This report examines the challenges of managing water resources for agricultural use — specifically in the context of food production — in the face of a changing climate. It provides an overview of climate change impacts in different parts of the world, details options for adaptation and mitigation, and offers practical recommendations on how developing countries can cope with these impacts.  

The report outlines methods to assess impacts on water and agriculture, and stresses that water and agricultural policies must be more closely aligned. It concludes with suggestions for action to help countries in carrying out such assessments and adapting agricultural water management. These include using methods such as decision analysis to improve predictions; developing and applying downscaling techniques to build capacity for better analyses and climate adaptation; and coordinating analyses of the level of investment required for different solutions.

This technical report examines methods for assessing the vulnerability of wetlands — particularly in the context of climate change — as part of a broader set of methodologies for wetland inventory, assessment and monitoring. It gives an overview of available approaches to assessing vulnerability, including the frameworks available to incorporate climate change risks into development planning and projects.

The report identifies challenges and information gaps that have emerged from vulnerability assessments, including "multiple vulnerabilities" a lack of reliable data or long-term monitoring, and differing perceptions of the need to address wetland vulnerability. It concludes that to provide the information needed for sound management vulnerability assessments will need a better understanding of the complexity of interactive pressures that affect wetlands, such as land use and pollution; to develop appropriate metrics to assess vulnerability to multiple pressures; and to bolster data on the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of wetlands.

This year's edition of the report focuses on the costs of food price volatility, as well as the dangers and opportunities that high food prices present to poor countries. It outlines how food price volatility affects food security, offers policy options to reduce volatility cost-effectively, and suggests how countries can manage cost increases when they cannot be avoided.

A key message of the report is that increases in food prices are set to continue. The authors pinpoint contributing factors such as climate change-related increases in the frequency of extreme weather events, and stronger linkages between energy and agricultural markets because of growing demand for biofuels.

One of the key points made in the report is that large countries were able to insulate themselves from the crisis, but small countries dependent on imports, especially in Africa, were hard hit. Others include the importance of safety-net mechanisms for alleviating the impacts of food insecurity and laying the foundations for development, and that high food prices offer incentives for improving food security in the long term by increasing investment in agriculture.

This report highlights advances in the use of climate information to predict and prepare for climate-related natural disasters. It draws together 17 case studies that capture the current state of knowledge within the humanitarian community, and identifies research innovations. It presents the challenges and opportunities that disaster risk managers face in using climate science with a three step approach: indentifying the problem, developing tools, and taking action.

The results show that effective partnerships are crucial and can help to build the information needed for effective response. They also suggest how the use of this information can be improved — for example by focusing on immediate opportunities for action in countries and regions more likely to benefit. Recommendations also include developing realistic expectations, in order to maintain trust in the information and those who provide it, and encouraging national meteorological services to tailor their information to the problem at hand.

This report aims to identify strategies that the agricultural sector can adopt to mitigate and adapt to climate change, ensure food security, and improve the livelihoods of poor smallholder producers.

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for poor people in developing countries, and improving agricultural productivity is key to achieving food security and meeting most targets set as part of the Millennium Development Goals. In Sub-Saharan Africa, climate change is adding to existing development challenges, making it essential that mitigation, adaptation and rural development strategies are developed together.

By focusing on the example of smallholder farmers in Kenya, the authors suggest "triple win" agricultural practices that promise the greatest payoff in terms of increased resilience of the agriculture sector to climate change mitigation, adaptation, productivity and profitability. They include irrigation, soil and water conservation, integrated soil fertility management and improved livestock feeding.

This report aims at encouraging increased trans-boundary cooperation in water resource management in Afghanistan and Central Asia, through a bottom-up, basin-based approach that adheres to the principles of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)

The largest river in the region, Amu Darya, is crucial for the 43 million people who live in the Aral Sea Basin — but river flow and water availability are becoming increasingly unreliable because of the impact of climate change and inefficient water management. This is a security threat heightened by an expected 50 per cent increase in the region's population by 2025, says the report.

It calls for countries that rely on the Amu Darya — Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — to follow the IWRM approach to balancing competing demands for water, build trust and share practices at the local level by training experts from different countries in joint forums, and avoid multilateral agreements that involve management mechanisms too broad to be effective.

This set of factsheets presents key data on the impact of low carbon development on several areas linked to sustainable growth including poverty reduction; natural resource scarcity; 'green' jobs; transport; and fossil fuel subsidies.

Each factsheet synthesises the latest evidence from research conducted by institutions, consultancies and leading thinkers. The work aims to understand how investment in clean energy in developing countries can lead to economic growth. The first factsheet, for example, discusses how investment in small-scale, off-grid renewable energy can create jobs.

To illustrate the issues discussed, the factsheets use case studies from specific countries and projects. They use the phrase 'triple win' to indicate where low carbon development brings benefits in mitigation, adaptation and poverty reduction, and 'double win' where benefits are seen in two of these areas.

This report introduces the Climate and Regional Economics of Development (CRED) model — a climate vulnerability index that estimates the economic damage from climate change in nine world regions based on three measures: freshwater resources per capita, the share of population living in coastal areas, and the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) of climate-sensitive economic sectors.

The report reviews the current literature of climate change vulnerability indices and describes the CRED climate model, including the data sources and methods used to create the index. It presents the results by region and compares them with the results of other indices. It concludes that although other indices contain more variables that produce more detailed results, they are more difficult to interpret. CRED indicators are quantifiable, can be updated when new information becomes available, and inform climate change policy by identifying regions and countries where intervention to prevent damages is crucial.

This paper reports the results of a systematic review of the impacts of climate change on crop productivity in Africa and South Asia. The study, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), assessed eight food crops — rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, yam, plantain and sugarcane — that make up more than 80 per cent of agricultural production in these regions. Its findings aim to inform DFID's policies, allocation of resources and other practices according to the need for a stronger focus on evidence-informed decision-making on agriculture in a changing climate. The report provides background information; a detailed account of the review protocol and methodology; the data extraction strategy; data collection; meta-analyses; a synthesis of results; and key findings for all crops organised by region. It recognises that climate change will worsen environmental conditions that already affect crops, such as heat, drought, salinity and submergence in water.

This background document presents scientific information on the effects of climate change on food production, and the implications for adaptation and mitigation efforts. It discusses how countries can manage the predicted average temperature rise of two degrees Celsius by 2100, which is enough to undermine farming systems. This will have major impacts on food security and rural poverty.

The report highlights two ways that countries can work towards adaptation. One is to better manage the agricultural risks of climate variability, for example using improved information services. The other is to speed up adaptation, with technological and policy tools for farmers.

It says that investing in technological innovation is needed to take full advantage of the agriculture sector's capacity to mitigate the impacts of climate change. This could include building monitoring systems for small-scale farmers.

Decision-makers and researchers working on climate, agriculture and food security should interact more to link knowledge with action, the report says.

This report outlines the local, practical experiences and lessons learned from the action research project Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (CCA-DRR). The goal of the project was to help local people analyse their own vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and work collaboratively to explore better adaptation practices.

It ran from 2008 to 2010 in three areas of rural Bangladesh where natural hazards occur frequently: Sirajganj on the Jamuna River, which is vulnerable to floods; Naogaon in the north-west, vulnerable to drought; and Patuakhali on the coast, which is vulnerable to cyclones, sea-level rise and salinity intrusion.

The report includes an analysis of the strengths and weakness of activities that mobilise local communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change. It concludes with several recommendations for future policy and implementation, and highlights that local people are best placed to understand changes in their environment.

This report, published by Forum For The Future and the UK's Department for International Development, explores the environmental, social, political, psychological and economic impacts of climate change on low-income countries over the next 20 years.

The report's central message is that development must be climate-resilient. It outlines four scenarios for 2030 (Reversal of Fortunes, Age of Opportunities, Coping Alone, The Greater Good) and sets out the implications of each imagined future for low-income country governments, policymakers, businesses and nongovernmental organisations. It covers a range of issues, including population, politics and technology, and is designed to be a practical tool for policy- and decision-making, with exercises and supporting materials.

This report, commissioned from the Pacific Institute by nongovernmental organisation Ceres, identifies and discusses the water-related risks in water intensive industries such as energy, mining, agriculture and pharmaceuticals. The authors discuss what companies can do to better evaluate and manage water risk and provide advice for potential investors.

This report from the IPCC, provides a complete and comprehensive overview of the current knowledge and understanding of climate change. The report includes four separate documents that cover the physical science basis for climate change, projected impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of different populations, mitigation strategies, and a synthesis report for policymakers.

This document, published by nongovernmental organisation WaterAid, highlights some of the key predicted impacts of climate change on water resources. The authors specifically address likely impacts in Africa and Asia, highlight the inequitable burden that climate change places on poor and developing countries, and suggest suitable adaptation strategies.

This policy brief, published by the Swedish Water House, suggests options for promoting water management strategies that can ensure sustainable water supplies in the face of climate change. The authors present an overview of climate change impacts on water resources and point to examples of successful water management. They highlight the need to tailor practices to local contexts and conditions.

This report presents the findings of the WHO's flagship Vision 2030 study. Comprised of a series of summary and technical papers and fact sheets, the Vision 2030 report provides a comprehensive overview of current and projected climate change and its potential impacts on drinking-water and sanitation systems. The report also points to solutions to improve the resilience of infrastructure and services to predicted changes in rainfall.

This book, published by IWMI, evaluates the benefits, costs and impacts of water development over the past 50 years. The authors highlight challenges still facing poor countries today and outline some of the solutions people have adopted. The assessment is available as a summary, with specific policy recommendations, or in individual chapters covering topics ranging from integration and institutional reform to improvements in irrigation and groundwater use.

This report, published to mark World Water Day 2007, reviews the multiple dimensions of water scarcity including increasing demand, competition and conflict and climate change. The authors consider opportunities for improving the efficiency of water use, suggesting the need to increase investments in water, value environmental services and build awareness of water scarcity among the general public.

This report considers strategies to help the Greater Mekong Subregion in South-East Asia meet food demands in the face of climate change. The authors predict likely effects of climate change on agriculture in the region and make recommendations to cope with these, including improving water efficiency and promoting broad-based agricultural development to reduce poverty.