Climate Change and Adaptation

by Burton, Ian; Leary, Neil; Adejuwon, James; Barros, Vicente; Lasco, Rodel

• ISBN13: 9781844074709
• ISBN10: 1844074706
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

A stitch in time: General lessons from specific cases	p. 1
Adapting conservation strategies to climate change in Southern Africa	p. 28
Benefits and costs of adapting water planning and management to climate change and water demand growth in the Western Cape of South Africa	p. 53
Indigenous knowledge, institutions and practices for coping with variable climate in the Limpopo basin of Botswana	p. 71
Community development and coping with drought in rural Sudan	p. 90
Climate, malaria and cholera in the Lake Victoria region: Adapting to changing risks	p. 109
Making economic sense of adaptation in upland cereal production systems in The Gambia	p. 131
Past, present and future adaptation by rural households of northern Nigeria	p. 147
Using seasonal weather forecasts for adapting food production to climate variability and climate change in Nigeria	p. 163
Adapting dryland and irrigated cereal farming to climate change in Tunisia and Egypt	p. 181
Adapting to drought, zud and climate change in Mongolia's rangelands	p. 196
Evaluation of adaptation options for the Heihe river basin of China	p. 211
Strategies for managing climate risks in the lower Mekong river basin: A place-based approach	p. 228
Spillovers and trade-offs of adaptation in the Pantabangan-Carranglan watershed of the Philippines	p. 247
Top-down, bottom-up: Mainstreaming adaptation in Pacific island townships	p. 264
Adapting to dengue risk in the Caribbean	p. 279
Adaptation to climate trends: Lessons from the Argentine experience	p. 296
Local perspectives on adaptation to climate change: Lessons from Mexico and Argentina	p. 315
Maize and soybean cultivation in southeastern South America: Adapting to climate change	p. 332
Fishing strategies for managing climate variability and change in the estuarine front of the Rio de la Plata	p. 353
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