Why we need climate accountability...
The Philippines must deal with about 20 typhoons a year, some deadly and most destructive. In 2009, Typhoon Ondoy obliterated 46,000 homes and left thousands stranded. Although the Climate Change Act is supposed to oversee building flood control defenses, the effective flood control system is allegedly suffering from neglect.
In addition, corruption in the granting of permits and licenses means that land development projects that do not meet building codes and zoning restrictions are nevertheless approved. In these cases, corruption has the potential to undermine adaptation efforts and puts lives at risk. We still have a long way to go in establishing transparency, participation, and accountability.
Transparency is a characteristic of governments, companies, organizations, and individuals that are open to the clear disclosure of information, rules, plans, processes, and actions. As a principle, public officials, civil servants, the managers and directors of companies and organizations, and board trustees have a duty to act visibly, predictably, and understandably to promote participation and accountability.
Simply making information available is not sufficient to achieve transparency. Large amounts of raw information in the public domain may breed opacity rather than transparency. For that to be achieved, several qualifying criteria must be added to the definition.
Information should be managed and published so that it is:
- Relevant and accessible: Information should be presented in plain and readily comprehensible language and formats appropriate for different stakeholders, while retaining the detail and disaggregation necessary for analysis, evaluation, and participation. Information should be made available in ways appropriate to different audiences and at minimal or no cost.
- Timely and accurate: Information should be made available in sufficient time to permit analysis, evaluation, and engagement by relevant stakeholders. This means that information needs to be provided while planning as well as during and after the implementation of policies and programs. Information should be managed.
With empowered participation, stakeholders are invested in decision-making power and influence, such as having citizen representatives on boards that oversee local public service delivery. Citizens may participate through local associations, social movements and campaigns. Participation is key to making transparency and accountability directly meaningful to citizens.
For participation to be meaningful, there must be accountability.
Broadly speaking, accountability refers to the process of holding actors responsible for their actions. More specifically, it is the concept that individuals, agencies, and organizations are held responsible for executing their powers according to a certain standard (whether set mutually or not).
Transparency and accountability play a critical role in rebalancing power and building trust through:
- Strengthening national action to lay the foundation for mutual trust, enabling greater ambition of a future multilateral agreement on climate change;
- Shifting the balance of power in defining national (self-)interests and responsibilities toward citizens; and
- Providing a basis for more comprehensive and effective policy making.
Governments have pledged at least US$100 billion per year by 2020 to be spent on projects and incentives to meet commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and safeguard against the effects of climate change. How well this money is used and how these measures are managed will determine the effectiveness of global efforts to combat climate change. With much at stake, it is imperative that all actors involved — governments, civil society, and the private sector — build transparency and accountability into the system from the start.