An 'agenda for change': quantifying climate change impacts on natural resource-based economies

Using Namibia as a case study, IIED has begun a programme attempting to quantify the adverse economic impacts that climate change is having on developing countries.The article highlights initial conclusions from their study of Namibia which found that climate change is likely to exacerbate the dry conditions already experienced in southern Africa with rainfall, when it does come, being in bursts of greater intensity leading to erosion and flood damage. Poverty implications for rural communities will be acute. However the authors point out that these predictions gain little policy traction for change in southern African countries.The authors note that climate change and its impact on the economies of many southern African countries receives only limited policy attention. The authors argue that by investigating the likely economic impact climate change has on the Namibian economy, IIED is stimulating a debate on how to best to achieve sustainable development in the face of looming problems.