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Adapting to Coastal Climate Change: A Guidebook for Development Planners
Summary:
A new publication entitled “Adapting to Coastal Climate Change: A Guidebook for Development Planners” is now available. The Guidebook will assist USAID Missions and development partners to understand the diversity of climate change impacts expected to affect the coastal zone throughout the developing world, and the options that exist for coastal planners and managers to assist coastal communities to begin to adapt to these impacts.
The Guidebook was a collaborative effort of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center, and International Resources Group, together with input from practitioners from multiple institutions, including the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The document received considerable input and review by an expert Advisory Committee, and benefitted from feedback received at several training events sponsored by USAID over the past 18 months, including the recent World Oceans Conference in Indonesia. The workshop provided hands-on training for those involved in undertaking vulnerability analyses, and the design and implementation of adaptation measures around a suite of coastal resource management goals, including:
- functioning and healthy coastal ecosystems
- less exposed built environments
- diversified livelihoods
- human health and safety
- overarching planning and governance
The coastal Guidebook is divided into three sections. The Summary for Policy Makers, provides an overview of the critical issues and introduces the process to incorporate adaptation within coastal programs. The Chapters provide practical insight, tools, and references to plan and implement coastal adaptation. Chapters 1 through 3 highlight vulnerability assessment and action planning, while Chapters 4 through 6 focus on how adaptation can be mainstreamed, implemented and evaluated. The Annex of Adaptation Measures includes 17 practitioner briefs which outline approaches for adaptation through management actions and strategies. Many of these will be familiar to coastal management professionals—the climate lens is new, but in most cases the tools are not. A climate change lens means planning with a longer time scale and a wider range of possible variability in mind.
The Guidebook is now available: here
