National Adaptation Plans and the indirect impacts of climate change

The document argues that adaptation planning has historically focused on local, direct impacts, neglecting the interconnected nature of global trade, finance, and migration. It proposes a framework to identify 'transboundary' and 'teleconnected' indirect impacts, categorizing them into four risk pathways: people, bio-physical, trade, and finance. The brief provides specific diagnostic questions for each pathway and recommends that NAPs include dedicated sections on international dimensions of vulnerability to improve regional and global resilience.

• Adaptation planning has traditionally been limited by a local focus, ignoring how climate risks and adaptation measures extend beyond territorial boundaries through global trade, financial ties, and migration.
• Indirect climate impacts are categorized into two types: 'transboundary' impacts, which occur in neighboring regions or shared river basins, and 'teleconnected' impacts, which occur over larger distances through complex trade and other links.
• The brief identifies four primary pathways through which climate risk is transmitted from one location to another: people (migration, health, tourism), bio-physical (transboundary water, air quality, invasive species), trade (price and availability of imports, export demand), and finance (remittances, foreign investments).
• Small island developing states (SIDS) are particularly vulnerable to indirect impacts due to their geographic isolation and high dependence on imports for fuel, food, and materials.
• Nauru has integrated the recognition of indirect impacts into its national framework for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, specifically identifying high import dependence and concentrated foreign earnings as vulnerabilities.
• In Senegal, food security is an example of an indirect impact where the country's reliance on rice imports (70% of supply) makes it vulnerable to climate-driven harvest failures in producer countries like Thailand and Vietnam.

APA

Benzie, M. (2014). National Adaptation Plans and the indirect impacts of climate change. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2014-Indirect-climate-impacts-NAPs.pdf

Chicago

Benzie, Magnus. National Adaptation Plans and the indirect impacts of climate change. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2014. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2014-Indirect-climate-impacts-NAPs.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Benzie |first1=Magnus |title=National Adaptation Plans and the indirect impacts of climate change |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2014 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2014-Indirect-climate-impacts-NAPs.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{benzie2014national, author = {Benzie, Magnus}, title = {{National Adaptation Plans and the indirect impacts of climate change}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2014}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2014-Indirect-climate-impacts-NAPs.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }