Between Development and Sustainability: Adaptation Strategies for China and Indonesia

In spite of the apparently smooth shift from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as leading global agenda, serious debates have emerged about the structural limitations of the MDGs and the ability to merge environmental and development priorities in the current SDG framework. After a long consultation process through 2013-2016, the main thrust of the SDG agenda has been to end extreme poverty, ensure food security and support inclusive empowerment alongside environmental and ecological sustainability. Tensions among these agenda remain, as debated at Rio 2012 and the Paris Climate Change talks (COP 21 in late 2015), with developing countries remaining more vulnerable to the impact of Climate Change and less able to transfer rapidly to clean technology-energy mixes. However, the parallel outcomes of development and climate change conferences has been the stronger emphasis on adaptation strategies to Climate Change (and related funding), rather than the earlier dominance of emission mitigation agreements. This makes the SDGs more compatible with the national strategies of developing countries including India, China, Brazil and South Africa. As such, adaptation strategies provide an avenue to improved developmental sustainability and national resilience, but in part rely on effective global partnerships that need further implementation. The paper will explore these links by looking at trends in China and Indonesia, alongside existing multi-actor networks including the BASIC group of states and the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA).