Search Climate Insights Directory

The document introduces the CaRROT toolkit, an MS Excel-based tool for Kenya's flower industry to account for GHG emissions, energy, and water consumption. It outlines the assessment methodology based on ISO, IPCC, and GHG Protocol standards, and identifies climate-related business opportunities such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and voluntary carbon markets. The report recommends establishing sectoral baselines and enhancing capacity building to transition the industry toward a low-carbon model.

The document advocates for 'no and low regrets' investments in the Caribbean water sector, which provide benefits regardless of climate change uncertainty. It highlights Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and the CCORAL platform as key tools for identifying and implementing these resilient strategies across policy, legislative, planning, budget, and project levels.

The document translates the global findings of the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report into a regional context for South Asia, detailing observed warming, projected risks to food and water security, and the potential for low-carbon development. It emphasizes that while further warming is inevitable, integrated adaptation and mitigation can protect development gains and offer economic opportunities.

The document outlines the observed and projected climate impacts in Latin America, emphasizing the need for integrated adaptation and low-carbon development to protect economic growth and human security.

The report examines South Africa's water sector, highlighting the country's status as the 30th driest globally and the resulting pressure on water resources. It details the governance roles of the Department of Water Affairs (DWA), water boards, and municipalities, while identifying critical challenges such as non-revenue water (approximately 36.8% of supply) and a chronic shortage of engineering skills. In the Western Cape, the report notes a high reliance on six major dams and the implementation of the Berg River Improvement Plan to address pollution. Future opportunities for the private sector are identified in desalination, artificial aquifer recharge, water re-use, and infrastructure maintenance, supported by various government grants like the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG).

The report assesses South Africa's water-stressed environment, highlighting the dominance of agricultural water demand and critical challenges such as non-revenue water losses and a severe shortage of technical skills. It details the governance roles of the Department of Water Affairs and various grants available for municipal infrastructure. In the Western Cape, the report identifies specific projects like the Berg River Improvement Plan and various wastewater treatment plant upgrades as key areas of activity and private sector opportunity.

The report evaluates mining policies in Manitoba and Saskatchewan to determine if they support planned climate adaptation and possess the autonomous capacity to respond to unanticipated changes. Using the ADAPTool, the analysis identifies gaps in transportation and building-related adaptation, a lack of foresight methods like scenario planning, and a reliance on outdated historical baselines. While environmental assessment acts scored highly for their breadth and stakeholder engagement, most policies are purely regulatory and lack a mix of economic or institutional instruments. The report recommends updating baselines with climate projections, ensuring closure funds are sufficient for future scenarios, and establishing a multi-province working group to address sector vulnerabilities.

The report evaluates the capacity of provincial policies in Canada to support climate adaptation and their own inherent flexibility to change. Using the ADAPTool, it analyzes policies across agriculture, forestry, and water sectors, finding that while many policies support information sharing and decentralized decision-making, they often lack direct support for critical adaptation actions and formal review mechanisms.

The document details the application of the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system to model the La Vieja river basin, covering an area of approximately 2,880 km2 across the departments of Quindío, Valle del Cauca, and Risaralda. The model incorporates 37 watercourses, 16 human consumption demands, and 4 hydroelectric demands. By utilizing a soil moisture rain-runoff method and calibrating parameters such as runoff resistance and hydraulic conductivity, the project established a framework to evaluate 1,728 scenarios involving climate variability and demographic changes. This process aims to support regional environmental authorities in formulating adaptation strategies for water resource planning through 2050.

The study estimated that the La Vieja river basin receives approximately 15 tons of pollutant load per day, primarily from domestic sources. By integrating WEAP and QUAL2K tools, the project modeled 12 tributary sources and identified six sub-basins responsible for 96% of the pollutant load. The analysis included a participatory XLRM process to identify 14 uncertainties and 10 management strategies, while incorporating 30 climate change scenarios for the 2010-2050 period to support institutional decision-making.

The document describes the complex network of national and regional institutions managing water in Colombia, highlighting the role of the IDEAM and the Corporaciones Autónomas Regionales (CARs). It identifies critical gaps in water resource knowledge—specifically regarding supply, demand, and quality—that hinder effective decision-making. To address these, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) proposes the ADR (Robust Decision Making) process and the WEAP tool, which utilize the XLRM framework to model various climate and socio-economic scenarios, thereby supporting more robust adaptation strategies and reducing potential conflicts in water management.

The document details the application of the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model to the Otún river basin in Colombia to assess water supply and demand under climate change. It identifies the Corporación Autónoma de Risaralda (CARDER) as the primary institutional manager and calculates a total water demand of 10.35 m3/s for human consumption, energy generation, and environmental flows. A key finding is the critical role of the páramo ecosystem, which provides a relatively constant water flow and contributes up to 60% of the flow at Nuevo Libaré during low-flow months like August.

The study implements a climate-informed water resources decision-making framework in Piura, Peru, combining the XLRM assessment framework with the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system. By integrating participatory workshops with hydrological modeling, the research identifies system-level vulnerabilities in moorland base flows caused by climate variability and a reduction in moorland area over a 50-year simulation. These vulnerabilities directly impact water availability for downstream rural and agricultural users who depend on a reservoir.

The Centre for Environmental Rights argues that South Africa's proposed fracking regulations are flawed because they rely on industry standards rather than a comprehensive legal framework. The document recommends that fracking be regulated under a suite of environmental laws (NEMA, NWA, NEMWA, NEMAQA) rather than just the MPRDA, and suggests the creation of a specialised inter-departmental unit for monitoring and enforcement. Key requirements include mandatory baseline measurements for water and air quality, public disclosure of fracking fluid chemicals, a prohibition on using potable water, and significant financial guarantees for rehabilitation.

The report by Friends of the Earth International analyzes how water is being transformed from a common good into a financial asset through corporate capture, international trade agreements, and extractive projects. It provides case studies from various regions—including Palestine, Australia, Sri Lanka, the US, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Switzerland, England, Mozambique, Mexico, and El Salvador—to illustrate the social and environmental impacts of this trend. The document concludes that the 'financialization' of water allows transnational agents to speculate on natural resources, often with the complicity of states, and advocates for the recognition of water as a common good managed through community-led and public systems.

A 2011 survey of 300 rural households in Zimbabwe's Seke and Murewa districts found that water shortages, attributed to reduced rainfall, are a significant concern. While most households rely on rainfall for crops and rivers for livestock, there is a general perception that water availability will decrease in the future, a view more prevalent among female-headed households. Despite these challenges, few respondents consider emigration, and many lack the means to address water shortages, indicating a need for sustainable water management training.

The document details a policy dialogue session aimed at transitioning Manitoba to a green economy. It identifies four priority sectors—water, energy, the built environment, and transportation—and outlines specific barriers and policy tools needed to foster sustainable economic growth. Key recommendations include the use of renewable energy performance standards, green procurement, and specialized workforce training, while emphasizing the need for a coherent vision and the inclusion of diverse stakeholders, including Northern and aboriginal communities.

The submission contends that the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) lacks the human resource capacity, budget, and track record to effectively implement the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and its EIA regulations. It highlights a conflict of interest between the DMR's mandate to promote mining and its obligation to protect the environment, citing poor decision-making in sensitive areas and negligible compliance monitoring. The authors argue that transferring these powers to the DMR would be an inefficient use of public funds and potentially unconstitutional, as it impinges on provincial mandates. They recommend that the Minister of Environmental Affairs and provincial Executive Councils remain the sole authorities for issuing and enforcing environmental authorisations.

The report describes a 'ecological Nakba' in the West Bank, where Israeli occupation manifests through the systematic appropriation of land and water, the dumping of toxic and nuclear waste, and the establishment of polluting industries in 'closed zones'. It highlights how environmental protection is used as a tool for land seizure, specifically in areas like Wadi Qana, and details the severe disparity in water access between Palestinian communities and Israeli settlements.

The document advocates for a 'nexus' approach to land management to address the conflict between the need for increased agricultural productivity and the reality of land degradation. It highlights that while 24% of global land is degraded, a significant portion is improving through restoration. The proposed nexus approach seeks to move beyond the narrow goal of maximizing yields to reduce tradeoffs and build synergies between water, energy, food, and climate regulation.