Climate Risk Management
Societies have always lived with climate risk.
Strategies for reducing exposure and vulnerability to climate hazards like cyclones and extreme temperatures have shaped livelihoods, settlement patterns, economies and cultures throughout human history. But relying on past experience is no longer enough; climate change is increasing uncertainty about where climate hazards occur, when, for how long, and at what level of intensity. Combined with other change processes, such as urbanization and deforestation, the way socioeconomic and ecological systems are affected by climate is also changing, forcing us to re-evaluate conventional climate risk management (CRM) practices.
Our work in the area of CRM seeks to characterize, through innovative and tailored assessment processes, the changing nature of climate risk so that decision-makers can devise policies and programs that will be sustainable over the long term. IISD’s approach emphasizes participation and the combination of top-down and bottom-up assessment methods, whereby community consultations are considered alongside scientific analyses and policy reviews to identify immediate and emerging CRM priorities.
- Policy Brief
Alignment to Advance Climate-Resilient Development: Overview Brief 1 Introduction to Alignment
This is the first in a series of briefs focusing on alignment of country efforts under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
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Engaging the Private Sector in National Adaptation Planning Processes
This study aims to offer guidance to governments and their partners on how to engage the private sector in the NAP process.
Read More - Briefing Note
Alignment to Advance Climate-Resilient Development: Overview Brief 2 Getting Started on Alignment
The brief explores how the different agendas and policy processes relate to each other and to a country’s national development planning processes. It describes the enabling factors for alignment and discusses how alignment objectives can be defined.
Read More - Briefing Note
Conducting Gender Analysis to Inform National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Processes: Reflections from six African countries
This briefing note describes the rationale and approach that we have taken in supporting NAP-focused gender analyses in six African countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea-Conakry, Madagascar and Togo).
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Alignment to Advance Climate-Resilient Development: Overview Brief 3
This brief explores country perspectives on alignment of national-level policy processes under the Paris Agreement—specifically, NAPs and NDCs—as a basis for broader alignment toward climate-resilient development.
Read More - Blog
Why Climate Risk Disclosure is Key to a Sustainable Economy
It will take significant private sector investment for Canada (and the world) to reach the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. An important first step to securing that investment is making sure climate risk disclosure becomes mandatory.
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Citizen Science Fills Critical Gap in Monitoring Freshwater Resources
Most of us lack baseline data about our ecosystems, which makes it difficult to recognize changes and detect early warning signs. Enter citizen science.
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Sustainable Finance Key to Low-Carbon Economic Transition
Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance released its interim report yesterday with a clear message that harnessing the country’s financial assets is essential for a successful low-carbon transition.
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What the UN Panel's Special Climate Change Report Means for Canada
We comb the IPCC special report to show how Canada already is, and increasingly will be, affected by global warming and climate change.
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Nordhaus Nobel Recognizes What We've Long Known: Carbon pricing works
In 1984, Nordhaus concluded climate change is real, its impacts are global and comparable to economic depression, and it's likely to occur in sudden jolts.
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