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133 results
Climate Resilience and Food Security
The paper introduces a framework to analyze food system resilience to climate change, moving from the household as the locus of food security up to community and national scales. It proposes two 'spinwheel' tools: one for food security analysis and one for resilience analysis, integrating system, agent, and institutional criteria. The framework is applied through the CREFSCA project in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, utilizing the CRiSTAL tool for community-level assessments.
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Document type: Research paper
Small coffee producers and adaptive options for a changing climate: the risks and challenges of certification for ecosystem services (SGP-CRA 2060)
The research project examines how certification mechanisms for ecosystem services affect the livelihoods, adaptive capacity, and environment of small coffee producers in Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica. The study aims to balance the potential costs and benefits of these certifications and analyze their influence on local microclimate regulation and plantation productivity in the context of climate change. Initial progress includes the development of research protocols, the installation of four weather stations in pest-critical areas, and the selection of a sample of certified and non-certified producers.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Decision Support Methods for Climate Change Adaption
The document evaluates a variety of decision support methods for climate change adaptation, categorising them into traditional tools (CBA, CEA, MCA) and those specifically designed for decision-making under uncertainty (ROA, RDM, PA, Adaptive Management, AHP). It highlights that while traditional tools are well-known, they often struggle with the deep uncertainties of climate projections. The brief details the strengths and weaknesses of each method, provides a diagnostic framework for matching tools to specific adaptation challenges, and lists case study applications across various sectors and geographies, including the UK, Finland, Spain, and Italy.
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Document type: Policy brief
Current vulnerability in the Tri-National de la Sangha landscape, Cameroon
The document details a participatory vulnerability assessment conducted between 2011 and 2012 in the Tri-National de la Sangha (TNS) landscape of Cameroon. It identifies that local populations face increasing vulnerability due to erratic rainfall patterns and shifting seasons, which primarily impact agricultural production and food security. While livelihood diversification and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) provide essential safety nets, the report highlights a weakness in collective action for social infrastructure. To strengthen adaptive capacity, the authors suggest improving NTFP commercialisation, introducing alternative livelihoods like apiculture, enhancing agricultural yields to reduce forest pressure, and implementing participatory monitoring of deforestation.
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Document type: Briefing
Current vulnerability in the Virunga landscape, Rwanda
The assessment identifies that vulnerability in the Virunga landscape is driven by high population density, land mismanagement, and social marginalisation. While gorilla-based tourism has boosted regional economic development, benefits are unevenly distributed, and the Batwa community remains particularly vulnerable due to extreme poverty and restricted land access. Soil erosion is attributed more to poor agricultural practices on steep slopes than to rainfall alone. The document suggests that improving adaptive capacity requires agroforestry, restoration of marginal lands, and sustainable fuelwood management.
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Document type: Briefing
A Framework for Nordic Actor-Oriented Climate Adaptation Research
The document identifies a significant disconnect between climate adaptation research and its application in policy and practice within the Nordic region. It argues that traditional systemic approaches ignore 'agency' and the operational realities of stakeholders. To address this, the authors introduce an actor-oriented framework—implemented through the NORD-STAR project—that integrates modelling, visualisation, and policy analysis across thematic areas like land-use, energy transitions, and finance. Crucially, the framework expands the definition of adaptation to include responses to the consequences of climate policy, not just climate impacts.
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Document type: Research paper
Building and sharing knowledge for adaptation: Lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia
The Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia (AKP) operated from 2009 to 2012 to build adaptation capacity and knowledge across Asia. The project utilized a three-tiered approach involving knowledge sharing, research, and pilot projects across 13 countries. While successful in creating a diverse network of local experts and producing over 50 knowledge products, the initiative struggled with high staff turnover and a lack of consistent leadership. A primary barrier to impact was the reliance on English-language publications, which limited reach among local stakeholders. The document argues that linear project planning is insufficient for measuring social learning and adaptive capacity, calling for more complex evaluation frameworks.
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Document type: Policy brief
Arctic Resilience Interim Report 2013
The Arctic Resilience Interim Report 2013 examines the interdependence of human societies and ecosystems in the Arctic, arguing that a resilience framework is essential for managing rapid, interacting changes. It highlights that while climate change is a key driver, social, political, and economic factors also profoundly impact the region's adaptive capacity. The report warns that abrupt environmental changes risk crossing thresholds with global consequences, such as sea ice loss and permafrost thaw. It further notes that past policy decisions have often eroded traditional indigenous safeguards of resilience, necessitating flexible, participatory governance to manage future uncertainties and conflicting priorities.
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Document type: Executive summary
Arctic Resilience Interim Report 2013
The Arctic Resilience Interim Report 2013 provides a framework for understanding the interdependence of Arctic social and ecological systems. It identifies biophysical thresholds—such as sea-ice loss and permafrost degradation—and social thresholds that threaten the well-being of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. The report emphasizes that resilience is not merely the ability to maintain a state but includes the capacity for adaptation and transformation. It highlights the critical role of traditional knowledge and the need for adaptive governance to manage the cumulative impacts of climate change, industrial development, and geopolitical shifts.
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Document type: Report
Telling Better Stories: Strengthening the Story in Story and Simulation
The document discusses the importance of the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) as a reference for understanding long-term climate implications and evaluates the cross-impact balances technique developed by Schweizer and Kriegler in 2012. It concludes that this method is a useful tool for creating future climate scenarios, particularly when paired with techniques that promote scenario diversity.
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Document type: Research paper
Case Study 2
The Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) project, running from January 2011 to January 2013 with a value of £184,250, aims to enhance the adaptive capacity of poor communities in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Uganda. The project has influenced national policies, produced 27 publications, and facilitated capacity building for government officials through field visits and training. Phase 2 of the project focuses on 'flexible and forward looking decision-making' and the evaluation of a tailored ACCRA game for district government contexts.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Pursuing the link between development and climate change adaptation: the case of rice production in Mozambique
The study explores the synergy between development policies and climate change adaptation in Mozambique's rice production sector, suggesting that integrating adaptation into development frameworks, institutional arrangements, and resource management can increase adaptive capacity.
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Document type: Case study
Beyond generic adaptive capacity: exploring the adaptation space of the water supply and wastewater sector of the Stockholm region, Sweden
The research analyzes climate change adaptation in Stockholm's water supply and wastewater sector, finding that most measures focus on building adaptive capacity rather than implementing final decisions. The ability of organizations to pursue adaptation options is primarily driven by their capacity to justify additional resources, either through the application of climate knowledge or by citing existing rules and regulations.
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Document type: Research paper
Adaptation in Goromonzi district, Munyawiri ward Zimbabwe
The document highlights the vulnerability of Africa to climate change and the limited adaptive capacity of the region. It specifically introduces the CBAA project, which supports community-led adaptation strategies for people affected by climate impacts in the Munyawiri ward of Goromonzi district, Zimbabwe.
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Document type: Case study
Can ‘1°C of climate change adaptation’ replace ‘1°C of mitigation’?
The document asserts that the notion of replacing mitigation with adaptation to meet temperature targets is unrealistic because adaptation has absolute limits and varies by scale and region. It critiques integrated assessment models (IAMs) for underestimating climate damages and overestimating adaptation effectiveness due to flawed assumptions about rational behavior and optimal timing. The authors suggest that policy-makers should instead use risk-based frameworks and co-benefits analyses to maximize the combined benefits of both strategies.
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Document type: Policy brief
Coping with multiple stresses in rural South Africa
The research examines the intersection of water scarcity, climate change, and socioeconomic barriers in rural semiarid South Africa, finding that decreasing agro-ecosystem productivity and low household and institutional capacity hinder effective adaptation.
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Document type: Research paper
Reefs at Risk Revisited
The Reefs at Risk Revisited analysis finds that approximately 75 percent of global coral reefs are threatened by local and global pressures, with local threats affecting over 60 percent. Without intervention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local pressures, threatened reefs could increase to over 90 percent by 2030 and nearly all reefs by 2050. While over 25 percent of reefs are in marine protected areas, only 6 percent are effectively managed. The report identifies 27 nations as most vulnerable to reef degradation, including Haiti, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
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Document type: Fact sheet
A Framework for Dialogue Between Local Climate Adaptation Professionals and Policy Makers
The report examines how local climate adaptation lessons are 'upscaled' to inform national or sub-national policy. It introduces a sense-making framework based on two axes—epistemology (realism vs. constructionism) and intent of inquiry (universalism vs. contextualism)—to categorize how research connects with policy. By analyzing three case studies (Stockholm, Niagara, and the Mahakam Delta), the authors demonstrate that methodological choices determine whether research supports 'planned policy' (regulatory/coercive) or 'self-organised adaptation' (non-coercive). The report argues that case studies can serve as platforms to challenge disabling governance structures and leverage stakeholder competencies to reinvent institutions.
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Document type: Report
Adaptive capacity determinants in developed states: examples from the Nordic countries and Russia
The paper analyzes adaptive capacity in the Nordic countries and Russia, noting that determinants in these industrialised states differ systematically from those in mixed subsistence-cash based communities, such as those in Arctic Canada. It identifies internal disparities in adaptive capacity based on location (peripheral versus central) and national context (Nordic versus Russian), specifically regarding economic resources, diversification, infrastructure, and technology access.
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Document type: Research paper
Climate change, oceanographic variability and the artisinal fisheries in the South West Atlantic
The document outlines a project assessing how oceanographic variability, such as wind and currents, affects pink shrimp harvests in Brazil's Patos Lagoon. It highlights the interaction between environmental stressors and inadequate policy frameworks, such as fixed fishing seasons and easy credit, which exacerbate the vulnerability of artisanal fisheries.
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Document type: Fact sheet