Institute of Development Studies

Climate Lite: Making climate change and development issues easy to digest

21 October 2009 

Climate change is now a key problem for developing countries and will be high on the agenda of this week's European Development Days in Stockholm. The challenge for development professionals new to the issue will be to quickly get up to speed. Climate Lite is a new briefing series enabling busy policymakers and field practitioners to quickly learn about key issues linking climate change with international development even if they are new to the topic.

The series consist of short videos and briefing notes on issues related to climate change that are relevant to the development community for research, policy and practice: from technology transfer to social protection, and migration to the role of local communities.

To produce the series, IDS and the Climate Change and Development Centre brought together experts working on climate change to explain some of the main themes coming up in climate change research and policy debates in a plain, jargon free style. There are now ten issues available online and free of charge. Highlights include:

• Poverty in a Changing Climate: the case for pro poor adaptation
  Tom Tanner explains how we can make adaptation sensitive to the needs of the groups most affected by climate change and double as a pathway out of poverty.
• The Role of Social Protection in Adapting to Climate Change
  Katy Oswald refers to the significant opportunities that social protection could provide to help people adapt to climate change.
• Future Climate Change in China: Risks and Responses
  Declan Conway explores future implications of climate change in China.
• Low Carbon Development: What is it and can it be achieved?
  Jim Watson introduces the concept of low carbon development and the international policies that could make it happen.

Access the full Climate Lite series or visit Climate Lite on YouTube.