Climate Change Adaptation Marketplace
Many developing country economies depend upon activities and resources that are vulnerable to climate variability and change. For those of us working in international development, climate change impacts, current and anticipated, are an ongoing challenge as we seek to support the health, food security, safety and economic growth of the global community. Changes in rainfall patterns and temperatures associated with climate change can contribute to water shortages; decreased crop productivity; increased spread of tropical diseases; and greater frequency and intensity of natural disasters. Understanding when and how these impacts will occur and supporting the resilience of the communities we work with is now accepted as a necessary element for successful development. Addressing these impacts, however, is an ongoing endeavor.
Just a few years ago, we were struggling with the new vocabulary of adaptation, vulnerability and resilience and asking the basic question, what does it actually mean to “adapt”? USAID and partners began slowly building experience, capacity and tools to adapt development efforts to the impacts of climate change. Today our approaches to adaptation are growing in sophistication. Many interesting approaches, technologies and tools have been developed and are being tested across a variety of sectors within our community, from international development to urban planning to ecosystems protection and management. We are moving from viewing adaptation as a new development sector, to seeing it as a way to deal with one of many stresses that impeded the broader goals of economic and social development. And we are learning to better involve host country beneficiaries, to learn from them and ensure that we work with them to address the stress of climate change.
USAID, Pact and The Nature Conservancy collaborated with the Society for International Development to host an intensive workshop at the InterAction Forum to take a closer look at the current state of adaptation practice and to provide an interactive venue for learning and exchange. Over a dozen presenters set up a marketplace of cases, technologies and tools which participants could sample and discuss in small groups. Participants learned about efforts to secure water supply, assess vulnerability, finance activities, and to prepare for—and recover from—natural disasters. Cases also covered adaptation approaches for agriculture, urban planning, natural resource protection and management, and community engagement. Tools were presented that support good decision-making and program design through scenario planning, knowledge management, and evaluation.
Below is a list of the cases and tools presented at the session. Full descriptions of all the cases and tools were compiled into a compendium.
Case Studies
Agua por la Vida y la Sostenibilidad (Water for Life and Sustainability)
The Nature Conservancy
Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment of the Verde Island Passage, Philippines
Conservation International
Creation and Evaluation of Adaption Funds
Climate Focus
Living with Change in the Nepal Himalayas
World Wildlife Fund
The Sustainable Agriculture Network’s Climate Module: Coping with Climate Change on Farms in the Tropics
Rainforest Alliance, Inc.
Urban Climate Resilience Planning
ISET: Institute for Social and Environmental Transition
Using Social Network Analysis to Understand Innovation and Diffusion of Sustainable Agricultural Water Resource Management in a Changing Climate in Northeast Thailand
Stockholm Environment Institute
Tools / Methodologies
CEDAR: Communities Engaged to Drive Adaption Responses
ACDI/VOCA
Climate Wizard
The Nature Conservancy
Frameweb with Geo Explorer (frameweb.org)
DAI
National Adaptive Capacity (NAC) Framework
World Resources Institute
SEA Change Community of Practice
Pact & SEA Change CoP
Wallace Initiative
World Wildlife Fund
WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning system)
Stockholm Environment Institute
Download the Compendium.
