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Croatia HDR on Climate Change
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National Climate Change Human Development Report, UNDP Croatia What would happen to jobs iin the tourism industry if Croatia’s famous beaches were partly underwater? How would the economy be affected if Croatians had to pay significantly more for food and water due to more frequent droughts? These questions and others have brought the abstract issue of global climate change home to Croatia. To inform the discussion, UNDP Croatia is currently supporting the publication of one of the first UNDP National Human Development Reports (HDRs) with the theme of climate change. The National Climate Change Human Development Report represents one of the first efforts within any of the UNDP countries to build on the 2007/2008 Global HDR, Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World. The global report illustrated the linkages between climate change and human development, ranging from health impacts to economic damages.  “We chose this topic because our office is already very engaged in climate change issues. We strongly believe that climate change is a fundamental development issue. We want to make sure that Croatia takes climate change into account in planning its development. We want to ‘break the silence’ about climate change and development,” said Sandra Vlasic, Program Officer at UNDP - Croatia.There is real potential for the HDR to influence thinking about climate-related activities in Croatia. First, agriculture and coastal tourism are important to the economy. Both of those sectors are vulnerable to climate change, and low-income Croatians in both sectors would be more vulnerable to damages in those sectors and to the rising costs of adapting to them. Second, the country is at a crossroads: emissions of greenhouse gases have rebounded to 1990 levels, making it impossible for Croatia to comply with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol (with its promised 5% reduction from 1990 levels) without reducing its emissions or spending money to purchase quotas from other countries. The way that the government chooses to meet these targets will affect the economy as a whole. On the bright side, both the government and citizens are concerned and interested in the issue. The government is already pursuing several strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, meaning that the HDR can focus its limited funding and time on key gaps in the issues and provide specific recommendations on “climate-proofing” human development strategies. In addition, the report can help to address public concerns: in a recent survey, 86% of Croatians felt that climate change was really happening, and of that group, 39% thought that it was worse than experts were saying. The HDR Process: A National Conversation Having selected the topic of climate change, UNDP Croatia held a number of interviews to determine what was already being done in the field of climate change and what needed to be addressed. The interviews culminated in a half-day project development workshop to find out what stakeholders need to know and what they would like to learn from a report. Participants from 8 government agencies spent a morning with the UNDP team, private sector representatives, other international organizations, and NGOs to discuss what kind of report would be most useful. Seth Landau, Project Development Specialist for UNDP – Croatia explained why these internal discussions were so important. “It was important to get a critical mass of stakeholders involved from the beginning so that the report would reflect the priorities of the people in Croatia dealing with Climate Change,” said Landau. “This way, many of the outcomes for the report can be incorporated into plans for future activities and the report can serve as a launching pad for new programs rather than only a document.” Croatian stakeholders identified three “missing pieces” they would like to see addressed in a report: Vulnerability and adaptation: The government has been very active in mitigation policy and programmes, but there has been relatively little work done to understand Croatia’s vulnerability to climate change, the potential economic and social impact, and what might be done to adapt to climate change (note that this is not unique to Croatia: adaptation policy and programmes are new territory even in EU member states). Stakeholders also wanted to focus on key economic sectors: coastal zones, water, agriculture, and tourism. Public Opinion: This is a need for more information about public opinion on climate change and on various measures to fight climate change. While Croatians are worried about climate change, there is a lack of information about their understanding of climate-related issues and their willingness to support climate protection policies. Institutional capacity: While many organizations are working on climate change issues, there is a sense that they do not always know what the others are doing and that activities could be better coordinated. Further, there is not a full understanding of what capacity exists to work on adaptation related issues. Therefore, the report should analyze the activities of various actors and make recommendations for coordination of mitigation activities and capacity building for adaptation. The workshop participants and other key stakeholders now form part of the project Advisory Board. Members belong to a mailing list that allows UNDP to get quick feedback on issues related to the report (e.g. getting suggestions and feedback on the public opinion survey questions) and to allow group members to communicate with one another, posting information on climate-related events. This communication is especially important in the absence of an active intra-governmental climate change group. And now that research is underway, UNDP Croatia is gearing up for the next major step: policy recommendations. A workshop in September with the Advisory Board will discuss potential recommendations in terms of their costs, benefits, and viability. It is important to note that as parts of the report are completed, they will be discussed with stakeholders so that final policy recommendations will be incorporated into the thinking of various stakeholders even before the public release of the report. Building country ownership over the report and its outcomes is a major part of the process and one that UNDP Croatia is keenly working towards. Three main messages are emerging from work on the HDR: 1) climate change represents a serious challenge to human development in Croatia; 2) There are ways to address climate change that cost little or nothing; and 3) Climate protection measures can also promote other policy goals. In addition to the actual findings, however, the process of compiling the report has already broadened communication among Croatian stakeholders on climate change issues. A Climate Change HDR: Challenges While the Croatia project is still underway, countries that are considering a HDR that focuses on climate change can already learn from its experiences.  First, climate change research and policy is still a rapidly developing, relatively new field. In areas such as vulnerability and adaptation, an HDR will have to consider many techniques and research methods that are still under development and open to debate.Second, this new field also means that it is particularly important – but fairly difficult -- to get the right experts, as there are a small number of experts globally. Training for national experts should be an important component of any climate change HDR. Finally, it is critical to find the right “niche” for a climate change HDR. No country office has the time and budget to write the definitive report on climate change. HDR teams should think strategically and seek broad input on where the reports can make the biggest difference. The HDR is not a report on climate change as much as it is an advocacy tool. It can push the envelope, spark discussion, and – perhaps most importantly – make the link between an abstract global environmental issue and the day-to-day human development issues in a country. If you would like more information about this project, please contact Seth Landau, Project Development Specialist (seth.landau@undp.org / +385-1-236-1623), or Sandra Vlasic, Program Officer (sandra.vlasic@undp.org / +385-1-236-1623).
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