The
inevitability of changes occurring to the climate at both global and local
scales is now a well-established reality. Confidence is currently higher than
in previous assessments with regard to projected patterns of warming and other
features of a regional scale, including changes in wind patterns, precipitation
and some aspects of extremes and sea ice. For poor countries in Africa, Asia
and Latin America, climate change adds another layer of complexity to already
existing development challenges, such as high levels of poverty and inequality,
rapid population growth, underdeveloped financial markets and weak governance
systems.
This paper
reviews how aspects of disaster risk reduction, social protection and
livelihoods approaches may act in contributing to the various features of
adaptive capacity. It provides part of the theoretical basis for a project led
by Oxfam and supported by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI): the Africa
Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA), which also includes Save the
Children UK, World Vision International and CARE. The paper does not seek to expand on the
conceptual underpinnings of adaptive capacity; rather, it aims to find out what
aspects of disaster risk reduction, social protection and livelihoods
approaches can contribute to adaptive capacity, as well as to understand how
such approaches can better respond to climate change and facilitate adaptation.
Given its wide array of impacts on and interactions with wider development,
climate change will inevitably have considerable implications for humanitarian
and development interventions. Accordingly, there is a need to consider how
humanitarian and development approaches can, in many instances, help enhance
communities’ capacity to adapt to a changing climate or, at the very least,
prevent actions that undermine adaptive capacity.
At
Chevron, we recognize and share the concerns of governments and the public
about climate change. The use of fossil fuels to meet the world's energy needs
is a contributor to an increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs)—mainly carbon
dioxide (CO2) and methane—in the Earth's atmosphere. There is a widespread view
that this increase is leading to climate change, with adverse effects on the
environment.
