Enabling Adaptation

The policy brief emphasizes that for the rural poor, lack of resource rights and market access are often greater drivers of vulnerability than climate change itself. It advocates for a shift in adaptation funding toward creating an enabling environment through national-level tenure and regulatory reforms, the strengthening of local governance institutions, and the establishment of governance metrics.

• Vulnerability among the poor is frequently driven more by systemic governance failures—such as lack of resource rights and limited access to finance, technology, information, and markets—than by the direct effects of climate change.
• Effective adaptation for the rural poor depends on an enabling environment that provides the necessary rights and resources to benefit from ecosystems, markets, and governments, which is achieved through fair and equitable governance.
• Priority investments to enable adaptation should be focused on three main areas: strengthening the national enabling environment (via tenure and regulatory reform and decentralization), improving local institutions and governance (through community participation and representative management), and creating governance metrics for adaptation.
• Current international adaptation efforts are described as tentative and incremental due to the absence of a commonly accepted model featuring clear goals and targets.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Enabling Adaptation. https://www.wri.org/research/enabling-adaptation

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Enabling Adaptation. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/enabling-adaptation.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Enabling Adaptation |url=https://www.wri.org/research/enabling-adaptation |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendenabling, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Enabling Adaptation}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/enabling-adaptation}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }