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113 results
11 reasons to report on Disaster Risk Reduction
The document outlines eleven reasons why the media should report on disaster risk reduction (DRR), framing it as a multifaceted issue spanning politics, economics, human rights, environment, culture, gender, and health. It emphasizes that media coverage can save lives by disseminating early warnings, holding governments accountable for bad governance or corruption, and highlighting the role of traditional knowledge in survival. The guide notes that disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity due to factors like climate change and environmental degradation, with 2022 damages totaling approximately $270bn.
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Document type: Guide
How Cities Run Dry: Drivers of Water Shortages and Policy Implications
The briefing examines the global trend of shrinking lakes and reservoirs, highlighting a study that found 53% of nearly 2,000 lakes experienced significant storage declines between 1992 and 2020. It distinguishes between anthropogenic drivers, such as unsustainable consumption seen in the Aral Sea, and climate drivers, such as increased evaporation in Mongolia. The author argues that this attribution allows policymakers to choose between demand management and behavioral changes for overuse, or infrastructure resilience and conservation for climate-driven losses.
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Document type: Briefing
Positioning ourselves
The document examines the structural exclusion of Inuit from Canada's federal climate policy and proposes a shift toward an 'Indigenous resurgence paradigm' to ensure equitable representation. It identifies barriers such as tokenistic engagement and the failure to differentiate between northern and southern regional needs. The study highlights existing frameworks, such as the National Inuit Climate Change Strategy and the Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement, as essential guides for achieving Inuit-led climate justice.
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Document type: Case study
Akamatutu’anga To Tatou Ora’anga Meitaki Cook Islands
The Gender Action Plan (GAP) for the Cook Islands' health system aims to integrate gender-sensitive strategies into climate change and health (CC&H) operations. The plan focuses on strengthening the capacity of Te Marae Ora (TMO) and partners to address the unique needs of women, the Anuanua community, elderly, disabled, and children. Key activities include updating health policies to reflect CEDAW commitments, implementing gender-disaggregated data collection in health intelligence, and ensuring inclusive technical designs for health facilities in the Pa Enua. The plan also includes educational programs for students on mental health adaptive capacity and community outreach via vaka voyages to promote food security and healthy diets, with specific targets for female participation and the inclusion of vulnerable groups.
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Document type: Report
Hawai‘i Climate Impacts and Costs
The report details how Hawaii is experiencing accelerating climate crises, specifically through extreme drought, intense tropical storms, sea level rise, and increasing temperatures. It provides comprehensive lists of potential costs for mitigation and adaptation, ranging from water management and wildfire suppression to floodproofing infrastructure and public health interventions.
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Document type: Report
Climate Impacts and Costs
The report details the environmental and economic risks Maine faces due to climate change, including sea level rise, extreme precipitation, drought, and rising temperatures. It quantifies risks such as the potential inundation of 3,700 homes and the threat to a $600 million fishing industry, while providing comprehensive lists of necessary infrastructure and policy adaptations to mitigate these costs.
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Document type: Report
A WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY APPROACH TO BUILDING RESILIENT, EQUITABLE COMMUNITIES
The report outlines the necessity of community-led climate action, innovative financing, and the democratisation of technology to build resilient communities. It emphasizes that effective adaptation requires integrating local and Indigenous knowledge, leveraging private sector capital through blended finance, and breaking down infrastructure management silos. The document advocates for a collaborative ecosystem involving governments, NGOs, and the private sector to bridge gaps in funding and technical capacity ahead of COP29 and COP30.
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Document type: Report
From Risk to Reward
The report argues that climate adaptation is now a business imperative due to increasing physical risks and economic losses. It identifies three 'entry points' for private finance: 'Protect' (safeguarding existing assets and supply chains), 'Grow' (investing in early-stage and mature companies developing resilience technologies), and 'Participate' (co-investing in public sector infrastructure projects). The analysis highlights that adaptation investments can yield high benefit-to-cost ratios, particularly in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), and that valuation multiples for resilience solution providers are promising, with a median of 9 times revenue.
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Document type: Report
Hope Flows from Action: Rebuilding with Resilient Foundations
The paper examines the 2021 climate disasters in the Fraser Canyon region, specifically the destruction of Lytton, to highlight the fragility of Canadian infrastructure. It presents the Kanaka Bar Indian Band's strategies for water, food, and shelter security as scalable examples of climate adaptation and resilience.
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Document type: Research paper
Climate damages inflating costs of living for every Canadian
Climate change is increasing the average Canadian household's annual cost of living by $700 through higher grocery prices, insurance premiums, and taxes. Between 2010 and 2019, insured losses for catastrophic weather events exceeded $18 billion, with the frequency of such events tripling since the 1980s. The author contends that while Canada's National Adaptation Strategy is a start, the country lags behind peer nations in adaptation funding despite a high return on investment, where every dollar spent generates $13-$15 in economic returns. Specifically, using climate-resilient road materials could save up to $5 billion nationally over several decades by reducing damage costs by up to 98 per cent.
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Document type: Statement
A Sustainable Asset Valuation of a Road Infrastructure Project in Queensland, Australia
The document presents an 'integrated' or 'extended' CBA model designed for the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) to value 'betterment' road projects—investments that build infrastructure to a higher resilience standard than original specifications. Unlike traditional CBAs that focus on direct avoided reconstruction costs, this model incorporates 15 non-road indicators, including mental health impacts, market access for agriculture, and environmental externalities. Through case studies, such as the Aurukun Access Road, the report demonstrates that including these indirect and induced benefits can significantly alter the perceived economic viability of a project, potentially justifying investments that would otherwise appear financially non-viable.
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Document type: Report
Multilateral Development Bank Efforts to Mainstream Climate Adaptation
The report evaluates how the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and World Bank integrate climate adaptation into their projects in Kenya, Nepal, and Peru. While global adaptation finance is increasing, country-level trends are mixed and often skewed by large individual projects. MDBs have largely standardized climate risk screening, though capacity gaps remain within national finance ministries. Alignment with National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is improving but remains nascent, with a need for more programmatic finance and transformational adaptation projects.
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Document type: Report
DESIGNING A CLIMATE RESILIENCE CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK TO FACILITATE INVESTMENT IN CLIMATE RESILIENCE THROUGH CAPITAL MARKETS
The document proposes a systematic classification framework to identify and screen climate resilience investments, aiming to bridge the gap between high-level resilience goals and capital market flows. It defines eligibility based on 'Substantial Contribution' to resilience while avoiding maladaptation and significant harm, categorizing investments into a white list, standardized checks, and further assessment. The framework is organized around seven themes: Resilient Agrifood Systems, Resilient Industry & Commerce, Resilient Cities, Resilient Nature & Biodiversity, Resilient Health, Resilient Societies, and Resilient Infrastructure.
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Document type: Report
Profiles of Adaptation: Uruguay
Uruguay employs a sectoral and regional approach to climate adaptation, coordinated by the National Climate Change Response System (SNRCC). The country has implemented sectoral National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) for agriculture, cities and infrastructure, and coastal areas, with additional plans for public health and energy under development. A key priority is reducing vulnerability in coastal zones, where 70% of the population resides, through high-resolution risk mapping and projects like the Adaptation Fund-supported disaster risk reduction in the Uruguay River watershed. The government is currently developing a GIS mapping system to track over 481 climate adaptation projects and an information system to monitor NDC progress using indicators such as gender sensitivity.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Lagos Flood Resilience
FSD Africa is assisting the Lagos State Government (LASG) to address inadequate flood risk management by integrating private financial sector instruments into disaster risk reduction and financing. The initiative focuses on creating a Flood Resilience Finance Framework and Policy and supporting specific financial transactions for resilient infrastructure and risk transfer. The program aims to benefit 500,000 people with increased climate resilience and 50,000 people with improved employment opportunities, while attracting commercial capital for infrastructure and climate risk underwriting.
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Document type: Fact sheet
SURGING POWER OUTAGES and Climate Change
Climate Central's analysis of U.S. power outage data from 2000-2021 reveals a significant increase in large-scale disruptions, with 83% of major outages attributed to weather-related events. The report highlights that the frequency of major outages rose by 64% between 2011-2021 compared to 2000-2010, driven by severe weather, winter storms, hurricanes, extreme heat, and wildfires. It emphasizes the vulnerability of aging infrastructure and the compounding effects of climate change, which simultaneously increases electricity demand for cooling while reducing the capacity of power plants due to water shortages. The report identifies the Southeast as the region with the highest number of outages and notes specific recent surges in Texas, California, and Michigan.
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Document type: Report
CLIMATE INSURANCE-LINKED RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING INSTRUMENT ANALYSIS
CILRIF is a novel financial instrument developed by the UNCDF and partners to address the lack of affordable, long-term climate insurance and resilient infrastructure funding for cities in emerging markets. It operates through two linked facilities: an insurance facility providing 10-15 year coverage with premiums that decrease as cities meet resilience milestones, and a financing facility providing below-market rate loans for adaptation projects. The instrument uses a hybrid parametric and indemnity insurance model to provide immediate post-disaster liquidity while rewarding risk reduction. A financial model for 40 cities suggests that resilience interventions, such as drainage systems for flood risk or cooling networks for heat risk, can reduce annual premiums by 5% to 10% per intervention. The pilot phase targets Makati, Durban, and Freetown, with a goal of mobilizing USD 1 billion in commercial and concessional investment.
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Document type: Report
Profiles of Adaptation: Japan
Japan utilizes the 2018 Climate Change Adaptation Act and a revised 2021 plan to coordinate adaptation across ministries using 66 Key Performance Indicators. Domestically, the country employs local adaptation centers in 38 of 47 prefectures and the A-PLAT information platform to support municipal planning. Internationally, Japan provides technical expertise in disaster risk reduction, manages the Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Information Platform (AP-PLAT), and has committed to doubling adaptation finance to approximately $14.8 billion between 2021 and 2025.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Disaster Risk Reduction in an Unstable World
The document examines the evolution of disaster risk reduction (DRR) from a reactive emergency response model to a proactive strategy focused on reducing vulnerability and exposure. It highlights the disproportionate impact of disasters in countries with poor infrastructure, such as Haiti compared to Chile, and emphasizes the economic benefits of proactive investment, citing Bangladesh as an example. The brief traces the international policy trajectory from the 1960s through the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, noting a growing integration between DRR and climate change adaptation. It specifically advocates for the protection of wetlands as natural buffers against water-related disasters and calls for a 'whole-of-society' approach combining top-down institutional changes with bottom-up community actions to build resilience in a climate where extreme events are becoming the 'new normal'.
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Document type: Policy brief
Quelle sera notre réponse à la menace qui se profile pour les infrastructures canadiennes ?
The document highlights the vulnerability of Canadian infrastructure to climate change, noting that current construction often relies on outdated climate data. It proposes four key actions: improving climate risk information, integrating climate considerations into all government infrastructure decisions, requiring risk disclosure from owners and investors, and increasing financial support for municipalities to fund resilience projects.
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Document type: Statement