In recent years, Kenya has achieved economic and human development gains, and adopted a new constitution that decentralizes greater decision-making authority to its 47 counties.

As explored in this report, climate change presents a test to this progress. The country continues to be challenged by water scarcity, high dependence on rain-fed agriculture, an expanding population, gender inequalities and high levels of multidimensional poverty. These factors contribute to Kenya’s vulnerability to climate change, particularly within its extensive arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). Kenya has recognized its vulnerability to climate change and is establishing a comprehensive policy framework to guide and help implement its response to climate change. This includes creating a climate change bill, finalizing both its National Climate Change Response Strategy and its National Climate Change Action Plan (2013–2017), and establishing a National Climate Change Secretariat. In collaboration with its development partners, Kenya is also implementing adaptation actions that reduce the vulnerability of its agriculture, livestock and water sectors, among others, particularly in its ASALs. Yet there remains significant need to increase attention to climate change across key sectors, such as tourism and infrastructure, and strengthen the capacity of county governments to realize the benefits of devolution and fulfill their role in implementing adaptation actions. Greater efforts are also needed to strengthen knowledge development and exchange among communities of practice. These issues are explored within this report, which is one of a series of country reviews prepared by IISD to provide the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) with a snapshot of adaptation action in its countries of engagement.

This report provides a snapshot of adaptation action in Ethiopia, where climate variability and change, including rising temperatures and increasing rainfall variability, challenge the country’s efforts to realize its vision of inclusion and prosperity.

Climate change is expected to negatively impact progress in sectors such as agriculture, transportation, energy and health. Ethiopia’s pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, as well as smallholder farmers, are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and will require a concerted focus on adaptation to reduce poverty and build resilience. The Government of Ethiopia has made efforts to recognize climate change as a risk in sectoral policies on agriculture, health and energy. The majority of national and international programming efforts concentrate on the agricultural sector, including pastoralism, as well as disaster risk management and capacity building for government officials and civil society. The country’s Growth and Transformation Plan, Programme of Adaptation to Climate Change, and Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy are key national roadmaps that guide these efforts. However, there are gaps in adaptation action addressing vulnerabilities in specific sectors, notably health, transportation and energy. This report is one in a series of country reviews prepared by IISD in support of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA).

This report provides a snapshot of current and planned adaptation action in Mali, where the impacts of climate change and variability present a challenge to the country’s efforts to stabilize, recover from crisis and prosper.

While Mali might not experience dramatic changes to its climate in the coming decades, the country’s fragility, its dependence on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, its history of tensions and conflicts between resource-user groups and between pastoralists and the government, along with its low levels of development, make it highly vulnerable to climate change. The Government of Mali has made considerable progress in drafting climate change policies and strategies, identifying adaptation priorities and starting a process for greening its national development plans. However, integration of climate risks across sectors, including agriculture, livestock, water, health and energy remains weak. Many current initiatives and proposed measures under the National Climate Action Plan focus on strengthening institutional capacities to implement adaptation strategies at the national, regional and local levels, recognizing the need to build the capacity of local governing entities and speed up the decentralization process initiated many years ago. Among the ongoing adaptation projects identified, most focus on rendering the agricultural sector more resilient, while other vulnerable sectors, groups, and regions, including pastoralists living in the north and the fisheries sector, have received much less attention. This profile of adaptation action in Mali is one in a series of country reviews prepared by IISD to support the work of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) in its countries of engagement.

In Mali, the impacts of climate change, including droughts, floods, rising temperatures, and later onset of rainy seasons, present challenges to the country’s efforts to stabilize, recover from political crisis and prosper.

Even though GDP has slowly risen since 2013, the country remains in an extremely fragile state. Climate change has the potential to amplify Mali’s fragility: climate risks, especially recurrent droughts, have historically played a role in exacerbating these issues, causing significant damage to agriculture and livestock. The Government of Mali has made considerable progress in drafting climate change policies and strategies; however, integration of climate risks across sectors remains weak.

In Ghana, the impacts of climate variability and change, including rising sea levels and temperatures and increasing rainfall variability, challenge the country’s efforts to realize its vision of inclusion and prosperity.

This report provides an overview of current efforts by the country to adapt to climate change, which is expected to negatively affect progress in sectors such as agriculture, water, fisheries, energy and health. The northern part of the country, in particular, will require concerted adaptation efforts to reduce poverty and build resilience. The Government of Ghana has made efforts to recognize climate change as a risk in sectoral policies on water, agriculture and energy; however, these policy documents contain few concrete actions to address the risk. The National Climate Change Policy and the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy aim to fill this gap, identifying key adaptation priorities across the sectors described above. Among the ongoing adaptation initiatives in Ghana, a number of projects are concentrated in the northern regions and in the agricultural sector, reflecting the particular vulnerability of the north and the importance of this sector for poverty reduction and economic growth, as reflected in government priorities. Key priorities for the future include the development of the evidence base for adaptation through effective monitoring and evaluation, and strengthening capacity for civil society networks and sub-national actors. This report is one in a series of country reviews prepared by IISD to provide the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) with a snapshot of adaptation action in its countries of engagement.

This report provides an overview of current and planned efforts to advance adaptation to climate change in the landlocked West African country of Burkina Faso, for which climate change presents a significant challenge.

Among the least developed countries in the world, many Burkinabe continue to live in multidimensional poverty, have limited access to social services, and depend on climate-sensitive livelihood activities—particularly agriculture and livestock raising. The country historically has been affected by prolonged dry conditions and flooding due to heavy rainfall, and faces growing environmental concerns such as deforestation, land degradation and water scarcity. These circumstances leave the country vulnerable to climate change, as has been acknowledged by the Government of Burkina Faso in its national development strategy. The government has responded by engaging in adaptation planning, prioritizing actions related to water, agriculture, livestock and forestry. It has also begun to mainstream climate change considerations into the policies and plans of its most vulnerable sectors. The international community is supporting adaptation efforts in Burkina Faso, funding projects that primarily address needs related to its priority sectors and targeting populations in the country’s vulnerable northern areas. Significant additional capacity building within government, including local governments, and support for vulnerable populations is needed for Burkina Faso to maintain and advance the development gains it has achieved in recent years. These and other issues are explored in this paper, which is one in a series of country reviews prepared by IISD to provide the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) with a snapshot of adaptation action in its countries of engagement.

The mountainous country of Tajikistan is one of the most vulnerable countries in Central Asia to climate change due to its high sensitivity to climate risks and its low adaptive capacity.

This report presents a snapshot of current and planned efforts to address Tajikistan’s vulnerability through climate adaptation actions. It describes how the country is affected by a range of climate risks that negatively impact economic development and the livelihoods of people in rural areas. The Government of Tajikistan has identified reduced water quality and availability (and its consequences for agriculture, energy and health) and increased frequency and severity of natural disasters as its most critical climate change concerns. However, capacity limitations have inhibited progress on integrating climate change into development policies and programs. The ongoing Strategic Program for Climate Resilience aims to address these limitations, with a strong focus on enhancing institutional and technical capacities in climate change and related fields. The ongoing process of developing a national adaptation strategy and action plan will provide further direction on adaptation priorities for government, civil society and private sector actors. These issues are explored more fully in this report, which is one in a series of country reviews prepared by IISD to provide the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) with a snapshot of adaptation action in its countries of engagement.

This report presents a snapshot of current and planned efforts to advance adaptation to climate change in Pakistan.

It describes how Pakistan’s extensive arid and semi-arid areas, frequent exposure to natural hazards, and significant dependence on monsoon rainfall and the glacier-fed Indus Basin make it vulnerable to climate change. The country’s socioeconomic circumstances further augment its vulnerability as it continues to struggle with slow economic growth, weak governance capacity, a rapidly growing population, ongoing security concerns and gender inequality. Pakistan has taken steps to prepare for climate change, releasing its National Climate Change Policy in 2012 and a framework for implementing this policy in 2013. However, limited progress has been made toward implementation of the actions identified in these documents. A modest amount of internationally funded discrete adaptation programming is occurring in the country, mostly focused on water resource management, agriculture, and disaster risk management, and often being implemented in the country’s high mountain areas and provinces of Punjab and Sindh. Significant engagement, capacity building, knowledge sharing, institutional strengthening, mainstreaming and implementation remain to be undertaken to better enable Pakistan to adapt to climate change. These issues are explored more fully in this report, which is one in a series of country reviews prepared to provide the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) with a snapshot of adaptation action in its countries of engagement.

This report provides a snapshot of Nepal’s current and planned efforts to support adaptation to climate change.

It describes how Nepal is addressing its vulnerability to climate change by advancing adaptation action at the local, sub-national and national levels. Of particular concern for the country is the need to address adaptation requirements in sectors such as agriculture, water resources, energy, health and urban planning. The Government of Nepal’s leadership in adaptation planning, despite decades-long political instability and poor performance of the economy, has been recognized as a good example of a country-driven and country-owned initiative. The ongoing Local Adaptation Plans for Action process has demonstrated the potential of bottom-up, inclusive and decentralized adaptation planning. Drawing upon available literature, this report is one in a series prepared by IISD to support the work of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA).  

This report presents a snapshot of the climate change adaptation landscape of India.

It highlights some of the country’s adaptation needs, both existing and emerging, and suggests ways that planned adaptation investments could meet these needs through new research, policy and practice. Given India’s sheer geographical size and diverse sociocultural context, the adaptation needs of many sectors and vulnerable groups have yet to be addressed. In particular effort is needed to address climate-sensitive regions in the country’s northeast, the islands in the Indian Ocean, and the Sundarbans region, as well as additional focus on the gender dimensions of climate change, health issues, and urban and peri-urban communities. This report provides an overview of these and other adaptation action in India. It is one in a series of country reviews prepared by IISD for the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA).