On November 25th 2010 the 4th Conference on Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries took place in the Museum for Communication in The Hague, The Netherlands. Over 150 representatives from humanitarian and development NGOs, scientific institutions, government and businesses attended and participated in the conference.

On this page you can find the report on the plenary session and the panel discussion and all the powerpoints presented during the workshops in the morning program. The full program of the conference can be found here.

The conference was organised by the Klimaatbureau HIER in cooperation with partners united in the Millennium Agreement "Controlling Climate Risks". The conference was part of the DAAR-campaign of NCDO and the HIER Climate Campaign about climate change in developing countries. The conference is also organised in the scope of the so called Millennium Agreements; public private partnerships between non governamental organisations and the department of international cooperation from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to forward the Millennium Development Goals.

More information (in Dutch) on the 2007 conference, (e.g. program and presentations) can be found here
More information on the 2008 conference, (e.g. program and presentations) can be found here
More information on the 2009 conference, (e.g. program and presentations) can be found here

In the morning two sessions of five workshops took place. Here you can find the presentations given during these workshops.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE NAME OF THE SPEAKER TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE PRESENTATION
Due to large files some might take a little long to open

9:00 – 9:30 Registration and coffee

9:30 – 13:00 Workshops

9:30 – 11:00 Thematical workshops (1st session)

1. Climate change information and adaptation tools
By: Fulco Ludwig (Wageningen UR), Veraniek Geerts (Knowledge for Climate), and Maarten van Aalst (Partners for Resilience).

2. Proceedings of The Hague conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change
By: The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture & Innovation. Main points of discussion

3. The Adapts-approach; local climate change adaptation in 6 developing countries
By: Pieter Pauw and Ralph Lasage, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VU University Amsterdam and others

4. Will Micro Insurance be the trigger for Climate Adaptation?
By: Muniappan Karthikeyan (DHAN Foundation, India), Karlijn Morsink (Twente University) and Annette Houtekamer (Eureko)

5. Tools for scaling-up re-greening successes in Africa
By: Chris Reij, Center for International Cooperation (CIS), VU University Amsterdam

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00 Thematical workshops (2nd session)

1. Integrating DRR, climate change adaptation and ecosystem based approaches; Cooperation in the Partners for Resilience
By: The Netherlands Red Cross, Red Cross Climate Centre, CARE Netherlands, Wetlands International and Cordaid

2. Managing the Water Buffer: 3R Approach in Climate Change Adaptation and Development
By: Acacia Water, Indira Shakya (Rainwater Harvesting Capacity Centre-Nepal, Partner RAIN Foundation), MetaMeta, Dick Bouman (Aqua4All), IGRAC, CPWC and BGR

3. Effectively disseminating Green Adaptation knowledge to developing countries
By: Helena Hulsman (Deltares) and Arjan Berkhuysen (WNF)

4. Guidance in adaptation
By: Henk van Schaik (CPWC) and Pieter van Eijk (Wetlands International)

5. Agriculture in Climate Change Negotiations; what can we expect at Cancun?
By: Beyond Copenhagen Coalition (a coalition of NGO's and networks working out of India)

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 17:00 Public Plenary Session

14:00 – 14:10 Welcome by the Chair, Madeleen Helmer (Head, Red Cross Climate Centre)

14:10 – 14:35 Professor Abdoulaye Dia (Chief Executive Officer of the Panafrican Agency for the Great Green Wall) on the potential for the Great Green Wall for adapting Africa to Climate Change

14:35 – 14:55 Co references on the Great Green Wall by Chris Reij (Center for International Cooperation (CIS), VU University Amsterdam) and James NGUO (director Arid Lands Information Network)

14:55 – 15:40 Public debate between Professor Abdoulaye Dia, Chris Reij and James Nguo
Professor Abdoulaye DIA emphasized, that the 7000 km long and 15 km wide Great Green Wall, is Africa’s contribution to combat climate change. The Great Green Wall should stop desertification of the southern Sahel. The GGW is not just about planting trees, but it’s an integrated approach, where also thousands of water reservoirs will be build for cattle and small-scale irrigation and schools and other services are provided. The GGW is based on scientific research and is economical reasonable. It’s a project for the people and from the people supported by the heads of state of the eleven African countries involved.

Chris Reij showed that the farmers version of the GGW in the south of Niger, which is about 80 to 100 km wide, could not stop the land degradation in the north of Nigeria. He stated that the introduction of the GGW in areas with 100 to 400 mm of precipitation is difficult for various reasons and has a small chance of success. It also does not contribute to adaptation to climate change, as the biomass, in such dry areas, grows very slowly. He pleads for a project that is three or four times the scale of the GGW, that tries to scale-up the smaller and larger successes with greening by farmers in the Sahel. The role of the government should be to adjust existing policy and legislation in such a way that it stimulates farmers to invest in their natural resources in general and in their trees in particular. In this way the responsibility for the greening of the Sahel lies in the hands of the famers.

15:40 – 16:00 Coffee break

16:00 – 16:25 Mr René Grotenhuis (Director of Cordaid) on the state of the international negotiations in relation to adaptation and the new Netherlands international development policy

16:25 – 16:50 Mr Hans Hoogeveen (Director General of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation) on the Netherlands expectations for Cancún and the role of agriculture in the negotiations and the Netherlands foreign policy

16:55 – 17:00 Closing remarks Madeleen Helmer (Head, Red Cross Climate Centre)

17:00 – 18:30 Drinks

All photos by Floris Scheplitz

Registration

In 2010 almost 200 people registered for the conference. The list of those who have registered can be found here.
About 10 organisations showed their work in the information market.

Contact

If you have any questions or comments concerning the conference, the reports or the plans for next year's conference please contact Gijs Termeer at the Klimaatbureau HIER: 030-2348267