introduction to climate change adaptation: a learning companion

8/3/2019 Introduction to Climate Change Adaptation: A Learning Companion

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Introduction to Climate Change Adaptation:A Learning CompanionOxfam Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate ChangeAdaptation Resources



Contents

1 About this companion

2 Why is climate change adaptation important or Oxam?

3 Key terms

4 How is climate change adaptation approached globally?

5 Oxam’s approach to climate change adaptation

6 Programme cycle management and climate change adaptation

7 Summary o learning

8 How to ur ther your understanding

9 Endnotes

2. Why is climate change adaptationimportant for Oxfam?Climate change is already aecting many o the

communities with which Oxam works; underminingtheir livelihoods through gradual, insidious, changes

in temperature and rainall patterns, and increasing

the requency and/or intensity o natural hazards such

as oods and droughts. The poorest communities in

developing countries around the world are being hardest

hit because they are:

•Moredependentontheirclimate-sensitivenatural

resources and ecosystems, such as agriculture and

fshing;

•Morelikelytoliveinareasthathavegreaterexposureto

climate hazards, such as urban slums and ood plains;•Lessabletorespondtoclimatechangebecauseof

limited human, fnancial, and institutional capacity.1

Even i global emissions are cut rapidly, starting today, the

impacts o climate change will continue to worsen until at

least 2060. For those already being aected, the need to

adapt to the unavoidable impacts is already urgent.

Learning Objectives

After reading this Companion, you should:

• HaveatheoreticaloverviewofCCA(including

denitionsforkeyterminology)andunderstand

whyitisimportant;

• UnderstandhowOxfamapproachesCCAand

howthistsinwithinternationalapproachesand

processes;

• UnderstandhowtointegrateCCAateachstage

oftheprojectcycle;

• HaveanideaoftherangeofCCAinterventions

acrossthecontextsinwhichOxfamworks;and

• Knowwheretogotolearnmoreaboutintegrating

CCAintoyourwork.

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1. About this CompanionClimate change adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk

Reduction (DRR) are corporate priorities or Oxam

GB. This companion is the fth in a series that covers

key topics or programme sta. It aims to support

Oxam’s programme sta to integrate CCA into their

work; it provides a theoretical overview o CCA; and

it will direct you to additional resources and practical

tools. The companion assumes that you already have

an understanding o project cycle management within

Oxam, and it should be read alongside the DRR

Programme Policy and the CCA Programme Policy

Guidelines. I you would like more inormation, please

contact [email protected].

Climate change effects and impacts:3

•Livelihoods By2020,yieldsfromwater-fed

agriculture in Arica could be down by 50 per cent.4

•Disasters Almost 250 million people around the

worldareaffectedbyclimate-relateddisastersin

a typical year. By 2015, this number could grow by

50 per cent to an average o more than 375 million

people.5

• Food security The most optimistic authoritative

prediction says that between 740 million and 1.3

billion people may be chronically hungry by 2080.6

•Water I supplies rom the Himalayan glaciers

begin to ail, millions o people in South Asia willace water shortages this century; the basin o the

Ganges alone is home to hal a billion people.7



The weather is changing

Overthepastthreeyears,OxfamstaffacrossEast

andSouthAsia,alloverAfrica,andthroughoutLatin

Americahavebeenhearingfarmersexplainhow

theyseetheweatherchanging.Theresultsare

strikingbecauseoftheextraordinaryconsistency

thattheyshowacrosstheworld.JohnMagrath,

Oxfamprogrammeresearcher,says‘Farmersareallsayingverysimilarthings:theseasonsarechanging.

Moderate,temperateseasonsareshrinkingand

vanishing.Seasonsarebecominghotteranddrier;

rainyseasonsshorterandmoreviolent.Wethink

that“changingseasonality”maybeoneofthe

mostsignicantimpactsofclimatechangeforpoor

farmers,andthatitishappeningnow.’

MohammadLliasuddinofTelkupi,Shibganj,in

Bangladesh,tellsOxfam‘IknowIamsupposed

tosowbyacertaindateortime.Thatiswhat

myforefathershavebeendoing.Butthenfor

severalyearsthetemperatureandweatherdoes

notjustseemrightforwhatwehavebeendoing

traditionally.Itisexasperating,asIdonotknow

howtocopewiththeproblems.’

WillingtonWamayeye,managingdirectorof

GumutindoCoffeeCo-operativeineastern

Uganda,says‘I’velivednearMountElgonallmy

lifeandIhaveneverknowntheweathertobeso

unpredictable.Rainsnowfallheavilyforashort

period,andourdryseasonismuchlonger.The

coffeeplantsarebadlyaffected;oweringhas

stopped.Lastyearalone(2007)welostabout

40percentofourproduction.Asaresult,people

struggleforeverything.’

Source: Oxfam report ‘What Happened to the

Seasons? 8

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As a result, Oxam GB and Oxam International have

made climate change a corporate priority. This decision

recognises that we can only ulfl our mission to overcome

poverty and suering i we address the underlying

causes o climate change, and deal with the unavoidable

consequences. Integrating climate change adaptation

(CCA) into all our work is thereore essential i we are

to help prevent increasing the poverty and suering o

those whom we seek to support, and all o the evidencesuggests that ‘development as usual’ is not enough.2

Development, equity, and urgency:

•It’sadevelopmentissue:climatechangethreatens

to stall – and then reverse – progress made to

achievetheMillenniumDevelopmentGoals.

•It’sanequityissue:poorwomenandmenin

developing countries are those worst aected by

climate change, yet are the least responsible or

causing it.

•It’sanurgentissue:theimpactsofclimatechange

are already having an impact on women and men

living in poverty; they undermine livelihoods and

increaseweather-relateddisasters,andthistrend

is set to worsen.

Puspa Rani Roy prepares her belongings beore moving to new ground, Hashail, Munshigonj, Bangladesh. She lived here or teen

years with her husband, two children and her mother-in-law: ‘This

is our own land and it will go to the river by tomorrow. I have many

memories with my amily members here. It is such a pain that we never get back this land and surely become landless like reugees.’

Photo: Abir Abbdullah/EPA



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4. How is climate change adaptationapproached globally?

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change (UNFCCC)

TheUNFCCCisthemulti-lateralmechanismtaskedwith

co-ordinatinginternationalactiononclimatechange.

Institutionally, interest in CCA began with the frst meeting

o the Conerence o the Parties to the UNFCCC in Berlin

in 1995. Since this frst meeting, work has been slow to

progress. The Thirteenth Conerence o the Parties, held

in Bali 2007, and later meetings have now cemented

adaptation’s place in the international negotiations or a

post-2012treaty,butmuchworkstillhastobedone.Most

recently, in negotiations leading up to Copenhagen in 2009

(COP15), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) has eatured more

prominently, as policy makers and practitioners recognise

DRR as an eective approach to climate change adaptation.

National Communications

As part o the UNFCCC, countries are required to report

on steps that they are taking in order to address climate

change (mitigation) and its adverse impacts (adaptation).10

Submitted reports are called National Communications,

and the chapter dedicated to adaptation contains

informationonclimate-relateddisastereffectsand

responses, health, environmental problems such as

coastal erosion and water management, and fnancial

services such as insurance. National Communications

can act as an important catalyst or countries to begin

mainstreaming adaptation into development planning.

National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs)In 2001, at the Seventh Conerence o Parties held in

Morocco,adecisionwasmadetoprovidenancialand

technicalassistancetotheLeastDevelopedCountries

(LDCs)tohelpthemtoidentifypriorityactivitiesto

respond to their urgent and immediate needs to adapt

to climate change. The main content o the National

Adaptation Programmes o Action (NAPA) is a list o

ranked priority adaptation activities and projects, as well

as short profles o each activity or project, designed to

acilitate the development o proposals or implementation

o the NAPA. However, to date, only a small number o

projects outlined in the NAPAs have been unded.

The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA)

TheHFAisaten-yearstrategy(2005-2015)toreduce

disaster risk that was agreed in Hyogo, Kobe, Japan

in 2005, by 168 governments. The Framework aims or

‘the substantial reduction o disaster losses, in lives

and in the social, economic, and environmental assets

o communities and countries.’ As part o its text,

governments agreed to integrate CCA and DRR through:

theidenticationofclimate-relateddisasterrisks;the

designofspecicrisk-reductionmeasures;andthe

improvedandroutineuseof climate-riskinformationby

planners, engineers, and other decision makers.

3. Key terms

•Adaptive capacity The potential o individuals, communities, and societies to be actively involved in the

processes o change, in order to minimise negative impacts and maximise any benefts rom changes in

the climate. Adaptive capacity thereore strengthens resilience and reduces vulnerability to a wide range

ofclimate-relatedchanges.

•Climate change A change in climate that persists or decades or longer, arising rom human activity that

alters the composition o the atmosphere (i.e., greenhouse gas emissions).

•Climate-compatible development Development that takes into account possible or predicted climate

hazards and impacts, and is sustainable over time in light o these changes.

•Climate variability Natural variations in the climate that are not caused by greenhouse gas emissions

(e.g., it rains more in some years and less in others).

•Climate change adaptation Actions that people and institutions make in anticipation o, or in response to,

a changing climate. This includes changes to the things they do, and/or the way they do them.

•Resilience Where adaptive capacity relates to the ability to inuence and respond directly to processes

o change (to shape, create or respond to change), resilience is the ability to absorb shocks or ride out

changes.

•Vulnerability The characteristics and circumstances o a community, system, or asset that makes it

susceptible to the damaging eects o climate change and other hazards.

•MitigationMeasurestoreducegreenhousegasemissions(notethattheterm‘mitigation’isused

dierently by DRR practitioners, who use it to mean reducing or limiting the adverse impact o hazards

and related disasters).



Agriculture andlivelihoods

Disaster RiskReduction

Natural-resourcemanagement

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5. Oxfam’s approach to climate changeadaptation

Oxam believes that liting people out o poverty and

overcoming injustice is central to our mission, which is

why tackling climate change is a major priority or our

humanitarian,campaigning,andlong-termdevelopment

work.

Oxam’s Vision or Disaster Risk Reduction and

Climate Change Adaptation states that:

“Oxam and the communities and partners with

which we work become able to actor climate

change and disaster risks into development and

humanitarian programmes, infuence signicant

international unding availability, and support the

national implementation o Disaster Risk Reduction

and climate change adaptation policy and practice.”

Oxam GB’s current Strategic Plan12 and corporate

objectives also state that Oxam will:

•Reducevulnerabilitytodisastersandassist

adaptation to climate change;

•Advocateforamajortransferofinternational

unds toward DRR and CCA which are

implementedinanequitable,pro-poor,and

gender-sensitivemanner;and

•IncorporateDRRandCCAintoorganisational

strategy and processes, as well as build capacity

to implement them.

All Oxam International afliates are committed to assessing

climate change vulnerability across their programmes and

initiating adaptation measures where climate change is a

major driver o poverty.13

5.1 An approach centred on sustainable livelihoods,

disaster risk reduction, and natural-resource

management

Adaptation cannot be viewed in isolation rom Oxam’s

broader work on development. This is because, like any

other driver o poverty and suering, climate change does

not act in isolation, but instead amplifes existing vulnerability

and inequality.

Oxam’s approach to CCA ocuses on the core areas o

DisasterRiskReduction,livelihoods,andnatural-resource

management, ensuring that gender is addressed as a

crosscutting issue. Where possible, this work should be

harmonised or greater impact. This approach is broadly

consistent with National Change Strategies that prioritiseclimate change adaptation.

Generic measures to reduce vulnerability and specic measures for local risks:

Examples of generic measures toreduce vulnerability:

Livelihoodsdiversicationtospreadrisk

Increased power in markets to increaseincome

Policy environment e.g., agrarian reorm,social protection, irrigation policy

Increase soil organic content to improvewater retention and drainage

Reorestation to protect embankments,reduce local temperature, and provideood and odder in times o scarcity

Examples of measures for specicimpacts:

Salinisationincostalareas:salt-tolerantcrops, water or irrigation, household andlivestock

Decreased and unpredictable rains:appropriate orecasts, crop diversifcation,arming techniques that reduce cropwater needs

Increasedtemperature:heat-tolerantcrops

Increased risk o oods, cyclones andstormsurges:district-levelcontingencyplans; PCVA; increasing understandingo risk reduction; cyclone/ood shelters;stockpiling and Early Warning Systems

Workingatmultiplelevels(household,community,provincial,national,etc.)



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Disaster Risk Reduction and climate change

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is an approach that

attempts to reduce people’s vulnerability to hazards

through:

1. Ensuring that DRR is both a national and a local priority

with a strong institutional basis or implementation;

2. Identiying, assessing, and monitoring disaster risks

andenhancingearly-warningsystems;3. Using knowledge, innovation, and education to build a

culture o saety and resilience at all levels;

4. Reducing the underlying risk actors; and

5. Strengthening disaster preparedness or eective

responses at all levels.

Because climate change is increasing the requency and/or

intensityofweather-relatedhazardsformanycommunities,

DRR is central to supporting many communities to adapt

toclimatechange.However,notallDRRisaboutclimate-

related hazards (other hazards include earthquakes) and,

equally, not all climate change impacts are hazards (such as

saline intrusion exacerbated by rising sea levels, increasing

temperature, unpredictable rainall patterns, and changing

seasons,allofwhicharemorelong-term,insidious,

changes). There are also some areas where hazards won’t

change (or may even decrease in requency or intensity),

suchasoodingontheZambeziinMozambique.Making

DRR relevant to climate change means that the way that

climate change alters hazards must be understood and

incorporated into programme design. For example, i it is

known that climate change is likely to increase the severity o

oodingthreefold(so,forexample,a‘once-in-50-yearsood’

will happen every 16 or 17 years), then the design o ood

shelters (etc.) should take this into account. Where such

precise climate change predictions are unavailable, then

a ‘precautionary’ approach can be taken; in other words,

look at the most severe climate change prediction and base

programming decisions on that.

The relationship between DRR and CCA can be visualised as:

Disaster Risk Reduction

Non climate-related

disasters

Example:earthquakes

Climate-related disasters

Examples:oods,droughts,cyclones,stormsurges

Non-disaster related climatic

impacts

Examples:temperature, unpredictablerain,sea-levelrise, saline intrusion

Incorporating predicted

changes in weather-related

hazards into DRR

Incorporating interventions to support

communities deal with gradual changes:

ocusing on livelihoods, natural-resource

management and national policy and

practices (the enabling environment)

Climate Change Adaption

Climate Change and Disasters: similarities and differences

Sustainable livelihoods and climate change14

Livelihoodsapproachesarebasedontheunderstanding

that poverty, and the ability to move out o poverty, reects

the (lack o) capabilities and assets available to those

aected. This includes material assets such as access

to land, other natural resources, fnancial capital and

credit, tools, and inputs into productive activities. It also

reects human capabilities (the knowledge and skills

o the amily), and social and political actors, such the

ability to negotiate air and adequate outcomes in the

market chains within which people buy and sell good and

services.

Sustainable livelihoods programmes typically assess the

barriers that people ace in improving their livelihoods,

and design programme interventions to overcome these.

Some o these are not directly aected by climate change

(or example, people’s power to negotiate air prices

or products and services). However, many are directly

aected by climate change, particularly those concerning

the ability o producers to produce. For example, when

rising temperatures are increase crop water demand and

weather is ever more unpredictable; armers struggle to

know when to cultivate the land, sow, and harvest. Rainall

even within the rainy season is becoming concentrated



into more heavy downpours punctuated by dry spells

(which alone can reduce crop yield by between 30 and

70 per cent), and heavy, unseasonable downpours are

damaging crops. These types o impact are almost

universal, but they oten have clear potential solutions

(see section 6). Strategies or implementing these

solutions need to be rooted in an understanding o how

people sustain their livelihoods, and be implemented

alongside the existing strategies that aim to overcome

the barriers that prevent people rom improving their

livelihoods.

Natural-resource management and climate change

Climate change makes the wise management o natural

resources – water, soils, and trees – even more important

as a way o supporting communities to adapt to climate

change. This is frst because climate change increases

resource scarcity. For example, in areas that are

becoming drier, and in coastal areas suering rom saline

intrusion, there is a reduction in the availability o water

or household and productive use. Second, the role that

natural resources play in buering communities against

extremes o climate becomes more important as climates

become more adverse. For example, increasing soil’s

organic content improves water retention and drainage

that can help crops as rain becomes more concentratedinto heavy downpours (even when there is no change

in the overall rainall each year), and reorestation can

reduce local temperatures, provide additional income,

protect against soil erosion, landslides, and local ooding,

and provide ood and odder in times o scarcity.

Gender and climate change

While climate change aects everyone, it is not gender

neutral. It magnifes existing inequalities, reinorcing the

disparity between women and men in their vulnerability

to climate change, and their capability to cope with

it.15 Women, who orm the majority o the world’s poor,

tend to be more vulnerable to the eects o climate

change16 and are being aected in their multiple roles as

ood producers and providers, as guardians o health,

care givers, and economic actors. They are more likely

to become direct victims (through death and injuries)

ofclimate-relateddisasters,suchashurricanesand

ooding, because they are less likely to be able to swim,

and are more likely to be at home when such events

occur.17 Drought, deorestation, and erratic rainall cause

women to work harder to secure resources (such as

ood, water, and uel) and mean that women have less

time to earn an income, get an education or training,

orparticipateindecision-makingprocesses.Families

aected by poverty, many o which are headed by

emales, oten live in more precarious situations: on low,ood-pronelandsoronsteepslopes.

Local people rebuild the river embankment, which protects their village, Kholishabunia, near Gabura, Shatkhira district, Bangladesh.

Embankments on tidal rivers are eeling the twin strain o larger volumes o water coming downstream, and higher tides and increased waveintensity rom the coast. Many embankments are being breached, or are close to breaching, with people losing lives and homes as a result.

Oxam is working with partners LEDARS (Local Environment Development Agricultural Research Society) in this region to raise community

awareness on climate change – what it is and how to adapt. They also support tiger widows through income raising activities, provide relie ater foods, and model storm resistant houses. Photo: Shehab Uddin/DRIK/Oxam GB

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5.2 An approach that includes working at multiple levels18

Climate change is rapidly moving communities

beyond their capacity to cope, and so while working

at a community level is necessary, on its own it is not

a sufcient response to support eective adaptation.

Inaddition,climatechangeisalong-termissuefor

people living in poverty, irrespective o the outcome o

international negotiations, and so the state will play an

increasing and undamental role in reducing communities’

vulnerability to climate change. To give some examples:

•Increasingtemperatureswillsoontakesomecrops

beyond their physiological limits (e.g., maize in Southern

Africa).Developingheat-tolerantvarietiesisnot

something that can be done by each community, and so

inuencing agricultural research and extension to develop

varieties that are appropriate or smallholders will be a

critical part o adaptation.

•Rainsandseasonsarebecomingincreasingly

unpredictable, meaning that traditional techniques

or deciding when to cultivate, sow, and harvest

are becoming increasingly ineective. Supporting

meteorological services to work with armers to allow

access to reliable, appropriate, and appropriately

communicated orecasts can play an enormous role in

maintaining and increasing smallholders’ yields.

Listedbelowarewaysof workingthatcouldtakeplace

with local and national government and at an international

level to help enable communities to adapt to climate

change (there are o course other levels, such as

provincial and regional, but it may not be easible to work

at all o these at the same time).

Local government

Working with local government (such as municipal or district)

is critical because it is this level that implements (and to some

extent inuences) many government policies. It is also the

level at which the impacts o climate change are most clearly

maniested. Based on an analysis o climate change impacts

and the adaptation interventions that will help communities,

Oxam can help integrate local adaptation through:

•Collationof localinformationonclimateimpactsand

local adaptation responses to raise awareness o the

issues and solutions;

•Provisionofhuman,nancial,andtechnicalresources

and services to support local adaptation.

National government

This is the level at which strategic decisions are taken to

create an enabling environment or aected communities.

Itisalsoatthislevelwheremedium-tolong-term

developmentandpoverty-reductionstrategiesare

established. To acilitate the integration o adaptationnationally Oxam should advocate or a number o priority

actions to be taken. These include:

•Commissioningnationalassessmentsof climatechange

impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation options;

•Workingwithdifferentpartsof governmenttosupporta

‘whole-government’approach(climatechangeistypically

theformalresponsibilityoftheMinistryofEnvironment,

which oten has little inuence over other parts o government);

•Incorporatingconsiderationsof climatechangerisks

withinlong-termvisions,andstrategiesforpoverty

reduction and sustainable development;

Villagers tend their vegetables as part o Oxam GB’s Farmer’s Field School, designed to reduce the eects o climate change in West Timor. Oxam is using the Farmers Field School approach to home gardening, which teaches armers to grow vegetables utilising appropriate arming

technology with low and natural external inputs such as green manure, compost and local seeds to ensure sustainability and restore soil ertility.

The project directly benets 7,500 vulnerable people who are selected on the basis o need and motivation. Photo: Tom Greenwood/Oxam GB



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•Holdinggovernment to account or the development

and implementation o adaptation policies or vulnerable

communities;

•Ensuringthatvulnerablepeople,andespeciallywomen

livinginpoverty,arerepresentedindecision-making.

International level

Oxam has ocused its international campaigning and

advocacyworkontheUNFCCCConference/Meetingo Parties in Copenhagen (December 2009). This is

the meeting that has the potential to agree a global

reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) and

the size and management o unding or adaptation.

Whether a successul deal is reached or not, holding

the international community to account or providing

adequate adaptation unds will or decades remain a vital

and continuing part o reducing poverty and vulnerability,

either or Oxam directly or or local civil society networks

that we support that are working on climate change.

5.3 An approach that has a range of interventionsThe precise impacts o climate change on any one

geographical area aren’t known absolutely (and,

or technical reasons, can’t be known with absolute

certainty). That means that the types o interventions that

will support communities to adapt to climate change will

need to combine interventions that ocus on both:

Impacts: When specifc impacts are known with a degree

o certainty, then interventions can be designed to help

communities deal with those. For example, in most parts

o the world, temperatures will rise by between one and1.5 degrees over the next 20 years, directly aecting crop

production and increasing crop water demand by about 10

percent;salineintrusionwillincreaseinlow-lyingcoastal

areasoverthesameperiod.Interventionsthatintroduceheat-

resistantanddrought-resistantvarieties,increasesoilwater

retention, and provide water or household and productive

use will help communities aced with these problems.

Vulnerability Where the impacts remain uncertain,

measures that reduce communities’ underlying

vulnerability to any shocks and trends will also be

needed, such as: women’s rights, empowering poor andmarginalised communities to be involved in decision

making, provision o healthcare, etc.

Effective climate change adaptation for Oxfam:

•Managesandreducesrisksassociatedwithchangesintheclimate. 19

•Involvesplanningforthelong-termfuturewhilesimultaneouslyhelpingcommunitiescopewithpresent

circumstances, by reducing vulnerability and increasing their capacity to act.

•Hingesbothonaddressingvulnerabilitythrough‘climate-compatibledevelopment’(forexample,ensuring

that existing agricultural practices are sustainable where there is more likelihood o drought in the uture) anddeveloping specifc responses to climate change impacts (or example, specifc responses such as building

seawallsinlow-lyingislandstostoperosion).20

•Needstobeexibleenoughtocopewithuncertainty,andwithmeetingdifferentneedsthatmightrapidlychange.21

•Isappropriatetothelocalsocial,economic,andclimaticcontext.

•Involvesworkingatdifferentlevels(suchas:community,district,national,andinternational)

•Isintegratedintodevelopmentandhumanitarianprogramming(includinglivelihoods,DRR,natural-resource

management, and governance programmes) to build on Oxam’s extensive and existing good practice in these

areas.

Climate change adaptation for Oxfam is not:

•Justabout‘goodprogramming’.Thethreatof climatechangeacrossOxfam’sprogrammesmeansitmustbe considered in context analyses (or example, building a ood shelter that ails to take into account the

changed ood risk would not constitute eective adaptation). Analysis needs to take into account the changing

dynamics o risk in the light o climate change so that interventions are sustainable or generations to come.

•Relabellingexistingwork:ifclimatechangeimpactsarenotexplicitlyanalysed,oradaptationobjectivesare

not set at the star t o a programme, we cannot be sure that programmes are supporting communities to adapt

to climate change, nor can we be certain that they will not increase uture vulnerability.

•A‘one-size-ts-all’approach.CCAneedstobecontextspecic,intermsofpeople’slivelihoodsandtheir

cultural norms.

•Thesameascopingstrategies,whicharegenerallyshorttermandnotsustainableovertime.



6. Programme cycle management and CCA

6.1 Identication: assessing and analysing climate risk

Programme identifcation involves defning the change

that Oxam wishes to bring about, exploring the issues to

be addressed, and considering our capacity to respond

to them. At the same time, we need to be sure that our

proposed piece o work is strategic, represents a good

use o Oxam’s resources, and is consistent with Oxam’s

belies, values, and objectives.

Identify climatic hazards from scientic and

community sources22

In order to decide whether or not climate change should

be part o any strategy, programme, or project we frst

need to identiy whether or not climate change is a

signifcant contributor to poverty and suering within the

context in which we are operating. We can do this by

gathering available and relevant inormation and using

it orm an overall picture that can be analysed beore

making decisions. As a minimum, we need to:

•Talktocommunitiesaboutwhat’schanging,andwhat

impacts those changes are having (using standard

participatorytoolssuchasfocus-groupdiscussions,

seasonal calendars, etc.);

•Lookatthescienticevidencetondoutwhat’s

changing, what those changes could be (direction and

magnitude), and identiy where there’s uncertainty; and

•Talktootherorganisationsandgovernmentsabouttheir

understanding o climate change and the work that they

are doing and planning around adaptation.

Questions to ask communities include:

•Whatchangesinclimatearealreadybeingobserved:

– Seasonal shits?

– Changes in rainall patterns and availability o

water?

–Extreme-weatherevents?

•Howaredifferentpeoplebeaffectedbyclimate

change in dierent ways, in terms o their:

– Household workload (women)?

–Livelihoodsactivities(womenandmen

separately)?

•Whataretheunderlyingcausesofvulnerabilityto

climate change?

– Which livelihoods strategies are more vulnerable

or more resilient to climate change, and why?

– What strategies are currently being (or could

be) employed to deal with these problems,

and which have the potential to assist them in

adapting to climate change?

•Whattypesofsupportareneededtofacilitate

adaptation at the individual, household, and

community levels?

Questions to ask scientists and governments

include:

•Whatarethemostimportantclimatechange

hazards acing your particular area?

•Whatinformationisthere,andwhatdoyouknow,

about past and present changes regarding (or

example):

– Annual and seasonal rainall, average

temperatures, storms, and ooding;

– Occurrence o mudslides, landslides, and

wildfres;

– Frequency o drought recurrence;

– Fresh water availability and quality;

– Seasons?

•Isthereinformationavailableaboutprojected

changes in the above or the next fve, 10, and 50

years?

•Whatactionsarelocalandnationalinstitutions

taking to develop the capacities o communities

to adapt to climate change?

•Whowouldbethekeytargetsforadvocacy

eorts around climate change?

•Whoarethekeypartnersandalliesforclimate

change adaptation?

•Whatcapacityexistsandwhattypesofsupport

are needed to acilitate adaptation at the

institutional and national policy levels?

By doing this we can get a better overall picture o

what’s happening in your country or region and collate

the inormation we receive to see where there are

commonalities,inordertomakebetter-informeddecisions

about priority areas or intervention.

6.2 Planning and design: integrating CCA

Programmes that take into account current and

predictable impacts of climate changeWhen planning and designing CCA interventions, it is

important to remember that they will not normally be

‘stand-alone’programmesorprojects.Thecurrentand

predictable impacts o climate change need to be taken

into account within poverty reduction and humanitarian

programmes, so that:

•Communitiesareempoweredtounderstandclimate

change,identifysolutions,andholddecision-makersto

account;

•Programmescontainelementsthatsupportcommunities

to adapt to current and predictable impacts o climate change. Where inormation is not available or

9



•Workingforadaptationtobeintegratedintonational

development planning processes and backed up with

the budgets needed;

•Seekingtoinuencethefundingpoliciesof multi-lateral,

bi-lateral,andnationalinstitutionsandotherdonors,so

that unding or adaptation is adequate, reliable, and

easily accessed by those who need it most.

Programmes should aim to grow organisational

capacity to understand and address climate change

An important component o Oxam’s work on climate

change is ensuring that we have the human and fnancial

capacity to be eective in our eorts. We can do this by:

•Makingsufcienthumanandnancialresources

available or developing organisational capacity

or climate change adaptation, including access to

appropriate training and other orms o capacity

development.

6.3 Implementation and management: CCA in practiceWhile many o Oxam GB’s development, humanitarian,

and advocacy programmes have contributed to

sustainable development and CCA or many years,

it has only been most recently that we have been

purposely involved in CCA programming and have

prioritised climate change as a corporate objective. As

a result we are rapidly growing our skills, knowledge,

and expertise on programming. Our hope is that in the

next two to three years we will have developed a whole

suite o programmes across countries and regions

that are eectively assisting communities and national

governments adapt to climate change.

is lacking, plans should identiy options that reduce

the vulnerability o women’s and men’s livelihoods,

vulnerability to disasters, and that protect ecosystems,

whatever the specifc local eects o climate change

turn out to be;23

•Programmesincludeexplicitresponsestotheidentied

vulnerabilities, needs, and capacities o women,

marginalised groups, indigenous communities and

ethnic minorities, those aected by HIV and AIDS, and

people with disabilities;

•Thecapacityofnationalinstitutionsandsystemsis

strengthened to develop and implement measures to

tackle climate change, ocusing on the most vulnerable;

•Specicobjectivesandindicatorsareestablished

or CCA and DRR, in consultation with partners and

communities, to measure, monitor, evaluate, and

communicate the impact o our work.

Programmes that link with others to achieve political

commitment and action

Oxam should not aim to work alone on climate change,

as we do not yet have the resources or capacity to deal

with climate change on the scale required. However, we

can have more impact i we work with others, including:

•Workingwithalliesandpartnersatmultiplelevels(for

example: community, district, national, and international)

and across unctions (programming and campaigning)

toensurethatpro-poor,gender-sensitivenationalpolicy

and practice supports communities’ own eorts;

Lelya Kayere, 76, selling her tomatoes. The Oxam unded Mnembo Irrigation scheme has helped to improve the lives o 400 amilies by

transorming their traditional small low-yield crops into year-round, high volume harvests that provide continuous ood and a source o income.

The community are now totally sel sustainable. Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Oxam GB

10



Programme activity examples

Accesstoheat-tolerantcrops

Accesstodrought-tolerantandfast-maturingcropsand

varieties

Increase soil organic content

Water-conservingcrop-managementpractices

Maximisewatercaptureandstorage

Advocacy on securing rights o access to water supplies

forsmall-scalefarmers

Tree planting (shade and odder)

Changetomoreheat-tolerantlivestock(e.g.,shiftfrom

cattle to goats)

Conservation o coastal mangroves and other vegetation

Sustainable aquaculture such as fsh arming in ponds.

Provision o water or households and productive use

Sea deences built

DRR approach, ensuring that increased risk is built

into project design across the fve priority areas or

action (making DRR a priority; know the risks; building

understanding and awareness; reduce risks; and

preparedness)

Appropriate, accessible, and reliable

weather orecasts

Crop diversifcation and crop mixing

Appropriate, accessible, and reliable weather orecasts


Watercaptureandstorage;accesstofast-maturing/

drought-tolerantvarieties;soilandcropmanagementto

conserve water

Appropriate, accessible, and reliable weather orecasts

Flood-tolerantvarieties


DRR approach, ensuring that increased risk is built into

project design across the fve priority areas or action.

DRR approach, ensuring that increased risk

is built into project design across the fve priority

areas or action.

Drought-cyclemanagementand/orintegrated

communitywater-managementapproaches.

Impact

Heat stress on crops

Increased crop water

demand

Heat stress on livestock

Worsening availability

o fsh stocks

Saline intrusion

Coastal erosion

Increased requency/

severity o storm

surges

Farmers uncertain

about when to cultivate,

sow, and harvest

Crops damaged by dry

spells within growing

season

Crops damaged by

unseasonal heavy

downpours

Increased requency/

severity o oods

Increased requency/

severity o drought

Change

Temperature increase

on land and water

Sea-levelrise

Changed seasonality

Increase in intense

rainall or large

increase in annual

rainall

Decrease in annual

rainfallinarid/semi-arid

areas

ThefollowingtableincludessomeexamplesofCCAactivitiesthatyoumightliketoconsider.Thelistisnotexhaustive.

11



Key Outcomes

1. Food security

Afterharvesting,itwasfoundthatall57householdswere

morefood-securethantheyhadbeenbeforethestartofthe

project,withmorethan90percentoftherice,meat,andvegetablesconsumedgrownbythefamiliesthemselves.

2. Decline in rice production halted

Despitetheyear’sharshconditions,51outofthe57

programmeparticipantswereabletomaintainanoutput

ofricethatwasatleastsufcientfortheirownhousehold

consumption,with14producingasurplustosellat

market.Onlysixhouseholdssufferedlossesinriceyield,

becausetheirwatersystemswerenotestablishedin

time.Overallriceproductionfellbyalmost16percent,in

starkcontrasttofarmsthatdidnottakepartintheproject,

whoseproductionfellby40percent.

3. Diversity of crops

Programmeparticipantsadoptedcropdiversicationas

anadditionalwaytoreducetheriskoffoodandeconomic

insecurity.Farmers,especiallywomen,plantedfruitsand

vegetablesduringandafterricecultivation,sellingthe

producenotconsumedbytheirhouseholdsatlocalmarkets,

earningthemaround500to1,500baht($15to$40)aweek.

4. On-farm water-management systems

Morethan90percentofparticipantsagreedthatthe

water-managementsystemsreducedtheimpactsofdrought.Almost90percentbelievedthatthesystems

wereappropriateforwomenandchildrentouse,and

theywerealreadyndingwaystoimprovetheirwater-

managementsystems.

Oxfamhasbeenworkingwiththelocalorganisation

EarthNetFoundation(ENF)since2004,promoting

organicagriculturalproductionandfair-trademarketing

withfarmersinYasothornProvince.Acombinationof

scienticndingsandobservedchangesbycommunitiesandprogrammestaffpromptedOxfamtotakeaction.In

consultationwithfarmingcommunitiesandENF,Oxfam

decidedtoimplementaninitialone-yearpilotCCAproject

fororganicrice.Fifty-sevenoutofthe509organic-farming

householdsdecidedtojointhescheme.

Activities

1. Climate change awareness and participatory

decision making

Men,women,andchildrenwereeducatedaboutclimate

changeanditspotentialimpactsinThailand.Usingthis

information,participantssharedideasabouthowtheycouldadapttheirfarmingpracticestocopewiththese

changes,andtheydesignedtheirownon-farmwater-

managementsystems.

2. Provision of loans to project participants

Afundwasestablishedwhichprovidedloansofupto

30,000baht($880)toeachhousehold,toassistinthe

constructionofon-farmwater-managementsystems.The

loansareofferedatlowinterestrates(betweenoneand

threepercent)foronetosixyears.Thefundlentmoneyto

all57projecthouseholds:1,400,000baht($41,000)intotal.

3. Implementation of on-farm water-management

systems

Intotal,23stockponds,24wells,44water-drainage

systems(ditch,sprinkle,pipe),and14waterpumpswere

designed,built,andinstalled.Becauseoftheuncertain

impactofclimatechangeonriceproduction,farmersalso

diversiedtheirfoodcrops.Manyfarmers,especially

women,grewvegetablesandplantedfruittreesas

alternativecrops,earninghouseholdsbetween500to

1,500baht($15to$40)perweek.

4. Farmers as catalystsFemaleandmalefarmerswhotookpartintheproject

metwithotherfarmersandhouseholdstosharetheir

experiences,inordertohelpotherstondbettersolutions

totheproblemsposedbyachangingclimate.Several

workshopstookplace,including:oneonagricultural

modelsandtechniquestoreduceclimaterisks;threeon

theimpactofclimatechangeonfemalefarmers’roles;

andthreeonon-farmproductmanagementandseed

managementforfemalefarmers.

Case study: ‘Jasmine Rice in the Weeping Plain’- Climate change adaptation in Thailand

A windmill is used to pump water into a large storage tank to supply

water to Manoon Phupa’s arm.This pump is one o many designed

and installed as part o an Oxam project to help rice armers adapt to climate change in northern Thailand.

Photo: Tul Pinkaew and Supaporn Anichiracheeva/Oxam GB

12



6.4 Monitoring, evaluation, and learning

Given the innovation needed within Oxam’s work to tackle

the unavoidable impacts o climate change, an integral part

o this work includes monitoring, evaluation, and learning

(MEL)todemonstratethedifferenceandimpactofOxfam’s

CCA actions. This will not only provide improvements in

programme design and implementation or uture activities

within programmes, but will also provide opportunities or

organisational development and motivate sta.Monitoring,evaluating,andlearningisdoubly

important within CCA because climate change is taking

communities, local and national governments, and other

stakeholders outside the customary range o climate. This

means that all stakeholders will need to learn what does

and does not work, and build upon successul strategies.

Wherever possible Oxam should aim to:

•Facilitatea‘safespace’forcommunitiesandother

stakeholders to experiment with dierent ideas and

solutions without putting themselves at greater risk;

•Ensurethatstakeholders(communities,government

authorities, and other organisations) are actively involved

in monitoring and evaluating the outcomes o the actions

they implement;

•Buildonwhatworksandwhatdoesn’twork,inorderto

improve CCA programming or the uture.

This approach is the same as the programme management

cycle,withthecomponentsof experimentationandMEL

being explicitly addressed and prioritised.

To ensure wider learning within Oxam, pleasesend copies o all your evaluation reports to the

Programme Resource Centre (PRC). You can also

contact the PRC or support in documenting or

disseminating your learning, or to request the Rough

GuideonIntegratingLearningintoProgramme

CycleManagement.

There is an Oxam Adaptation and Risk Reduction

Practitioners’ email orum where you can share

experiences and ask questions o other colleagues

working in the feld. Email your request to join this

orum to [email protected].

7. Summary of key learning

•Climatechangeisadevelopmentissuethatthreatensto

stall – and then reverse – progress made to achieve the

MillenniumDevelopmentGoals.

•Poorwomenandmenindevelopingcountriesare

those worst aected by climate change, yet are least

responsible or causing it.

•Theimpactsofclimatechangewillcontinuetoworsen,

and or those already aected the need to adapt is urgent.

•Oxfamiscommittedtotacklingclimatechangeinour

humanitarian,campaigning,andlong-termdevelopment

work.

11

•ThecoreofOxfam’sworkonCCAfocusesonDRR,

livelihoods,andnatural-resourcemanagement,ensuring

that gender is addressed as a crosscutting issue.

•EffectiveCCAinvolvesplanningforthelong-termfuture

while simultaneously helping communities cope with

present circumstances, by reducing vulnerability and

increasing their capacity to adapt.

•Communitiesmustbeattheheartof effortstobuildresilience to climate change, but their eorts will only

be successul i backed up by national strategies and

policies, and by international fnancial support – and we

need to inuence these.

8. How to further your understanding

For more advice about climate change adaptation, please

see the online resources below, and/or contact the

PPT Adaptation and Risk Reduction team in Oxord by

emailing [email protected].

8.1 Key resources

Oxfam GB

Internal resources, including programme policies:

http://intranet.oxam.org.uk/programme/arr

External resources, including policy papers and national

reports on climate change: www.oxam.org.uk/resources/

policy/climate_change/index.html

WeADAPT

Online resource and learning guide or Oxam sta: http://

wikiadapt.org/index.php?title=Oxam_Entry_Page

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The Fourth Assessment Report: www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/

assessments-reports.htm

United Nations Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC)

NationalCommunications:

www.unfccc.int/national_reports/non-annex_i_natcom/

items/2979.php

National Adaptation Programmes o Action (NAPAs):

http://unccc.int/cooperation_support/least_developed_

countries_portal/submitted_napas/items/4585.php

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)Adaptation country profles http://country-proles.geog.

ox.ac.uk

Learningonadaptationhttp://www.undp.org/

climatechange/adapt/index.html

8.2 Additional resources

Global Humanitarian Forum: The Anatomy o a Silent

Crisis: www.ghf-ge.org/OurWork/RaisingAwareness/

HumanImpactReport/tabid/180/Deault.aspx

UN Human Development Report: Fighting climate change:

Human solidarity in a divided world: http://hdr.undp.org/

en/reports/global/hdr2007-2008/

UNISDR (2008) Climate change and disaster risk

reduction. Briefng Paper 01: www.unisdr.org/eng/risk-

reduction/climate-change/cc-information.html

13



14

9. Endnotes

1 UNDP (2007) Human Development Report 2007/2008 – ‘Fighting climatechange:Humansolidarityinadividedworld’.PanMacmillan:NewYork.

2 UNISDR (2009) Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction.Available at: www.preventionweb.net/english/hyogo/gar/report/index.php?id=1130&pid:34&pif:3.Lastcheckedbyauthor,08August2009.

3 Global Humanitarian Forum (2009) Climate Change: The Anatomy o aSilent Crisis, and Oxam International (2009) The Right to Survive: TheHumanitatian Challenge in the 21st Century.

4DrBalgisOsman-Elasha,HigherCouncilforEnvironmentandNaturalResources,Sudan,CopenhagenScienceConference,March2009.

5 Oxam Briefng Paper 130 (2009) Suering the Science: Climate change,poverty and people. Oxam International. The fgure derives rom acalculation o the historic increase in the number o disasters per year,actored with the increasing vulnerability o populations, according to arange o actors.

6M.L.Parry,O.F.Canziani,J.P.Palutikof,P.J.vanderLindenandC.E.Hanson,Eds. (2007) Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.Contribution o Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report o theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press,:Cambridge, UK.

7M.L.Parry,O.F.Canziani,J.P.Palutikof,P.J.vanderLindenandC.E.Hanson,Eds. (2007) Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.Contribution o Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report o theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press:Cambridge. Chapter 10.

8Jennings,S.andMagrath,J.(2009)WhatHappenedtotheSeasons?Oxam GB Research Report. Oxam GB.

9 Adapted rom United Nations International Strategy or Disaster RiskReduction (UN/ISDR) (2009) New 2009 Terminology on Disaster Risk

Reduction,availableat:www.unisdr.org/eng/terminology/terminology-2009-eng.html.Lastcheckedbyauthor,08August2009;theUnitedNationsFramework Convention on Climate Change defnitions, and Practical Action.

10Tearfund&IDS(2007)OvercomingtheBarriers:Mainstreamingclimatechange adaptation in developing countries.

11 UNFCCC website: http://unccc.int/cooperation_support/least_developed_countries_portal/submitted_napas/items/4585.php.Lastcheckedbyauthor,08 August 2009.

12OxfamGBStrategicPlan2007-10.Availableat:http://intranet.oxfam.org.uk/about_oxfam/management/strat_plan.htm?searchterm=strategic+plan.Lastchecked by author, 08 August 2009.

13 Oxam International (2008) Double Trouble: Overcoming obstacles to urgentand air responses to global climate change or economic justice. OxamInternational.

14 International Institute or Sustainable Development, International Union or Conservation o Nature and Natural Resources and Stockholm EnvironmentInstitute(2003)LivelihoodsandClimateChange:CombiningDisasterRiskReduction, natural resource management and climate change adaptation ina new approach to the reduction o vulnerability and poverty. Winnipeg: IISD.

15 UNDP (2007).

16 WEDO (2007) Changing the climate: Why women’s perspectives matter.

WDO: New York.

17 Neumayer, E. & and Plümper, T (2007) The Gendered Nature o NaturalDisasters:TheImpactofCatastrophicEventsontheGenderGapinLifeExpectancy.

18 This section adapted rom OECD (2009) ‘Policy guidance on integratingclimatechangeadaptationintodevelopmentcooperation’.JointHigh-LevelmeetingoftheOECDDevelopmentAssistanceCommitteeandtheEnvironmentPolicyCommittee.28-29May2009.

19 Text taken directly rom IISD (2003).

20Misselhorn,A.(2008)AdaptingtoclimatechangeinUmkhanyakudedistrict,KwaZulu-Natal,SouthAfrica.OxfamAustralia:Melbourne.

21Misselhorn(2008).

22 Adapted rom Tearund’s CEDRA (Climate Change and EnvironmentalDegradation Risk and Adaptation Assessment) tool (2009).

23 Adapted rom Sperl ing, F. (2003) Poverty and Climate Change: Reducingthe Vulnerability o the Poor through Adaptation, and Stern, N. (2006) TheEconomics o Climate Change, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Members o the Tukore Women’s Group have set up a shop selling abrics as a way o diversiying livelihoods in Lake Katwe, Uganda. Katwe

oers nothing to live o except sh and salt rom the salt pans. So although livelihoods can be protable, they are also highly variable and vulnerable. Now climate change is increasing that vulnerability. Photo: John Magrath/Oxam



Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation arecorporateprioritiesforOxfamGB.TheLearningCompanionsareaset

o articles, which provide accessible and practical guidance to Oxam sta wishing to integrate DRR and Climate Change Adaptationapproaches into programming. To fnd out about other resources on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, and to give us

your eedback on these resources, please contact the Programme Resource Centre. Email: [email protected]

Frontcover:MartinaLongom(foreground)joinswomenfromCaicaoanvillagecollectingwaterfromthetraditionalwaterhole.

Because water is becoming harder to fnd, members o the local women’s group have successully campaigned or and helped to build a

boreholeclosetothevillage.Insteadofwalkingforuptosevenhourstocollectwater,thewomennowmakea30-minuteroundtrip.

Photo: Geo Sayer/Oxam

OxfamisaregisteredcharityinEnglandandWalesNo202918andScotlandSCO039042.Inhouse4087

introduction to climate change adaptation: a learning companion

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