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Call for Action 06 - Adaptation planning and practices

RELATED ONGOING WORK
Examples in alphabetical order

Cross-sectoral integration

  • The Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change in Multiple Regions and Sectors (AIACC) project is a global initiative developed in collaboration with the IPCC and implemented by UNEP and executed jointly by START and the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), which funds collaborative research, training and technical support to enhance the scientific capacity of developing countries to assess climate change vulnerabilities and adaptations, and generate and communicate information useful for adaptation planning and action. http://www.aiaccproject.org/
  • The CBD provides web-based guidance on the integration of biodiversity within adaptation planning. http://adaptation.biodiv.org/
  • ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability initiated the international Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Campaign in 1993, a movement of more than 800 local governments throughout the world, aims to assist cities in integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation into their decision-making processes and enhance urban livability and sustainability. Other programs, including Local Agenda 21, the Sustainable Procurement Program and the Sustainability Management Program, support ICLEI’s approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation. http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=800
  • The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), in collaboration with the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) multi-year project (2005–2009) on Adaptive Policy-Making, aims to help government agriculture and water resource policy-makers at the local, state and federal levels design adaptive policies. http://www.iisd.org/climate/vulnerability/policy.asp
  • The Sustainable Cities: Options for Responding to Climate Change Impacts and Outcomes (SCORCHIO) project, led by the University of Manchester, UK, includes producing a set of tools to help planners, designers and engineers make decisions on adapting the urban landscape to increased heat spells. http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/research/cure/research/scorchio


Health

  • The most developed adaptation strategies in the health sector are those addressing heatwaves in Europe, put in place following the 2003 heatwave. For example, France’s heatwave plan saved many lives in 2006. There are also several other examples, incluing a project in the United Republic of Tanzania, with assistance from Japan, on measures for enhancing the early diagnosis of malaria (FCCC/SBSTA/2007/MISC.10 and Add.1)
  • The Health and Environment Linkages Initiative (HELI) is a global effort by WHO and UNEP to support action by developing country policymakers on environmental threats to health. HELI activities include country-level pilot projects and refinement of assessment tools to support decision-making, and promoting knowledge about health and environment linkages. http://www.who.int/heli/en
  • The Red Cross/Red Crescent Society Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) is a tool to support decisions made in relation to climate risk. http://www.climatecentre.org/index.php?page=300&wbg=1. The Red Cross/ Red Crescent Centre on Climate Change and Disaster Preparedness has also produced a Climate Guide which includes a “how-to” section with specific step-by-step guidance. http://www.climatecentre.org/index.php?page=news_ext&pub_id=85&type=4&view=more
  • UNEP and WHO guidelines include Methods of Assessing Human Health Vulnerability and Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change, 2003. http://www.euro.who.int/globalchange/Publications/20031125_1
  • The UNISDR Safe Hospitals Campaign seeks to raise awareness of the need to ensure that hospitals continue to function after a natural disaster. pdf-icon http://helid.desastres.net/gsdl2/collect/who/pdf/s8283e/s8283e.pdf
  • Piloting climate change adaptation to protect human health is a joint WHO/UNDP project that works directly with developing countries. http://www.who.int/globalchange/climate/gefproject/en/index.html

Agriculture and food security

  • Australia has developed a specific national agriculture and climate change action plan. Numerous pilot projects, some of which include awareness-raising and capacity-building, have also been implemented, notably in Bangladesh (FCCC/SBSTA/2007/MISC.10 and Add.1).
  • Christian Aid and Practical Action work with communities on a number of rural extension systems services. For example, in Kenya, selected people in remote semi-arid areas where there are no practising vets have been trained as Community-Based Animal Health workers; in Sicuani province in the Andean region of Peru selected community members who are successful farmers undergo training in different aspects of agricultural and livestock extension and then become advisors kamayoq, selling their services. http://practicalaction.org and http://www.christianaid.org.uk/
  • FAO's programmes on climate change include the development of practices aimed at increasing the resilience of agricultural production systems, national and regional observing systems, and data and information collection and dissemination. For example, on the impact of climate on agriculture, FAO’s CLIMPAG is aimed at bringing together the various aspects and interactions between weather, climate and agriculture in the general context of food security. http://www.fao.org/nr/climpag
  • The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) projects include the Agricultural Support Programme in Mozambique; the Rural Income Diversification Project in Tuyen Quang Province, Vietnam; the Promotion of Technology Transfer Project to Peasant Communities in the Highlands, Peru; and various projects in Yemen. http://www.ifad.org/ (see Operations/Projects by country).

Water resources

  • The Centre for Environment and Development in the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE) is undertaking capacity-building on adaptation in 22 Arab and North African countries. http://knowledge.cedare.int/Main.aspx?code=981
  • The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (the Water Convention) is currently preparing guidance on water and climate adaptation to be adopted by Parties in 2009. http://www.unece.org/env/water/welcome.html
  • The Cooperative Programme on Water and Climate provides an interface between water managers and the climate community and is working to provide tools and methodologies and raise awareness on adaptation in the water sector. http://www.waterandclimate.org/
  • The Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters strategic priorities for freshwater can support the integration of adaptation into transboundary water governance processes http://www.gefweb.org/
  • The Institute for Water Education is working on enabling regional partners to develop capacities to deal with adaptation. http://www.unesco.org/water
  • Extensive information can be found in the IPCC Technical Paper on Climate Change and Water, released by the Panel in April 2008. pdf-icon http://www.ipcc.ch/meetings/session28/doc13.pdf
  • The International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (IW:Learn) has several programmes on transboundary water management, including the institutional set-up of inter-ministerial committees. http://www.iwlearn.net/
  • The OECD and IEA Secretariats have produced a series of papers for the Annex I Expert Group of the OECD on the role that national policy frameworks play in adaptation to climate change. The series includes a review of domestic policy frameworks for adaptation to climate change in the water sector in developed and developing countries (Case studies from Mexico, India, Argentina and Zimbabwe). http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/aixg
  • In Cuba, the National Institute of Water Resources (INRH) has developed a system of six Hydrographic Basin councils, involving national and provincial organizations and governments, to undertake integrated work programmes. http://www.cubagob.cu/ingles/des_eco/inrh/index.htm
  • The Netherlands are now using an adaptive approach to water management as outlined in the booklet ‘Climate changes Dutch water management’. pdf-icon http://www.waterandclimate.org/UserFiles/File/2007-08ClimatechangesDutchwatermanagement.pdf

Coastal zones

  • Examples from Parties that address impacts of climate change in coastal zones include restriction of coastal development in South Africa and Malta’s Coastal Area Management Programme, which brought together all regulatory and implementing agencies, stakeholders and NGOs concerned. (FCCC/SBSTA/2007/MISC.10 and Add.1)
  • The Dynamic and Interactive Asessment of National, Regional and Global Vulnerability of Coastal Zones to Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise (DINAS-COAST) project developed the DIVA (Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment) tool, which includes a range of mitigation and adaptation scenarios that can be analysed. http://diva.demis.nl/
  • The Global Environment Facility project database includes an increasing number of adaptation projects being undertaken in coastal zones at local, national and regional level, which contribute to the assessment of baseline adaptive capacity and provide lessons on how to increase and monitor adaptive capacity, including in Mexico, West Africa and many SIDS. http://www.gefonline.org/
  • The Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts and Islands brings together ocean leaders from governments, international organizations, NGOs, the private sector, and scientific institutions, to achieve the sustainable development of oceans, coasts, and islands. http://www.globaloceans.org/
  • The OECD and IEA Secretariats have produced a series of papers for the Annex I Expert Group of the UNFCCC on the role that national policy frameworks play in adaptation to climate change, including a paper on ‘Policy Frameworks for Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Zones: The Case of the Gulf of Mexico’. http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/aixg
  • The UNEP Handbook on Methods for Climate Change Impact Assessment and Adaptation Strategies (Version 2.0) offers a generic framework for assessing and responding to the problems of sea level rise and climate change. pdf-icon http://www.falw.vu.nl/images_upload/151E6515-C473-459C-85C59441A0F3FB49.pdf