HOW DO POLICIES AND MEASURES WITH DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES PROMOTE ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE AS A CO-BENEFIT? : The case of rice production in Mozambique

Abstract: Approaches to address climate change as part of a larger strategy where climate benefitsare only a part of a larger set of other benefits, like sustainable development benefits, arelimited to mitigation. The need for “[a] structured but flexible approach to adaptation”sought by developing countries requires a similar consideration in order to realize whatelements of adaptation could be ‘structured’ and what elements ‘flexible.’ Applyingprogram theory, this work explores ways in which adaptation to climate change mayemerge as a consequence of development policies. This is applied to the experience ofagriculture in Mozambique to model policy implementation in response to the 2007 foodcrisis using concepts from programme and strategy theory to examine how a chain ofactivities obtain results not initially targeted, exemplifying how adaptation to climatechange can emerge as a co-benefit of development polices. The case study indicates thatadaptation and development interact better when policies are designed to integratedifferent needs and are sustained not just by those directly implementing them, and thatgenerating adaptation co-benefits will be different according to the scales and level inwhich policies apply. The study concludes with suggestions for multilevel mechanismfor integrating adaptation through policy instruments containing policies that throughstrategic rearrangement can achieve different results. Future research should furtherconsider the implications of applying current international adaptation instruments towider portfolios to assess the possibilities of creating a mechanism for mainstreamingadaptation within the current political constrains.