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Project

Climate Change and Water Adaptation Options
 

Central Asia
South Asia
Far East Asia
South America
Project ID
107599
Total Funding
CAD 326,691.00
IDRC Officer
Charlotte MacAlister
Project Status
Completed
End Date
Duration
24 months

Programs and partnerships

Climate Change

Lead institution(s)

Summary

The impacts of climate change are increasing in their severity around the world. At greatest risk: vulnerable communities in developing countries. This project aims to share the practical climate change adaptation solutions arising from IDRC-funded research.Read more

The impacts of climate change are increasing in their severity around the world. At greatest risk: vulnerable communities in developing countries. This project aims to share the practical climate change adaptation solutions arising from IDRC-funded research. IDRC, climate change, and water adaptation Since 2006, IDRC has funded more than 100 climate and water-related projects, contributing more than CA$100 million to 70 institutions in more than 50 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Many of these projects include strategies for adaptation to ongoing and anticipated climate change impacts. This expansive body of work was generated with the support of the IDRC Climate Change Adaptation in Africa and Climate Change and Water programs. Researchers have offered solutions ranging from "hard" technological and infrastructure options to "soft" options, such as better management systems and strengthened governance. Some approaches were pilot-tested, while others provide proposed strategies to deal with specific challenges. Improving outcomes by sharing solutions Currently, finding information on the adaptation options arising from IDRC projects is not easy. It requires an in-depth search of project documents within the internal document archive, an interview with the related program officer, or a direct inquiry to the project partners. None of these approaches is quick or efficient. The project will develop and test a system that allows us to identify adaptation options and extract project-specific information. This information has a number of potential user groups including IDRC teams, our network of research partners, planners, and policymakers on-the-ground. Canadian government institutions with vested interests in our joint investment in climate change and water research form another important audience. The project will complement our existing knowledge base. It also stands to increase the visibility of Canadian-funded climate change and water research overseas. The project team will: -construct a flexible, searchable database of adaptation options that will facilitate the addition of case studies; -test the tool's functionality and usefulness with practitioner, academic, and broader audiences; -launch and promote the tool through social media, practitioner and scholarly publications, and data visualization (i.e., infographics, maps of adaptation options, and factsheets); and -synthesize and publish findings regarding the characteristics of potentially successful adaptation options. The project will be implemented by a research partnership between Local Governments for Sustainability Management (ICLEI) and the University of Waterloo. The university is a centre of research excellence for development. ICLEI will leverage its experience in building the National Compendium of Water Adaptation Knowledge for Natural Resources Canada. The team will work with local governments from the developed and developing world.