Climate change and development links

The problem of human-induced climate change first came to the attention of the global public and international policy makers when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its first assessment report in 1990. This drew attention to the significant increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations observed over the last 150 years (i.e. since the start of the industrial revolution).

However, despite the magnitude of its likely impacts on the least developed countries, until recently climate change has been viewed largely as an environmental concern, of little relevance to development policy-makers or practitioners. Likewise, development approaches have been given less attention within the climate change community, who instead favour natural science approaches focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This paper explores why this separate evolution has occurred, and what it means for attitudes towards development and the struggle to reduce the impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable nations.