With a view to pursuing its commitment to ecological transition and adapting its activities to climate change, Acting for Life is committed to analysing its practices and moving them towards a more sustainable model. With this in mind, the NGO called on Camille André to improve the positive impact of its projects, which are at the heart of its work.
- A few words about Camille André
An economist by training, Camille André specialised in development economics. He joined GERES, an association working in France and internationally on issues such as energy and the fight against climate change, where he worked for over 7 years.
It was during this experience that Camille took charge of the Climate & Development Commission at Coordination SUD, a group of around thirty NGOs of which Acting for Life is a member. Her commitment is centred on a central question: how can the new challenges of climate change be incorporated into development projects?
“Today, I’m working as an independent consultant specialising in adaptation to climate change, providing support to organisations on the link between their activities and the operational management of climate change“.
Every year, the Acting for Life team meets for a team seminar. To mark the occasion, the association was delighted to welcome Camille André, for a day on the theme of climate change. Her talk gave us a better understanding of the impact of climate change and how we can better design our projects to anticipate it in the areas where we operate.
- Why is it necessary for an economic development NGO like Acting for Life to make sure its projects are adapting to climate change?
“The urgency of climate change is now indisputable. All manifestations of climate change are accelerating and intensifying, with disastrous human and ecological consequences around the world. In its latest report, the IPCC estimates that 3.3 billion people are already exposed to the effects of climate change.”
According to Camille André, no one can ignore the fact that this climate situation presents a new paradigm for solidarity and development players. He points out that climate change threatens all the achievements of development, exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities throughout the world, and that its acceleration exceeds the natural capacity of ecological and human systems to adapt.
Taking the climate into account in projects is therefore essential in more ways than one:
– to ensure that the responses provided by the sustainable development projects of an NGO like Acting for Life effectively reduce the vulnerabilities of the target populations and/or do not give rise to the emergence of new vulnerabilities;
– ensure that the consequences of current and predicted climate change in the short, medium and long term do not undermine the success and sustainability of the composite activities of the projects themselves.
- One of the key stages in successful adaptation is assessing an area’s vulnerability to climate change. Could you tell us more about this?
“For many people, ‘climate’ is the fashionable ‘concept’ that needs to be flaunted everywhere with a great deal of communication and greening of practices. But in practical terms, adaptation is more than just painting projects green.“
In fact, taking action to adapt to climate change necessarily involves understanding the underlying and future vulnerabilities of the populations targeted by the projects. Camille explains that this enables us to ask ourselves a number of key questions:
– What are we adapting to?
– What means of existence are essential for the target population?
– What are the pre-existing capacities for adaptation, and how can they be strengthened or new ones created that are widely accepted?
“Vulnerability assessments are an essential tool for understanding what needs to be done and how. It makes it possible to limit maladaptation by avoiding proposing projects that are poorly calibrated and could lead to a deterioration in the well-being of the target populations due to a poor understanding of their vulnerability to climate change”.
Camille André is an independent consultant specialising in the fight against climate change, the environment and international development. He shares his expertise through training, awareness-raising and climate performance analysis. He also helps organisations to better integrate the consequences of climate change.
Contact : camille.andre.pro@gmail.com
