Publications

Evidence on the effectiveness of climate change adaptation interventions in low- and middle-income countries has been rapidly growing in recent years, particularly in the agricultural and coastal sectors. Here we address the question of whether results are consistent across intervention types, and risk reduction versus development-related outcomes using a systematic review of 363 empirical observations published in the scientific literature. 

• Villamayor-Tomas, S., A. Bisaro, K. Moull, A. Albizua, I. Mank, J. Hinkel, G. Leppert, M. Noltze (2024). Developing countries can adapt to climate change effectively using nature-based solutions. Commun Earth Environ 5, 214

The interim report of the 2030 Agenda in summer 2023 shows that the 17 Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved by 2030 with the progress that is currently observed. In addition, the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the numerous wars and conflicts as well as economic challenges are likely to further set back the achievement of the goals. In the year marking the half-way point of the 2030 Agenda, the United Nations (UN) is therefore calling on all countries to intensify their efforts. At the same time, all citizens continue to be called on to make their own contributions to sustainable global development. Against this backdrop, it is important to continuously monitor public perception of the 2030 Agenda. The German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) has therefore analysed how awareness of the SDGs has changed since 2015 and how the attitude of the German population towards the 2030 Agenda has changed compared to 2017.

• Schneider, S. H., A. Gödderz, H. Zille and M. Bruder (2024), Public Opinion of the 2030 Agenda: A Mid-Term Review, DEval Policy Brief 1/2024, German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), Bonn.

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the international community will need rigorous evidence about which programmes and policies are most effective in improving indicators related to the goals. The Development Evidence Portal (DEP), maintained by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), is a database that gathers such evidence for low- and middle-income countries, in the form of impact evaluations and systematic reviews. In this report, we analyse data from the DEP to answer the following questions: What is the state of the evidence base for the SDGs, and where are the gaps in the evidence? We provide an overview of the evidence base across the SDG agenda, followed by a series of dashboards summarising the state of the evidence for each of the 17 SDGs between 1990 and 2022.

• Engelbert, M., Z. Ravat , C. Yavuz, D. Menon,
  C. Grywatz, K. Wolf (2023), Half-Time for SDG Evidence Generation.
  3ie Working paper xx. New Delhi: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie).

Der Zwischenstand der Agenda 2030 im Sommer 2023 zeigt, dass die 17 Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung bei dem aktuell zu beobachtenden Fortschritt bis 2030 nicht erreicht werden können. Hinzu kommt, dass die Nachwirkungen der Covid-19-Pandemie, die zahlreichen Kriege und Konfikte sowie wirtschaftliche Herausforderungen die Zielerreichung weiter zurückwerfen dürften. Die Vereinten Nationen (UN) riefen daher im Jahr der Halbzeit der Agenda 2030 alle Staaten auf, ihre Anstrengungen zu intensivieren. Dabei sind auch alle Bürger*innen nach wie vor gefragt, eigene Beiträge zu einer nachhaltigen globalen Entwicklung zu leisten. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist es wichtig, die öfentliche Wahrnehmung der Agenda 2030 kontinuierlich zu beobachten. Das Deutsche Evaluierungsinstitut der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (DEval) hat daher untersucht, wie sich die Bekanntheit der SDGs seit 2015 und die Einstellung der Bevölkerung Deutschlands zur Agenda 2030 im Vergleich zu 2017 verändert haben.

• Schneider, S. H., A. Gödderz, H. Zille und M. Bruder (2024), Die Agenda 2030 in der öffentlichen Meinung: Eine Halbzeitbilanz, DEval Policy Brief 1/2024, Deutsches Evaluierungsinstitut der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (DEval), Bonn.

The discussion paper is part of the DEval evaluation of interventions for climate change adaptation. This paper focuses on an existing evidence gap on the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of irrigation infrastructure interventions for strengthening climate resilience and climate change adaptation in the nexus of agriculture and water. The evaluation selected the long-term investments of German financial and technical development cooperation in Mali as a representative learning case for similar interventions in the context of climate vulnerability and conflict in the African Sahel region.

• The journal article in PNAS Nexus

• BenYishay A., S. Goodman, R. Sayers, K. Singh, M. Walker, M. Rauschenbach and M. Noltze (2023), Does Irrigation Strengthen Climate Resilience? A Geospatial Impact Evaluation of Interventions in Mali, DEval Discussion Paper 1/2023, German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), Bonn.
  
  This paper has been published in PNAS Nexus by Oxford University Press.
  Citation: BenYishay, A.; Sayers, R.; Singh, K.; Goodman, S.; Walker, M.; Traore, S.; Rauschenbach, M. and M. Noltze (2024), Irrigation Strengthens Climate Resilience: Long-term Evidence from Mali Using Satellites and Surveys, PNAS Nexus, Volume 3, Issue 2, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae022.

The climate crisis poses enormous challenges for the international community. German development cooperation (DC) therefore supports its partner countries in implementing the Paris Agreement by promoting Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). In the NDCs, the contracting states specify the degree to which they plan to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to what extent they want to adapt to climate change. The NAPs incorporate the national adaptation policy into the development plans. Against this backdrop, in the course of the evaluation of interventions for climate change adaptation, DEval examined how effectively German DC supports NDCs and NAP processes. This policy brief presents the findings and recommendations of the evaluation.

• Noltze, M. and S. Harten (2023), Climate Change Adaptation: Supporting Partner Countries in Implementing the Paris Agreement, DEval Policy Brief 8/2023, German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), Bonn.