Partner in Focus: Climate and Development Knowledge Network

​The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) works to change the quality of life for people most affected by climate change. CDKN’s Sam Bickersteth introduces the programme and its work on climate compatible development, and outlines how CDKN is approaching the concept of green growth.

Green growth is a large and nuanced topic that means many things to many people. CDKN is a knowledge network that aims to help developing country decision-makers to better understand the climate impacts that affect their societies, and to navigate climate compatible development solutions. Our approach integrates many aspects of the green growth debate and we’re keen to reach out to others in the GGKP to compare approaches and lessons learned. Here, we share some of our most recent results and initiatives.

We speak about ‘climate compatible development’ as an approach that integrates climate adaptation, mitigation and development goals. In our rapidly changing world, it does not make sense to pursue any of these goals to the detriment of the others. Specifically, CDKN aims to assist developing countries to:

• Integrate climate resilience and low carbon pathways into their economic development policies and plans;
• Increase their access to climate finance;
• Strengthen their resilience through climate-related disaster risk management; and
• Strengthen the voice and influence of least developed and climate-vulnerable countries in the global climate negotiations.

Established in 2010 with support from the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CDKN works in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. We have intensive engagements and on-the-ground advisers in 13 of these countries and sub-regions: Bangladesh, Caribbean community (CARICOM), Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda and Uganda.

Highlights from CDKN’s programme

In our first three years of operation, our work in partnership with developing country governments, researchers, private sector and civil society has included:

• Bringing climate science closer to policy-makers. In partnership with the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Government of Norway we convened over 1,500 senior decision-makers at events in seven developing regions to debate the implications of the IPCC’s Special Report on Managing Climate Extremes and Disasters (SREX). This programme has started to change the way decision-makers work with each other and mobilise resources to prepare for climate disasters.
• Moving the climate change debate from being an ‘environment’ issue to a core economic planning issue. In countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Peru and Colombia, we have fostered collaboration among many government agencies and supporting groups around this common vision. 
• Helping put climate strategies into action. We have supported the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre to develop an Implementation Plan for the Caribbean Community’s strategic climate framework. The Plan has now been endorsed by the 18 participating Caribbean governments. Follow-on initiatives include the launch of an online tool CCORAL to help decision-makers integrate disaster risk management into development planning.
• Integrating climate change into sector planning. CDKN and the Global Water Partnership supported the African Ministers Council on Water to develop a comprehensive Strategic Framework for integrating water security and climate resilience into development planning. The Framework puts countries in a strong position to climate-proof investment decisions and CDKN is  working with eight African countries to put it into practice.
• Assisting decision-makers to take the long view, and act on it. CDKN and partners worked with the Punjab Disaster Management Authority in Pakistan to develop guidelines for more climate-resilient, energy efficient housing and infrastructure. By helping Punjab ‘build back better’ after the disastrous floods, we expect more lives will be saved in future disasters.

Green growth narratives

Green growth has become a major policy narrative, embraced by OECD countries, multilateral donor institutions, and reflected in the titles of various new "green growth" institutions and programmes including the Green Growth Best Practice Initiative (GGBP).  Together with others in the GGKP, CDKN is supporting GGBP because we believe in the need for an accessible and relevant evidence base to inform policy and practice in this new area. 

In addition, CDKN has launched a new project to understand how the concept of green growth is being defined and used  by policy makers in developing countries. We know that policy makers have different interpretations of the concept of green growth and they may argue that green growth constrains or contributes to their objectives of rapid economic growth and poverty reduction.  We are researching  how green growth narratives are influenced by country contexts, by international political economy factors, and how it shapes and guides decision-makers' definition of policy problems – and solutions.   This helps us understand how to support a more inclusive green growth, low carbon and/or sustainable development agenda in the countries in which we are working. We look forward to publishing our findings in late 2013.

CDKN resources on green growth

Please check out our published resources on green growth and get in touch to discuss how we can exchange knowledge more effectively.

You will find some of our existing resources on green growth at the dedicated page: www.cdkn.org/greengrowth

You will also find the latest news from our technical assistance and research projects on green growth on the ‘Climate compatible strategies and plans’ pages of our website: http://cdkn.org/themes/climate-compatible-development-strategies-and-plans

Contact us

Knowledge management coordinator: Mairi Dupar, mairi.dupar@cdkn.org
Chief Executive: Sam Bickersteth, sam.bickersteth@uk.pwc.com

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About CDKN

CDKN supports decision-makers to design and deliver climate compatible development. We do this by combining research, advisory services and knowledge sharing in support of locally owned and managed policy processes. We assist least developed and climate-vulnerable nations to have a meaningful voice in global climate talks. 

We are South and North-led, with regional leadership and hubs in Cape Town, Quito, Islamabad and London. The CDKN alliance is PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano, SouthSouthNorth, LEAD (International and Pakistan) and INTRAC. This combination of leading non-governmental organisations, a think tank and a large private sector firm provides unprecedented breadth and depth of expertise on climate change and development.  

Photos copyright Thomas Mueller, SPDA; courtesy SPDA for CDKN.