Concepts

As climate change results in more frequent and severe climatic shocks, there is a need to integrate long-term climate change and disaster risk management in development and humanitarian policies and practices.

1. Climate change induces new hazards and alters the patterns of current hazards. This means that future-oriented disaster risk management approaches are more and more critical.
2. Climate change increases the vulnerability of communities through impacts on water, food security, physical infrastructure and sources of livelihood.
3. Risk reduction implies addressing multiple hazards and underlying social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities at all levels. This provides an avenue for climate change adaptation to understanding and strengthening community resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of changing climatic patterns.

Integrating adaptation demands an understanding of existing vulnerability amongst individuals, households and communities, as well as their institutional, political, social and biophysical environment.

Human adaptation requires analysis of current exposure to climate shocks and stresses, as well as model-based analysis of future climate impacts. Adaptation to climate change at CARE requires a new way of working that:

• Is based on a holistic analysis of people’s vulnerability to climate change, examining both current and projected climate risks;
• Has the explicit goal of reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change;
• Uses scientific climate information as well as local/traditional climate knowledge for planning;
• Integrates disaster risk management as a fundamental part of the approach;
• Adopts a long-term vision by planning and implementing interventions that enhance resilience to current climate variability, while preparing for anticipated longer-term climatic changes;
• Uses climate risk screening to ensure project activities are resilient to climate impacts; and
• Recognizes that context, needs and priorities are dynamic, and therefore incorporates flexibility to manage this.

- CARE Climate Change Brief (October 2010)

 

MACRO Framework

[NOTE: This section is currently under construction.]

For a full discussion on Climate Vulnerability and Capacities Analysis, download the complete Handbook and the Gender-Sensitive Climate Vulnerability and Capacities Analysis Practitioners Guide.

Risk analysis includes; (1) hazards; including past, current and potential including climate change related ones; (2) vulnerability; and capacity which comprises (3) the capacity of relevant management structures, policies, and (4) livelihoods resilience.

Across these areas, teams should pay particular attention to climate change impacts and explore how they affect groups in different ways. Analysis should take place across macro, community and household/inter-personal levels.

At the macro levels, important questions include:

Country Level

Hazards

• Historically what have been the major disasters faced in a country and what are the causal factors?
• Are there parts of the country that are prone to identified hazards?
  • What are the characteristics of these locations and how prevalent are these characteristics to the national context (deforested, mining areas etc.)?
• What are common and recurring hazards?
• What is the probability that common hazards will take place? What are the hazard characteristics; magnitude, frequency, nature, duration?
• How predictable are these hazards in timing or location? Are there early warning and early actions systems and plans?
• What influences hazards and how are hazards likely to change over time? What are reasons for change (climate change, political context, etc.)? Are there new threats or different disaster risks emerging?
• What assistance will be required? And what self-protection mechanisms exist?
• What has government and community done to prevent hazards and mitigate their impact?
• Is the government monitoring and analyzing disaster risk information? And climate change? If so, is this information being disseminated? How? To whom?
• Is the government engaged in planning and implementation of disaster risk management? If so, which ministries and/or government agencies are actively involved? How effective have they been? Are they today?
• Is climate change integrated into planning for disaster risk management?
• Has the government responded to disasters in the past, what is the current capacity to respond to disasters?
• Which other institutions are engaged disaster risk management at national level?

Vulnerability

• Who/what are potentially vulnerable individuals or elements to specific hazard(s) (agricultural production, health, etc.)? What factors underlie their vulnerability (physical, social, economic, environmental)
• What are areas of vulnerability?
• Has community vulnerability to disaster risks increased or reduced over time? How has this changed for different groups (e.g. genders, ethnicities, livelihood systems)? What tells you that?
• What capacities for preparedness and coping were developed at province or national levels? Did traditional coping mechanisms sustain previous disasters? Are they likely to sustain future risks? Why?
• What would be the level of accepted risk among community members? And what measures are taken to reduce risk to that level? Are there groups that fall outside of protection despite measures?
• Do those responsible for climate change policies and programs demonstrate understanding of the link between poverty, power relations and climate change vulnerability?
• Do those responsible for climate change policies and programs recognize the specific vulnerability of women and other marginalized groups to climate change?
• Is this knowledge and recognition translated into policy and implementation of programs? Do policies and programs support empowerment of vulnerable groups?
• Do vulnerable or marginalized groups have advocates at the national level?
• Is civil society involved in planning for adaptation? Whose interests are represented?

Capacity-Development

• What institutions are involved in research, planning and implementation of adaptation, or climate change disaster risk management?
• What are the most important institutions in facilitating or constraining climate change adaptation? And climate change disaster risk management?
• Does the government have capacity to monitor and analyze information on current and future risks?
• Are there mechanisms in place to disseminate this information?
• Is an appropriate structure in place within the government with a mandate to integrate climate information into relevant policies? What about for other hazards?
• Is this information being integrated into relevant policies?
• Are national policies rolled out at regional and local levels? Is the government responsive to local priorities?
• Are resources allocated for implementation of climate change disaster risk management/adaptation-related policies? What is the budget? Where are the resources coming from?
• What are the existing capacity and resource needs and/or gaps for climate change adaptation? And climate change disaster risk management?
• What new capacities may be needed to address changing circumstances due to climate change? And other hazards?
• Are climate change and identified hazards integrated into poverty reduction strategies and/or other development policies and programs?

Resilient Livelihoods