Climate change is projected to affect development in more ways than one. Development, the measure of a country’s success across the world, is going to be faced with serious repercussions of climate change in the coming years. At first, climate change was only seen as a risk to the environment but with further research and occurrence of unexpected disastrous events due to changing weather patterns, it has been acknowledged as a development issue which will need more attention in the future, primarily from policy makers. Climate change is going to have dire impacts on the quality of life of vast populations of people worldwide, the effects are going to affect all but not equally. With little contribution of total greenhouse gas emissions, developing countries are expected to face the most severe consequences of climate change. The report published by UN-OHRLLS (2009) states: “Changing weather patterns, particularly severe floods and droughts, will increase the exposure of millions of people in LDCs to poverty, hunger and disease. Approximately 860 million people in LDCs and SIDS will be adversely affected by climate change, many of them becoming environmental refugees” Dependence on agriculture, fishing or tourism and geographic location make less developed and developing countries more prone to natural disasters. Moreover, low adaptive capacity, poor infrastructure, lack of knowledge and financial stability to disaster stagnates rehabilitation and development efforts contribute to magnify the impacts. As the demand to support growing population increases, there is a need to pursue a form of development which would reduce and protect communities from the impacts of climate change along with sustaining economic and social growth whereby not compromising the overall progress of the country. Therefore, the link between climate change and development is necessary, as development in the future is going to cause increase in greenhouse gases and influence the extent to which countries will be adaptive or impacted by climate change. Climate compatible development (one of the newest terms being used for development which encompasses climate resilience) has emerged as a new form of development, which decreases the harm from climate impacts and increases human development, climate compatible strategies enhance social and economic development without compromising on future development goals and the environment. Essentially, climate compatible development can be defined as a form of development that: “…minimizes the harm caused by climate impacts, while maximizing the many human development opportunities presented by low emissions, more resilient, future”. Therefore, it can be deduced that climate compatible development does not simply focus on the optimum in use of resources but also focuses on reducing emissions and climate resilience in the future in communities. The CDKN suggests developing countries such as China, India, Pakistan and Brazil should adapt to climate change in order to increase human development, whereas in less developed countries, climate compatible development should focus more on poverty alleviation Climate compatible development is increasingly being practiced in developing countries, as part of their development strategies to the changing climate. “Vulnerable” developing countries such as Pakistan are more prone to facing the effects of climate change, therefore many initiatives of climate compatible development need to be commenced here. The framework of climate compatible development can also be applied to developed countries but not to the same extent as developing countries. Mostly due to the fact that developed countries are financially stable, agriculture does not form the main source of their economic income and they have more adaptive capacity. Although they are vulnerable to natural disasters as well, nevertheless, they have the ability to rehabilitate from a disaster faster than developing countries. Taking Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Haiyan as comparative examples; Hurricane Sandy was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the Atlantic 2012 hurricane season. It hit the east coast of United States and caused massive devastation. However, due to their adaptive capacity United States could conduct rehabilitation efforts despite the high cost and there were less fatalities. Typhoon Haiyan which recently destroyed the coasts of Philippines in November, 2013 caused fatalities in thousands and rehabilitation efforts with the help of international agencies are still underway. Therefore, climate compatible development is extremely important for developing countries. Strategies for climate compatible development revolve around adaptation and mitigation strategies. They are not necessarily differentiated based on which one would provide more resilience, but both are recognized as essential component for climate compatible development. Climate compatible strategies concern the reduction of emissions (mitigation) and resilient infrastructure (adaptation). However, adaptation strategies are implemented to a greater extent in developing countries as compared to mitigation methods, which would be observed in developed countries. The CDKN suggests developing countries such as China, India, Pakistan and Brazil should adapt to climate change in order to increase human development, whereas in less developed countries, climate compatible development should focus more on poverty alleviation. Climate compatible development is also widely important due to its close association with disaster risk reduction; an aspect that applies to both lower income and emerging economies. Any country which has been affected by a disaster or is expected to be impacted by one would take certain precautions to avoid high levels of loss and damage. This opens the window of opportunity for policy makers and relevant institutions to incorporate climate compatible development. Moving towards this new perspective to development will not be easy and can also face many barriers in the planning and implementation phases. Such as cost effectiveness of change required, trust building in communities, conflict within institutions, uncertainties and technological restrictions. Nevertheless, climate compatible development is that vital link between sustainable development, disaster risk reduction and climate change which cannot be undermined in its importance for the future. It can open up many windows of opportunity for policy and decision makers to achieve the “triple-win”; a term many researchers have used in place of “climate compatible development”. Where the triple win incorporates the perfect mix of adaptation, mitigation and climate change development. Although it occurs that this form of development will be practiced more in the developing countries, as many initiatives have already been taken in places like China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Niger and Guyana, the importance of various aspects of it cannot be denied for developed countries; such as retrofitting current buildings to make them more resilient or progression towards climate change mitigation strategies especially in the reduction of greenhouse gases for achieving energy security. A similar framework for climate compatible development would not necessarily be applicable for developed and developing countries, in fact plans would be more acceptable and successful if based on each country’s priority areas in development. Although climate compatible development is more focused towards adaptation and reduction in vulnerability; mitigation plays a pivotal role as most adaptation strategies that are planned within climate compatible development usually incorporate reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in them (Co-benefits). Therefore, no aspect of the triple win strategy in climate compatible development should be undermined. Climate compatible development with support of local and global institutions, effective policies and implementation strategies can be made successful in the future. For Pakistan to move towards climate resilience, climate compatible development and building back better has to be pursued increasingly. Moreover, poverty alleviation and focusing on disaster risk reduction of small communities is vital. The future predictions of increase in frequency and severity of natural hazards is going to serve as a driver pushing societies towards adopting climate resilient development. Strict enforcement of policies, conduction of environmental impact assessments before construction projects, and providing efficient alternate energy pathways will assist Pakistan in becoming more climate resilient and promote climate compatible development. The author is a climate change graduate from the university of Waterloo. She is passionate about the environment and climate issues in developing countries Published in Daily Times, November 15th 2018.