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This report outlines the outcomes of the Climate Resilient Cities Initiative (CRC), a strategic alliance between the International Development Research Center (IDRC), the Climate Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), and the Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano (FFLA) aimed at fostering climate-resilient development in small and medium-sized cities in Latin America.

The document discusses the economic challenges of deploying clean energy mini-grids in Africa, noting high upfront costs and low revenues from poor customers. It aims to provide policymakers and donors with a toolkit of retail tariff and subsidy options to make mini-grids more profitable and sustainable for private investors.

The document examines the 'viability gap' in mini-grid business models, where high capital costs and low-revenue customer bases make private investment challenging. It outlines various retail tariff approaches—ranging from uniform national tariffs to value-based pricing—and details subsidy structures, emphasizing output-based capital subsidies for distribution. The guide provides specific country examples from Africa and Asia and offers management considerations to reduce policy uncertainty and administrative overhead for developers.

The document examines the reciprocal relationship between climate and land in Africa, highlighting how desertification and land degradation exacerbate food insecurity and poverty. It identifies specific risks for arid zones, the disproportionate impact on women and marginalized groups, and proposes integrated governance and sustainable land management practices to build resilience.

The document examines how climate change and unsustainable land management drive desertification and food insecurity in Africa, while highlighting sustainable land management practices and the necessity of integrated governance and gender-inclusive policies to build resilience.

The document examines the reciprocal relationship between climate change and land in Latin America, highlighting how land degradation and desertification threaten livelihoods and food security. It advocates for sustainable land management, integrated governance, and gender-equitable policies to enhance resilience and achieve climate goals.

The document examines the reciprocal relationship between climate change and land in South Asia, highlighting the region's high vulnerability to desertification and land degradation. It details how these processes act as 'threat multipliers' for poverty and food insecurity, specifically citing crop yield declines in India and Pakistan. The guide proposes integrated governance, sustainable land management (SLM), and gender-responsive policies as essential strategies for resilience. It emphasizes that while land-based mitigation (like afforestation) is valuable, it must be balanced with emissions reductions in other sectors to avoid increasing competition for land and jeopardizing food security.

The document details how human-induced climate change is altering ocean chemistry and temperature, accelerating sea-level rise, and melting high-mountain glaciers in Latin America. It emphasizes that while some changes are inevitable, urgent mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions is the primary way to limit future damage. The guide highlights the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems and high-mountain communities, arguing that early investment in disaster risk reduction and integrated governance is more cost-effective than future recovery.

The document outlines how human-induced climate change is warming and acidifying oceans, causing sea level rise, and melting high mountain frozen lands in Africa. These changes threaten fisheries, coastal infrastructure, and water security. It argues that while adaptation and disaster risk reduction are essential and cost-effective, urgent global greenhouse gas mitigation is the primary way to limit long-term damage.

The document outlines the impacts of human-induced climate change on the oceans and cryosphere in Latin America, focusing on ocean acidification, sea level rise, and the melting of Andean glaciers. It emphasizes that while some changes are inevitable, urgent mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and early investment in adaptation—such as nature-based solutions and improved disaster risk governance—can significantly reduce future costs and risks to human societies and ecosystems.

The document outlines the impacts of human-induced climate change on the oceans and cryosphere, specifically focusing on the vulnerabilities of South Asia. It details the degradation of coral reefs, rising sea levels affecting coastal megacities like Mumbai, and the melting of glaciers in high mountain Asia. The report emphasizes that while some changes are inevitable, urgent greenhouse gas mitigation and early investment in adaptation—such as nature-based 'blue carbon' solutions and integrated governance—can significantly reduce future risks and costs.

The document examines the reciprocal relationship between climate change and land in Latin America, highlighting how land degradation and desertification threaten food security and livelihoods. It advocates for sustainable land management, gender-inclusive policies, and integrated governance to mitigate climate risks and enhance regional resilience.

The guide outlines strategies for climate communication in low- and middle-income countries, emphasizing the need to frame climate action as a tool for poverty reduction and sustainable development. It advocates for 'co-production' of knowledge, the use of diverse messengers, and the application of social marketing techniques to drive policy and behavioral change. Key recommendations include using 'demonstration effects' to show tangible resilience solutions, employing data visualization and mapping to make invisible risks visible, and leveraging ICTs to amplify under-represented voices. The document also addresses the importance of scientific accuracy when attributing extreme weather events to climate change and warns against the financial risks of 'stranded assets' in fossil fuel-dependent economies.

The document serves as a practitioner's guide for communicating climate change in developing nations. It emphasizes moving away from scientific jargon toward narratives that highlight the benefits of climate-compatible development, particularly for the poor. The guide outlines strategies for targeting diverse audiences—including governments, businesses, and the general public—and advocates for the use of 'demonstration effects' and data visualization to make climate risks tangible. It includes numerous case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America illustrating successful interventions such as participatory mapping, community radio, and the use of 'stranded assets' as a policy framework.

The document outlines a framework for effective climate communication in developing countries, emphasizing the need to link scientific data with local lived experiences. It provides guidance on audience segmentation, the use of 'demonstration effects' for adaptation solutions, and framing mitigation as an economic opportunity. The guide includes numerous case studies from regions such as India, Kenya, Peru, and Bangladesh, illustrating the use of creative tools like participatory theater, citizen mapping, and role-playing games to engage policymakers and marginalized groups.

The Climate-Resilient Cities in Latin America Initiative (CRC) focused on small and medium-sized cities (50,000 to 1 million inhabitants) to bridge the gap between research and concrete climate action. The initiative emphasizes that while these cities are highly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological disasters, they offer significant opportunities for resilience due to their proximity scale. Key strategies included the co-generation of knowledge using both scientific data and citizen perceptions, the implementation of low-cost technological prototypes, and the integration of a gender perspective to address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women. The report argues for a localization agenda where resilience is integrated into local development plans and supported by greater fiscal and administrative decentralization.

The report details a consultation process led by the Cameroon Climate Change Working Group under the African Climate Legislation Initiative to identify priority areas for climate legislation. Participants identified land use and farming as the most critical sectors for regulatory intervention and highlighted corruption and limited public participation as primary barriers to successful law implementation. As a result, the Legal Response Initiative provided a legal opinion on improving the delivery of rainfall forecasts to farmers, suggesting revisions to Decree No. 2005/118 regarding the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The document analyzes the critical link between forest cover and water security in the Cumbaza River micro-basin, noting that 85% of the area is degraded. It highlights how deforestation and climate variability increase sediment loads, affecting urban water treatment for 40,000 users in Tarapoto and reducing water availability for rice and aquaculture farmers. The brief recommends restoring 3,000 hectares in the upper basin by 2040 and 1,500 hectares in the Ahuashiyacu and Shilcayo sub-basins by 2050, while strengthening inter-institutional governance through the Cumbaza Micro-basin Management Committee.

The policy brief argues that while industrialisation and urbanisation offer growth opportunities for African economies, they risk locking countries into carbon-intensive pathways if not managed. Focusing on Ethiopia's use of urban 'clusters' and industrial parks, the document suggests a corridor approach to urban-industrial development to ensure sustainability. Key recommendations include identifying catalytic projects that link local and national priorities, incrementally building the capacity and effectiveness of regional and city institutions, ensuring national and local urban plans are integrated and aligned with national climate strategies, and addressing infrastructure bottlenecks through business models that place green growth at the centre of planning.

The document advocates for 'green urban industrialisation' in Ethiopia, specifically through a corridor approach that connects urban clusters. Using the Kombolcha–Mek’ele corridor as a case study, it suggests that integrating transport, infrastructure, and resource management across administrative boundaries can prevent carbon-intensive development and maximise economic productivity. Key recommendations include identifying catalytic projects in green housing, waste, and water management, improving institutional coordination between federal and regional levels, and aligning local urban plans with national climate strategies.