Learning from Water Wars: Development Assistance for a Changing Climate

The author argues that climate adaptation should be integrated into existing national development goals and governance processes rather than treated as a separate, donor-driven agenda. He proposes five guiding principles: enhancing aid effectiveness by reducing transaction costs for recipients, integrating adaptation into short-term national priorities, ensuring national ownership of policies, avoiding sectoral 'silos' (such as the tendency for Ministries of Environment to capture resources via NAPAs), and respecting the political realities of decision-making. The paper cautions against 'overselling' available climate data and warns that traditional donor processes can sometimes impose higher transaction costs and less respect for partner preferences than emerging BRIC donors.

• Development agencies should frame climate adaptation as a means to achieve existing national goals rather than as a separate decision-making process, as this better aligns with the interests and priorities of national leaderships.
• To improve aid effectiveness, donors should bear the administrative burden of translating their requirements into the recipient's planning and budgeting frameworks, rather than forcing national officials to do so.
• Climate adaptation should be integrated into immediate short-term priorities—such as agricultural export policies or urban housing programmes—rather than attempting to convince governments to shift their priorities toward long-term climate perspectives.
• Development agencies must avoid 'overselling' climate projections due to the high degree of uncertainty in actionable information regarding future climate change.
• External consultants' reports often go unused because they are not 'owned' by the national community; therefore, policies must be developed through local political and social processes to ensure commitment.
• Donor-funded adaptation efforts often create sectoral 'silos' that weaken inter-sectoral cooperation; for example, National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) are frequently used by Ministries of the Environment to capture resources for their own mandates.
• The emergence of BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) as development financiers has provided developing countries with more leverage and partners who are often more likely to respect the preferences of their partners than traditional donors.

APA

Muller, M. (2010). Learning from Water Wars: Development Assistance for a Changing Climate. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-01/wrr-2010-11-question-3-response-3.pdf

Chicago

Muller, Mike. Learning from Water Wars: Development Assistance for a Changing Climate. World Resources Institute, 2010. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-01/wrr-2010-11-question-3-response-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Muller |first1=Mike |title=Learning from Water Wars: Development Assistance for a Changing Climate |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=2010 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-01/wrr-2010-11-question-3-response-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{muller2010learning, author = {Muller, Mike}, title = {{Learning from Water Wars: Development Assistance for a Changing Climate}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2010}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-01/wrr-2010-11-question-3-response-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }