Doctoral Dissertation Research: Funding Adaptation as Development: Tanzania's Engagement with UN Policy

这个博士论文项目试图理解一些政策制定者是如何概念化适应气候变化的。随着关于长期减少温室气体排放的全球谈判继续进行，没有达成共识，适应气候变化的影响变得越来越重要。广义地说，适应是指主动或被动地将气候变化的负面影响降至最低的行动。根据政府间气候变化专门委员会的说法，即使碳排放立即大幅减少，未来几十年因过去排放而导致的全球变暖也是不可避免的。适应是必要的，但如何定义、资助和实施仍然是极不确定的主题。这项研究的主要目的是了解适应如何与适应筹资政策的发展一起工作。通过从经验上了解适应概念是如何定义和实施的，这项研究将捕捉到一个主要国际机构--适应基金--正在实现的适应与发展的微妙结合。适应基金是根据《联合国气候变化框架公约》为发展中国家的适应提供资金的主要机制。因此，适应基金定义、资助和实施适应政策的方式对于理解未来对全球气候变化的反应至关重要。本研究采用研究方法，包括档案数据收集和分析、参与者观察以及与政策制定者和参与准备适应基金提案的其他关键个人的半结构化访谈，试图了解适应基金规定的适应是什么，这一概念如何在供资过程中实施和运作，以及申请供资的国家如何接受、挑战或转变这一概念，借鉴一个案例研究--坦桑尼亚国家--的具体应用经验。这项研究将有助于了解适应气候变化的不同概念如何与发展实践相结合，在政策中传播，并塑造在发展中国家提出和开展的适应项目的类型。适应是如何发生的，谁为适应买单，谁的需求优先，这些都是当前国际政策辩论中最紧迫的问题。该项目将通过提供一个发展中国家(坦桑尼亚)如何努力获得气候变化适应资金支持的具体经验细节，推动适应资金的研究和政策。鉴于适应筹资机制中遇到的优先事项、限制和要求，这将使人们深入了解发展中国家如何能够应对气候变化。这项研究对全球机构，包括适应基金和设在政府和非政府机构以及私营部门的其他气候融资机制具有直接的政策意义。特别是，研究结果将有助于《联合国气候变化框架公约》新设立的数十亿美元绿色气候基金的发展和实施。最后，这项研究将通过澄清资助过程并阐明影响资助或拒绝提案决定的不太明确的因素，为申请资助的国家、社区和机构提供有益的见解。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将为有前途的学生建立独立的研究生涯提供支持。

This doctoral dissertation project seeks to understand how adaptation to climate change is conceptualized by some policy makers. As global negotiations regarding the long-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions continue without reaching a consensus, adaptation to the impacts of climate change becomes increasingly significant. Adaptation, broadly speaking, refers to actions that proactively or reactively minimize the negative impacts of climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, even if carbon emissions were drastically and immediately reduced, global warming over the next few decades as a result of past emissions is unavoidable. Adaptation is necessary, yet how it is defined, financed, and implemented remain subjects of great uncertainty. The main objective of this study is to understand how adaptation works alongside and with development in adaptation funding policy. By empirically understanding how a concept of adaptation is defined and operationalized, this research will capture the nuanced integration of adaptation and development that is materializing in one leading international institution: the Adaptation Fund. The Adaptation Fund is the primary mechanism for financing adaptation in developing countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As such, the ways in which the Adaptation Fund defines, finances, and implements adaptation policies are critically important for understanding future responses to global climate change. Using research methods that include archival data collection and analysis, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with policymakers and other key individuals involved in the preparation of a proposal to the Adaptation Fund, this study seeks to understand what adaptation is according to the Adaptation Fund, how this concept is implemented and operationalized in the funding process, and finally, how the concept is accepted, challenged, or transformed by nations applying for funding, drawing on the specific application experiences of one case study, the country of Tanzania. This research will contribute to knowledge about how different conceptualizations of adaptation to climate change are integrated with development practices, circulated through policy, and shape the type of adaptation projects proposed and undertaken in developing countries. How adaptation occurs, who pays for it, and whose needs are prioritized are among the most urgent questions currently under debate in international policy. This project will advance research and policy on adaptation funding by providing specific empirical detail on how one developing country (Tanzania) is working to receive funding support for climate change adaptation. This will generate insights into how developing countries are able to respond to climate change given the priorities, constraints and requirements encountered in adaptation funding mechanisms. This research has direct policy relevance for global institutions including the Adaptation Fund and other climate finance mechanisms housed in governmental and non-governmental institutions and the private sector. In particular, findings will contribute to the development and implementation of the UNFCCC's new multi-billion dollar Green Climate Fund. Finally, this research will provide beneficial insights to countries, communities, and institutions applying for funding by clarifying the funding process and illustrating the less explicit factors that shape the decision to fund or reject proposals. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish an independent research career.