 emissions (from fossil fuel combustion
and cement production, and including land use change, kg C per person and year from 1950 - 2003)
Largest per capita CO2 emitters
Highest social and / or agro-economic vulnerability
Largest per capita CO2 emitters, and highest social and / or agro-economic vulnerability
Areas with highest ecological vulnerability

Social Development
Department
Equity principle in global negotiations
 Enshrined in UNFCCC: ‘Common but differentiated
responsibility’ (Article 3)
 How is the burden of reducing GHG emissions to be
shared among nations?
 How are adaptation efforts to be supported in the global
South, who pays, and at what level?
 Cornerstone of global efforts to reach a fair deal in
Copenhagen
 Instrumental as well as moral & ethical imperative –
developing world has access to most cost-effective
mitigation options

Social Development
Department
Equity in responses within developing countries
 Substantive equity: who is affected & how?
 Ensure equitable outcomes from climate policy &
action for those who are most vulnerable
 Procedural equity: governance matters
 Increase voice, capacity and engagement of vulnerable
groups in setting priorities in climate policy & action
at national and sub-national levels
 Importance of social accountability & social learning
approaches

Social Development
Department
A dual-track approach is needed
 Pro-poor adaptation
 Important mediating role of local institutions, currently
neglected in most NAPAs
 Need for articulation of interventions across scales
 Additionality of financing for adaptation but operational
integration with ‘no-regrets’ development in practice
 Promoting equitable benefit-sharing and managing social
risks associated with mitigation efforts
 e.g. procedural & substantive equity in efforts to reduce
emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD)

Social Development
Department

Social Development
Department
Implications for a livestock development agenda
 Role of agriculture remains neglected in climate negotiations
 Agriculture contributes 14% of annual GHG emissions
 Livestock contribute 18% of emissions (including land use change)
 Grasslands store around 34% of global carbon stock, worth around $7/ ha at
current carbon prices – significant scope for payments for agro-ecosystem services
 Synergies between mitigation and adaptation
 Many management changes designed to increase carbon sequestration also
increase resilience
 Changing crop mixes to include more perennials, deep-rooting plants, zero- or
low-tillage practices and mulching all increase soil carbon and moisture retention
 Wetland restoration and avoidance of peatland conversion especially important
 Changing livestock species mix, ruminant feed improvement & pasture
management can cut CH4 emissions
 Integrated nutrient & manure management with increased efficiency in irrigation
and fertilizer use can reduce NO2 & CH4 emissions

Social Development
Department
Opportunities & challenges
 Strong potential for sustainable development co-benefits
 Low-cost mitigation and adaptation outcomes contribute to food security, poverty
reduction and climate resilience (potential triple win)
 Property rights/ tenure shapes who benefits, who loses
 E.g. pasture land usually formally vested in state ownership but held in common
by pastoralists under customary arrangements
 Who owns carbon? Who should be rewarded for reduced GHG emissions?
 Essential that users’ voices are heard in design of mitigation options
 High measurement costs
 Until recently may have exceeded market value of carbon sequestered
 Techniques now available to measure reflectance properties of soils, allowing for
soil carbon mapping when combined with remote sensing
 Possible trade-offs
 Switching from cattle, sheep and goats to pigs and poultry could lead to reduced
CH4 emissions but could also increase demand for grain

Social Development
Department
Sustainable development co-benefits of agricultural
mitigation options
Social Economic Environmental
Agroforestry ? ? +
Tillage/ residue ? ? +
mngt.
Nutrient mngt. ? + +
Water mngt. + + +
Livestock mngt. ?/ - ? ?
Grazing land mngt + + +
Increase C storage + + +
in ag. products
Source: Smith (2009)

Social Development
Department
Adapting Livestock Systems to Climate Change CRSP
 Climate change, livestock &  Livestock & the value chain
environment  Climate risk management &
 Pastoral conflict management early warning systems
 Change in range composition  Stakeholder analysis of
 Waste management in industrial options, prioritization
livestock systems  Implications for marketing
 Deforestation for grazing or
biofuels  Enabling environment & policy
 Coherence of inter-regional animal
 Livestock & human health health policies
 Implications for disease  Food safety, regulatory standards
pathogens, vectors, surveillance,
control, epidemiology
 Commodity price risk
management
 Infrastructure, waste management
dimensions
 Integration with social
protection/ safety nets

Social Development
Department
Climate change at the World Bank
… plus World
Development
Report 2010,
‘Development in
a Changing Climate’
Development
Marketplace
2009 on Climate Change
Adaptation…
… and regional
strategies,
analytical work, and
emerging operations

Social Development
Department
www.worldbank.org/sdcc

Social Development
Department
 Overall agenda
Focal areas of work
 2008 workshop report & edited volume
 Equity, rights & CC
 Governance & climate action
 ‘Vulnerability Exposed’ film contest
 eLearning module
 Pro-poor adaptation & mitigation
 Local institutions & CC adaptation (9 countries)
 Socio-economics of adaptation to CC (5 countries)
 Forests, rights & CC, REDD-Net
 Urban, drylands, gender, indigenous people,
conflict, migration, social protection, disaster risk
management
 Regional engagement & cross-support
 SDCC in regional strategies (LAC, SAR, MENA)
 Operational and strategic engagement in selected
countries (e.g. Ghana, Ethiopia, Bangladesh,
Nepal, Bolivia, Mexico, Niger, Tajikistan)
 Support to Bank-wide/ corporate initiatives
 Strategic Framework on Development & CC,
World Development Report 2010, DM2009
 Carbon finance & Climate Investment Funds esp.
PPCR & FCPF