What is climate adaptation?

What is the difference between climate change mitigation and adaptation?

How can the private sector invest in and innovate for climate adaptation?

Food production can be adapted to climate change impacts by:

• Developing crops that are more resilient to extreme weather and other effects of climate change
• Using smart irrigation systems to optimize and reduce water use
• Fostering online digital marketplaces that connect farmers with buyers, reducing long-distance transportation needs and emissions
• Using sensors and drones to collect data on weather, soil moisture, and crop growth to help farmers make more informed decisions about when and how to plant, irrigate, and harvest crops
• Using digital sensors to monitor the health and well-being of livestock to help pastoralists identify and address issues such as heat stress and disease

Kimplanter Seedlings and Nurseries propagates drought-resistant seedlings and helps farmers improve productivity in spite of drought and harsh weather conditions. Find out more

Better Beans for Africa gives farmers access to climate-smart and resilient beans with enhanced nutritional content. Find out more

MoA-INFO is a free SMS service that helps rural farmers adapt to changing seasons and increases in damaging armyworm outbreaks. Find out more

Infrastructure can be adapted to climate change by:

• Designing buildings and infrastructure to be more resilient to climate change impacts, such as sea level rise and extreme heat
• Incorporating green infrastructure, such as oyster reefs, coastal salt marshes, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrasses, sand beaches, and dunes to provide protection from climate hazards
• Building flood protection systems, such as levees, to protect against rising sea levels and increased storm surges
• Considering the potential impacts of climate change in land-use planning and zoning decisions
• Retrofitting existing infrastructure to make it more resilient to the effects of climate change

GCA is supporting the Gambia Port Authority to climate-proof its investments as it expands and modernizes the Port. Find out more

Here are some examples of how we can adapt how we manage water to climate change:

• Developing early warning systems for floods and droughts
• Harvesting rainwater and reusing greywater to sustainably manager water and improve water security
• Investing in water-efficient irrigation systems and drought-resistant crops to help farmers adapt to changing water conditions
• Restoring wetlands and other natural water storage systems to improve water retention and reduce the impacts of floods
• Developing desalination plants to increase water supply in water-stressed regions
• Implementing policies and regulations to improve water conservation and reduce water waste
• Supporting the development of water-related disaster risk reduction and management plans
• Building resilient water supply systems to cope with extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and heavy rain
• Investing in water infrastructure for drinking water supply, sanitation, and hygiene and to prevent water pollution
• Building and upgrading dams, levees, and other water infrastructure to protect against flooding and increase water storage capacity

The city of Rotterdam uses innovative solutions like multipurpose rainwater storage and green spaces that respond to climate change-induced heavy rainfall, flooding and heat waves. Find out more

In Beijing, 80% of annual rainfall occurs in the summer. Floodplains and wetlands play a key role in helping the city manage water. Find out more

In the Wadden Sea Region of the Netherlands, the ‘double dike’ is helping the community manage sediment and cultivate seafood while
protecting them from coastal floods. Find out more

The Locally Led Adaptation Principles developed by the Global Commission on Adaptation provide guidance on how to promote and strengthen LLA:

• Devolving decision-making to the lowest appropriate level: Giving local institutions and communities more direct access to finance and decision-making power over how adaptation actions are defined, prioritized, designed, and implemented; how progress is monitored; and how success is evaluated.
• Addressing structural inequalities faced by women, youth, children, disabled, displaced, Indigenous Peoples and marginalized ethnic groups: Integrating gender-based, economic, and political inequalities that are root causes of vulnerability into the core of adaptation action and encouraging vulnerable and marginalized individuals to meaningfully participate in and lead adaptation decisions.
• Providing patient and predictable funding that can be accessed more easily: Supporting long-term development of local governance processes, capacity, and institutions through simpler access modalities and longer-term and more predictable funding horizons, to ensure that communities can effectively implement adaptation actions.
• Investing in local capabilities to leave an institutional legacy: Improving the capabilities of local institutions to ensure they can understand climate risks and uncertainties, generate solutions, and facilitate and manage adaptation initiatives over the long term without being dependent on project-based donor funding.
• Building a robust understanding of climate risk and uncertainty: Informing adaptation decisions through a combination of local, traditional, Indigenous, generational and scientific knowledge that can enable resilience under a range of future climate scenarios.
• Flexible programming and learning: Enabling adaptive management to address the inherent uncertainty in adaptation, especially through robust monitoring and learning systems, flexible finance, and flexible programming.
• Ensuring transparency and accountability: Making processes of financing, designing, and delivering programs more transparent and accountable downward to local stakeholders.
• Collaborative action and investment: Collaboration across sectors, initiatives and levels to ensure that different initiatives and different sources of funding (humanitarian assistance, development, disaster risk reduction, green recovery funds, etc.) support each other, and their activities avoid duplication, to enhance efficiencies and good practice.

Residents of Mukuru, one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya worked with the local government to plan infrastructure improvements, including crucial investments in water, sanitation, roads, storm drains, health, and education. Find out more

In India, Swayam Shikshan Prayog created the “one-acre” Climate Resilient Farming model: women borrow a parcel of land to cultivate food crops for their families instead of only water-intensive cash crops like soybean and sugarcane. Find out more

Climate adaptation finance instruments are financial tools used to mobilize, allocate, and manage climate adaptation finance. Here are a few examples of climate adaptation finance instruments:

• Grants are direct financial transfers from donors to recipients, which can be used to support a wide range of adaptation activities, including planning, capacity building, and infrastructure development.
• Loans are financial products that banks or other financial institutions provide, typically with a repayment schedule and an interest rate. They can be used to finance larger-scale adaptation projects, such as the construction of sea walls or the development of drought-resistant crops.
• Bonds are debt securities that are issued by governments or organizations to raise capital. Climate adaptation bonds can be used to finance a wide range of adaptation activities, including infrastructure development and natural resource management.
• Equity investments refer to funding provided in exchange for an ownership stake in a project or organization.
• Insurance-based finance includes insurance products such as weather index-based insurance, catastrophe bonds, and parametric insurance which are aimed at providing financial protection to vulnerable communities and economies from the impacts of climate change.
• Carbon pricing revenue includes revenue generated from carbon pricing mechanisms such as carbon taxes or cap-and-trade systems, which can be used to fund adaptation projects.
• Impact investments refer to investments made in companies and projects with the intention of generating measurable environmental and social impact alongside a financial return.
• Blended finance is a combination of different types of finance, such as public and private funding, grants and loans, which are combined to achieve specific development goals.