Search Climate Insights Directory
195 results
FEEDING THE WORLD IN A CHANGING CLIMATE: AN ADAPTATION ROADMAP FOR AGRICULTURE
The document argues that global agricultural production has declined by 1-5% per decade over the last 30 years due to climate change, necessitating an urgent transition to climate-resilient systems. It identifies critical risks, including heat stress, extreme weather, and pests, which disproportionately affect smallholder farmers and women in the tropics. The authors propose a roadmap based on five pillars: promoting resilient and low-emission technologies, expanding digital climate information, mobilizing innovative finance, strengthening farmer organizations, and delivering enabling policies. The paper highlights successful examples of 'no regret' options, such as stress-tolerant crop varieties and sustainable intensification, and emphasizes the need for context-specific, participatory approaches to scale these solutions.
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Document type: Research paper
Water Stress and Conflicts in Africa
The document challenges the narrative that water scarcity directly causes violent conflict, asserting instead that the 'politics of water'—including corruption, marginalization, and poor state management—increases conflict risks. While Africa faces significant physical water stress, with 65% of the population experiencing occasional stress and 82% of the continent being arid or semi-arid, empirical research suggests that scarcity often leads to cooperation rather than violence. Conflict typically emerges when water is treated as a 'club good' distributed based on political weight or social networks rather than need. This is particularly evident in the disparity between urban and rural access, the prioritization of cash crops for irrigation, and the rise of informal service providers, such as gangs and militias, who exploit water needs for profit in weak states.
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Document type: Policy brief
Manitoba Prairie Lakes: Mass balance budget for nutrient management at Pelican Lake, Manitoba
The study establishes a nutrient mass balance for Pelican Lake, Manitoba, finding that the lake acts as a net sink for phosphorus and a net source of nitrogen. External nutrient loads are strongly linked to surface hydrology and agricultural land use, with internal recycling from sediments contributing significantly to phosphorus levels. The findings suggest that remediation should focus on high-agricultural sub-catchments and the regulation of the Pembina River inlet dam.
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Document type: Report
1 ASAMBLEA PLAN NACIONAL DE ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO: AVANZANDO JUNTOS EN LA IMPLEMENTACIÓN DEL PNACC
The document details the outcomes of a two-day assembly in May 2017 aimed at advancing Colombia's National Adaptation Plan for Climate Change (PNACC). It identifies critical gaps in institutional continuity, financing, and the integration of local community knowledge, while highlighting the role of regional nodes and international cooperation in bridging these gaps. The report emphasizes the need to transition from a top-down approach to a transversal network that fosters bidirectional communication between national entities and territorial actors.
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Document type: After-action report
Seed sovereignty or GMOs? Food for a Growing India
The document analyzes India's struggle with food insecurity and malnutrition despite its economic growth and history of self-sufficiency. It discusses the 2013 National Food Security Bill, the legacy of the Green Revolution, and the debate between the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the promotion of seed sovereignty to protect crop biodiversity. The authors argue for a holistic approach to food security that considers socio-political factors, indigenous knowledge, and the impacts of climate change.
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Document type: Policy brief
Kenya Drought 2016
The 2016 drought in Kenya was primarily driven by sea-surface temperature patterns, specifically La Niña, rather than human-induced climate change. While climate change did not significantly increase the likelihood of the rainfall deficit, it did lead to hotter temperatures that exacerbated the drought's impact. The event was less severe than the 2010-11 drought but still triggered a national emergency, affecting millions of people in arid and semi-arid lands.
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Document type: Research paper
Integrated Ridge to Reef Management of the Mesoamerican Reef Ecoregion (MAR2R)
The Integrated Ridge to Reef Management of the Mesoamerican Reef Ecoregion (MAR2R) project aims to conserve shared freshwater, coastal, and marine resources in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. It addresses threats such as unsustainable agriculture, mass tourism, and overfishing by strengthening the leadership of the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (CCAD). The project implements Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Integrated Coastal Marine Management (ICMM) through demonstration projects, voluntary certification standards (RSPO, Bonsucro, MSC, ASC), and the establishment of water funds and reserves. A total project cost of $61,107,908 is allocated, with $9,018,349 from the GEF and $51,277,908 in co-financing.
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Document type: Report
Research from India and Kenya - FULL REPORT 1
The report evaluates how to communicate the link between anthropogenic climate change and extreme weather events, testing various phrasings for probability, frequency, intensity, and uncertainty. Findings indicate that while high-level decision makers often prefer technical percentages and 'probability' terms, the general public finds these confusing, preferring simpler terms like 'worse' or 'more often'. The study highlights significant translation challenges in Swahili and Hindi and recommends that attribution information be downscaled to high spatial resolutions and co-developed with local communication experts and trusted sources, such as national meteorological agencies.
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Document type: Report
Achieving development resilient to climate change
The document outlines the vulnerabilities of the Caribbean water sector to climate variability and change, emphasizing the need for cross-sectoral cooperation and flexible planning strategies to build climate resilience.
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Document type: Report
Jamaica: Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Cocoa and Tomato
The document examines how changing temperature and rainfall patterns will affect crop suitability in Jamaica by 2050, highlighting significant risks for tomato production and drought sensitivity for cocoa, while suggesting root crops as diversification alternatives.
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Document type: Policy brief
HOW DOES MODERN IRRIGATION INFLUENCE FARMERS’ VULNERABILITY TO EXTERNAL STRESSORS? THE CASE OF ITOIZ-CANAL DE NAVARRA
The study examines the impact of modern irrigation on farmer vulnerability in the Itoiz-Canal de Navarra region, identifying that small-scale diversified farmers are the most vulnerable to both climate and market stressors due to a lack of adaptive capacity, while intensive farmers are the least vulnerable.
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Document type: Policy brief
RAISING RISK AWARENESS: USING CLIMATE SCIENCE FOR DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT
The document examines how climate science, specifically attribution science, can be used to link extreme weather events to climate change and inform disaster risk management. It highlights a case study of the 2016/2017 drought in Kenya, noting that while human-induced climate change signals were not strong for rainfall, hotter temperatures influenced by climate change and La Nina patterns contributed to the event. The brief recommends increased investment in national and subnational capacities for climate services, better inter-agency coordination, and the alignment of early warning systems with forecast-based early action.
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Document type: Policy brief
Climate models: What they show us and how they can be used in planning
The document provides a guide on Global Climate Models (GCMs), distinguishing them from weather forecasts and explaining how they use socio-economic scenarios to project long-term climate trends. It emphasizes that while GCMs have coarse resolution and struggle with localized rainfall patterns—especially in Africa due to data gaps and complex features like the Congo Basin—they are sufficient for strategic planning over 5 to 40 years. The brief warns against the 'myth' that downscaled projections are inherently better, noting that additional manipulation can increase uncertainty.
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Document type: Policy brief
Strengthening disaster risk management in India
The report reviews the SDMPs of Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Odisha, and Uttarakhand, finding that while they are sophisticated in disaster response, they lack sufficient focus on risk reduction, socioeconomic vulnerability, and climate change integration. It recommends clarifying institutional roles, operationalising risk-reduction funds, and aligning state plans more closely with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
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Document type: Report
INSIDE STORY: Climate change and flood risk - Challenges for Jamaican towns and communities
The document outlines a project focused on integrating climate model rainfall projections into flood risk assessments for Jamaican communities. It emphasizes the necessity of flood hazard maps that account for future climate change to support disaster management and climate compatible development. Key recommendations include providing ongoing geospatial data training for local government and parish-level disaster coordinators, and improving cooperation between academia and government bodies to ensure high-quality data informs life-saving policies.
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Document type: Case study
INSIDE STORY: Climate-smart agriculture - Learning from three agro-ecological regions of Nepal
The 'Scaling-up of climate-smart agriculture in Nepal' project, funded by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), aims to increase farming resilience by promoting climate-smart agricultural technologies. The project focuses on developing 'champion' initiatives and assessing the factors necessary for scaling these approaches across diverse agro-ecosystems. Key findings emphasize the importance of using socially disaggregated vulnerability assessments, promoting technology packages with multiple benefits, and leveraging partnerships between the private sector, government extension offices, and non-governmental organisations.
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Document type: Case study
Climate change and flood risk: Challenges for Jamaican towns and communities
The document details a CDKN-supported project (2013–14) that used Regional Climate Models (RCM) to assess future flood risks in Jamaica. Key findings include the high vulnerability of coastal tourism infrastructure in Negril to sea-level rise and the critical intersection of major roadways with high-likelihood floodplains. The study emphasizes that current risk assessments are hindered by low-resolution climate models (50 km) and a lack of high-quality topographical and hydro-meteorological data. It recommends the adoption of laser technology for terrain mapping and continuous GIS training for local government staff to improve disaster management.
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Document type: Case study
Planning for the Effects of El Niño - Global Resilience Partnership
The Global Resilience Partnership highlights the severe humanitarian risks posed by a strong El Niño phase, citing specific crises in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and India, and advocates for adaptive measures such as early warning systems and innovative financing.
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Document type: Statement
Securing a Future that Flows: Case Studies of Protection Mechanisms for Rivers
The report examines diverse river protection strategies across several countries to balance energy needs with the conservation of free-flowing rivers. It highlights national legal designations in the United States and Norway, environmental water reserves in Mexico, species-specific reserves in China, national parks in Brazil, and biodiversity offsets in Costa Rica. The authors argue that system-scale planning is the most effective way to direct hydropower development away from high-value river systems.
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Document type: Report
Mainstreaming climate information into sector development plans: the case of Rwanda’s tea and coffee sectors
The report advocates for a shift from 'science-first' to 'policy-first' (or 'decision-first') adaptation methods, which prioritise development objectives and immediate policy windows over purely model-driven impact assessments. This approach is illustrated through a case study in Rwanda, where climate information was integrated into the Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (ASIP2) specifically for the tea and coffee sectors. The process involved identifying policy entry points, assessing current and future climate risks—such as rising temperatures and rainfall variability—and sequencing interventions into low-regret options, land-use planning, and early planning for future risks like pests and diseases. The report emphasises that for adaptation to be successful, it must be linked to specific financing sources, such as Rwanda's national climate and environment fund (FONERWA), and include iterative evaluation and learning mechanisms.
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Document type: Report