Representatives of the government of Nepal will share the country’s experiences of monitoring the effectiveness and development impacts of its efforts to adapt to climate change, at an international meeting in Kenya on 24-27 March.

 Nepal is one of several countries that have been testing a new framework and tools that aims to ensure that adaptation and development work in tandem.

 IIED and partners developed the approach — called ‘tracking adaptation and measuring development’ (TAMD) — because other ways to evaluate efforts and investments to address climate change have not managed to include the effectiveness of such measures, nor track national progress towards these goals rather than just assessing a single project.

 Adapting to climate change could have very real impacts on development plans, not least because of the costs involved. There is a risk that nations will spend money on adaptation projects without ensuring that these also contribute to long-term development. It is therefore crucial that governments have tools and frameworks to track their progress and ensure their efforts to address climate change are effective in the long term.

 “The initiative exhibits great potential to be adopted in national planning and monitoring system for consolidating numerous interventions but also faces great challenge to avoid duplication and mainstreaming it in government system,” says Dr Dinesh C Devkota, Policy Adviser at IDS Nepal. “The study assesses the vulnerability and development indicators in Nepalese context which will be achievement for future policy interventions.”

 The other nations that have begun to implement the ‘tracking adaptation and measuring development’ approach are Mozambique, Pakistan, Kenya, Cambodia, and Ethiopia (see recent blog posts here and here).

 Each will send representatives to the meeting in Kenya so they can exchange information on how they have been using the TAMD approach, develop plans to consolidate it, and learn things from other countries that they can apply at home.

 They will also hear about Kenya’s National Adaption Plan and county-level adaptation funds, through meetings with government officials and visits to local projects.

 According to a press release of IIED, researchers will attend the meeting to present progress reports on work in each country and discuss technical issues that arise from TAMD work.

 “The TAMD framework and tools are flexible enough for each participating country to adapt them to their own context and challenges,” says Susannah Fisher, a researcher at IIED. “We hope these countries will build on their experiences of TAMD and integrate the approach into their national and local planning frameworks. This will help them to better manage investments in adaptation whilst supporting social and economic development.”