Climate Change and Adaptation

Many parts of the developing world are subject to variable and extreme climate, the impacts of which impede development and point to the need to improve the understanding and management of climate risks. These needs are being amplified by human-caused climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in its 2001 report that much of the developing world is highly vulnerable to adverse impacts from climate change. But the IPCC also concluded that the vulnerabilities of developing countries are too little studied and too poorly understood to enable determination of adaptation strategies that would be effective at reducing risks. Climate Change and Adaptation and its companion volume Climate Change and Vulnerability, resulting from the work of the Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change (AIACC) project launched by the IPCC in 2002, are the first to provide a comprehensive investigation of the issues at stake. Climate Change and Adaptation covers current practices for managing climate risks to food security, water resources, livelihoods, human health and infrastructure, deficits between current practices and needs for effective management of climate risks, the changing nature of the risks due to human-caused climate change, strategies for adapting to climate change to lessen the risks, and the need to integrate these strategies into development planning and resource management. The book also identifies obstacles to effective adaptation and explore measures needed to create conditions that are favorable to climate change adaptation. The findings and lessons will be of use to policymakers and managers responsible for understanding and avoiding potentially adverse effects from climate change on sustainable development, food security, agriculture, water resources, forests, fisheries, grazing lands, biodiversity and public health. Citizen activists who are concerned about reducing the threats from climate change to the poor, sustainable development, biodiversity, and sensitive environmental systems and resources will learn about options for management of the threats.