Lessons for climate change adaptation from better management of rivers

Jamie Pittock*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    43 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Autonomous adaptation in the water sector is assessed to derive lessons for more successful climate change adaptation from six empirical, consistently designed river management case studies based on projects of WWF. They show that when adaptation measures are considered in the context of common problems in water management, many practical ways of building resilience to climate change through mainstream programs are evident. The cases are mainly from developing countries - India, China, Mexico, Brazil, the lower Danube basin and Tanzania - where efforts to reduce environmental degradation and enhance livelihoods have directly helped to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change. The key lessons include: the benefits of concurrent measures for improving livelihoods and reducing physical vulnerability; the need to enhance and fund local institutions to mainstream adaptation programmes; and the value in implementing 'no and low regrets' measures despite uncertainties.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)194-211
    Number of pages18
    JournalClimate and Development
    Volume1
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2009

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