Recently, the Asia/Pacific Network (APN) published a Climate Synthesis Report, which is a synthesis of 56-related projects funded by the APN since 1999. The report indicates that,

"while there is much activity at the global level, there is a great need to intensify investigative research of climate change and climate variability and trends at the regional level, as these are still poorly understood. Consistent socio-economic data collection is needed, as is the need for an interdisciplinary approach to solving complex climate change problems. The increasing frequency and severity of floods, droughts and extreme temperatures requires the use of appropriate indices to improve monitoring and prediction of extreme events."

The report can be found on the APN Website at http://www.apn-gcr.org/2011/10/04/apn-publishes-climate-synthesis/

U.S. AID's Climate Change and Development Strategy

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently released a new 5-year Climate Change and Development Strategy:

"USAID is considering both how our activities affect greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts that a changing climate is already having (and will continue to have) on our globe. The strategy prioritizes development planning and programming for sustainable economic growth that is not only resilient to climate change but also reduces contributions to greenhouse gas emissions."

In Search of Good Practices for Urban Adaptation

ESCAP, UN-HABITAT and the Rockefeller Foundation are seeking assistance in documenting good practices on urban climate change adaptation & resilience as part of an effort to prepare a 'Quick Guide' on climate change adaptation and resilience in urban poor communities in Asia and the Pacific.

If you know of a practice that has already been documented extensively, e.g. for an award, for advocacy or training – online or in print, kindly send the a) name and location of the good practice; b) link to and/ or the document itself describing the good practice; and c) contact details of a focal point able to provide further information to escap-edd-suds@un.org by latest Mon, 27 Feb 2012.

Meanwhile, in recognition that many good practices have yet to be recorded, the partners also seek to commission the documentation of several good practices between February and May 2012. Local documenters of selected good practices will be remunerated for their contribution and work closely with ESCAP in a reiterative documentation process, as part of which ESCAP also plans to visit some of the practices. If you or your organization is interested in documenting a good practice between February and May 2012 that you have extensive knowledge of, that is at an advanced implementation stage and that has not been documented in detail before, then kindly send below completed Summary Questionnaire to: escap-edd-suds@un.org by latest Mon, 27 Feb 2012. The partners will short-list good practices to be documented from all completed expressions of interest that we receive and contact focal points of the selected practices.

Climate Variability and Change in the Himalayas

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has published a new study that investigates the effects of climate and socioeconomic change on the livelihoods of mountain people in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, causes of vulnerability, and the ways people cope with and adapt to change, with the overall aim of contributing to enhancing the resilience of vulnerable mountain communities. ICIMOD conducted a community-based vulnerability and adaptive capacity assessment in four areas: Uttarakhand in northwestern India; Nepal, Eastern Bhutan, and North East India, to identify peoples perceptions of climate variability and change; to identify underlying causes of vulnerability of mountain communities; to assess existing coping and adaptation mechanisms and their sustainability in view of predicted future climate change; and to formulate recommendations on how to improve individual and collective assets. The findings demonstrate that climate and socioeconomic change are already affecting the livelihoods of mountain communities, and that the communities have developed a repertoire of response strategies to these changes.

The report can be downloaded at
http://www.icimod.org/publications/index.php/search/publication/782

The National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy

The National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy has been released for public review and comment. The strategy, which largely targets federal, state, and tribal natural resource managers and elected officials, contains a synthesis of the current state-of-knowledge regarding potential climate and non-climatic impacts to U.S. natural resources and ecosystems. This is followed by the identification of a range of strategic priorities for adaptation and actions to be pursued under each, and its gives proper lip-service to the importance of inter-agency coordination. Nevertheless, as we've seen many times before, it's rather clear that the policy framework for the design and implementation of such actions (i.e., the hard part) has yet to be developed. For example, as the strategy itself states,

"[The plan] is not a detailed operational plan, nor does it prescribe specific actions to be taken by specific agencies or organizations, or specific management actions for individual species. In addition, the development of strategies and actions for this document was not constrained by assumptions of current or future available resources."

So beyond it's general educational value to stakeholders, of what utility is strategy that doesn't provide details on implementation, actor responsibilities, or evaluation of the costs and benefits of different actions? At some point one hopes that such adaptation strategies will give way to more robust planning, decision, and investment frameworks to ensure the work that clearly needs to get done to facilitate the adaptation of natural ecosystems and resources actually gets done.

Recent Titles from ELDIS

How important is information to disaster response? "This paper highlights recent advances in the use of climate information to improve livelihoods and save lives. By analysing experiences like that of the Red Cross in West Africa, it takes stock of the needs and capabilities of the humanitarian community and assesses the types of climate-related information products that may help inform disaster risk reduction and development decision-making processes."

How can disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation be integrated?
"This paper reviews the extent of convergence between disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) at a number of scales. It also examines what is at stake if the two agendas do not converge. The authors present updated evidence of where DRR and CCA are already converging and evaluate obstacles to further convergence."

Measuring the levels of urban climate disaster resilience: Climate Disaster Resilience Index
"Coastal urban cities in Asia are experiencing ever-increasing vulnerability due to climate change impacts and fast-growing urban development. This study measures the existing level of climate disaster resilience of the targeted areas using a Climate Disaster Resilience Index (CDRI) which is based on natural, physical, social, economic and institutional dimensions. Higher values of resilience are equivalent to higher preparedness to cope with climate and disasters and inversely."

ICARUS III

ICARUS (Initiative on Climate Adaptation Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences) has issued a call for papers for the third ICARUS meeting to be held at Columbia University from Thursday May 17 through Sunday May 20, 2012. ICARUS-III follows on the ICARUS-I and II meetings organized at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. The theme of the ICARUS-III meeting is “Scales, Frameworks and Metrics.”

More information available here: http://www.icarus.info/icarus-3-abstract-submission-2012/

PROVIA Seeks Conference Host

With planning for ‘Adaptation Futures’ the 2nd International Conference on Climate
Adaptation already well underway, PROVIA (Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation) is already seeking volunteers to host the 3rd conference in 2014. Any takers?

Leaks on the IPCC Ship

Rumour has it that the IPCC continues to suffer from mysterious happenings out in cyberspace. An attempt has been made to post various "zero order draft (ZOD)" chapters from WGI and WGII of the Fifth Assessment Report to a website (go track it down yourself, I refuse to do anything more to facilitate this cheekiness by providing a link). Although as I write, those chapters no longer appear to be accessible.

As the ZODs tend to be very rough first cracks at chapter content (pre-formal peer review), they likely reveal little regarding what will eventually emerge from the IPCC process, although the very fact that they are so unpolished could be a bit embarrassing in itself. The IPCC is no stranger to politics and criticism, yet the magnifying glass under which the IPCC now finds itself has many authors thinking defensively. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is open to interpretation. No doubt, there will be many more attempts to access and dissiminate drafts in the months ahead.

Adaptation Positions at the University of Leeds

New positions are currently being advertised at the University of Leeds for adaptation researchers. Dr. Suraje Dessai is leading a recruitment effort to attract two Research Fellows and a Lecturer. Recruitment is closing soon.

More information can be found here: http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/jobs/