Climate change adaptation and the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF): Qualitative insights from policy implementation in the Asia-Pacific

Least developed countries often lack the requisite capacity to implement climate change adaptation projects. The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) is a scheme where industrialized countries have (as of early 2016) disbursed $934.5 million in voluntary contributions, raised more than four times that amount in co-financing, and supported 213 adaptation projects across 51 least developed countries. But what sorts of challenges have arisen during implementation? Based on extensive field research in five least developed countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, the Maldives, and Vanuatu—and original data collected from almost 150 research interviews, this article qualitatively explores both the benefits and challenges of LDCF projects in the AsiaPacific. It finds that while LDCF projects do contribute to enhancing multiple types of infrastructural, institutional, and community-based adaptive capacity, they also suffer from uncertainty, a convoluted management structure, and an inability to fully respond Climatic Change (2017) 140:209–226 DOI 10.1007/s10584-016-1839-2 * Benjamin K. Sovacool [email protected] Björn-Ola Linnér [email protected] Richard J. T. Klein [email protected] 1 Department of Business and Technology, Aarhus University, Birk Centerpark 15, DK-7400 Herning, Denmark 2 Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), School of Business, Management, and Economics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK 3 Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Linköping University, SE-58183 Linköping, Sweden 4 Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, Oxford University, Oxford, UK 5 Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm, Sweden to climate risks. Based on these findings, the study concludes that adaptation must be pursued as a multidimensional process; and that LDCF activities have tended to promote marginal rather than more radical or systematic transformations.