A climate of distraction: Are current efforts to integrate climate change and development misdirected?

In discussions about what replaces the Millennium Development Goals after 2015, policy makers are continuing to grapple with how best to tackle the dual challenges of climate change and poverty reduction. Climate change presents a significant risk to development progress, but is only one of a number of drivers of change that compete for attention, with the problem that the effects of climate change are often regarded as less urgent than others.

Should policies for climate change be integrated with those for development, as outlined in the proposal for a set of Sustainable Development Goals? Or will efforts towards integration provide an unwelcome distraction and lead to policies that offer short-term technical fixes that fail to address the root causes of poverty and inequality, and that do not adequately reflect the needs of the communities whose livelihoods and wellbeing are most at stake?

This Sussex Development Debate, hosted by the IDS Climate Change Team, provides an opportunity to discuss how a new post 2015 development framework can most effectively address the challenges of climate change and poverty reduction.

Confirmed speakers include:

Yvan Biot, Department for International Development
Emily Boyd, University of Reading
Thomas Tanner, IDS Climate Change Team