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Adaptation and Risk Reduction

Promoting sustainable development in a changing climate

Rising temperatures; more frequent and persistent droughts; melting sea ice, glaciers and permafrost; and generally more unpredictable weather—the signs of a changing climate are increasingly noticeable. And in some cases, these changes are occurring more quickly and with more intensity than projected.

These changes are being imposed on ecological and social systems already weakened by economic turmoil, population growth, poor land-management practices and weak governance structures. The additional stress of climate change on these vulnerable systems is increasingly putting the lives and livelihoods of people in developed and developing countries at risk. It also has the potential to exacerbate existing social tensions and contribute to violent conflicts.

To prepare for and respond to the unavoidable impacts of climate change, communities and governments need access to appropriate economic resources, technology, information, skills and infrastructure. They also require the creation of an enabling environment facilitated by suitable policies and programs at the local and national level.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is committed to developing the strategies, tools and policy advice needed to effectively respond to the increasingly noticeable impacts of climate change and its ramifications for people. Our work in Canada and developing countries aims to:

• Increase understanding of effective responses to the complex socioeconomic and environmental impacts of climate change

• Develop tools and processes to facilitate these responses

• Encourage integration of adaptation considerations into routine decision-making

• Understand the role that adaptation actions may play in either promoting or undermining peace-building efforts

Contents

• CRiSTAL Project Management Tool
  The project management tool CRiSTAL (Community-Based Risk Screening Tool—Adaptation & Livelihoods) enables project planners and managers to assess an intervention's impact on local capacity to cope with climate stress, and to think about how to adjust project activities so that, at the very least, they don't undermine local coping capacity.

• Fostering Adaptation in Eastern and Southern Africa
  Recognizing the high vulnerability of African countries to the impacts of climate change, this program aims to reduce the vulnerability of communities in Kenya, Mozambique and Rwanda to the impacts of climate change.

• Climate Change and Security
  Climate change could affect political and economic stability in many countries. Through partnerships at the national and local levels, IISD is developing effective ways to address emerging problems.

• Adaptive Policy-Making
  Designing policies in a world of uncertainty, change and surprise is a challenge facing policy-makers in all sectors. This multi-year project (2005 to 2009) advanced understanding of adaptive policies, particularly in the agriculture and water sectors, to enhance capacity to respond to both anticipated and unanticipated conditions.

• Building Resilience on the Prairies
  Against the background of the Canadian prairies, this project examined how agricultural communities have adapted to past climate stress to identify ways to promote adaptive capacity and build the resilience to present climate change.

• Lake Balaton Regional Vulnerability Assessment
  Hungary's Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe, is undergoing ecological and socio-systems vulnerability arising from multiple forces of change, including climate change. This project helped enhance the lake's resilience to these changes by combining integrated vulnerability assessment with the development of multi-scale adaptation strategies.

Highlighted Publications

• The Manitoba Challenge: Linking Water and Land Management for Climate Adaptation (PDF – 1.4 MB)
  This IISD study argues that ecological watershed management has the potential to be a critical climate change adaptation strategy in Manitoba, a region of Canada that is projected to experience even more variable rainfall extremes. The book presents the case for technological and institutional innovation to enable effective ecological watershed management.

• Climate-related Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity in Ethiopia’s Borana and Somali Communities: Final assessment report
  (PDF - 3.3 MB)
  This report provides a comparative analysis of the climate-related vulnerability and adaptive capacity of Borana and Somali pastoralist communities in Ethiopia, how they have changed over time and how they relate to climate change. A policy summary based on the outcomes of this study also is available.

• Climate Change and Conflict: Lessons from community conservancies in northern Kenya (PDF - 980 KB)
  This report illustrates how climate change is one of several factors affecting the distribution and prevalence of natural resources in Kenya.

• Land and Water Resource Management in Asia: Challenges for Climate Adaptation (PDF - 386 KB)
  This paper reviews some of the many innovative efforts underway in Southeast Asia and the Himalayas to support land and water management and poverty reduction at multiple levels (local, national and regional) and highlights how climate change adaptation measures can complement and reinforce these innovations.

• Microfinance and Climate Change Adaptation (PDF - 95 KB)
  The paper suggests that microfinance services can play an important role in vulnerability reduction and climate change adaptation among some of the poor, provided that services better match client needs and livelihoods. Originally published by the Institute for Development Studies.

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