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This document introduces the Health Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change Assessments. These are important as they can provide national level evidence of the linkages between climate and health, improve understanding of local and specific health risks and vulnerabilities, provide the opportunity for capacity building, and serve as a baseline analysis to monitor how health risks may be influenced by a changing climate over time.

This analytical report presents an overview of the science of the links between climate change and human health. It provides an update of the evidence on health risks caused by climate change, describes which populations are most vulnerable, and outlines the actions that will be necessary to protect health from climate change. Although climate change presents a very serious threat to global public health, the key messages of the report are positive. The health sector already has at its disposal a number of effective interventions that would save lives now and reduce vulnerability to climate change in the future.

This activity report summarises the main points discussed during the consultation on Essential Public Health Package to Enhance Climate Resilience in Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 7-8 September 2010.The consultation aimed to define the core public health functions that should protect populations from climate change impacts. It was attended by representatives from vulnerable countries, the UNFCCC Secretariat, and relevant WHO departments, who broadly agreed on enhancing resilience through linking environment and health surveillance, vector control and disaster risk reduction.

This activity report, which was published on the occasion of the WMO’s 60th anniversary, spells out 60 ways that WMO makes a difference in peoples’ lives. It illustrates the critical role that WMO and the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of its 189 Members play in addressing climate change and outlines the impacts of WMO’s activities in diverse sectors such as transport, water and health.

This technical document provides a summary of the Guidelines on Climate Watches  of April 2005, in accordance with the climate watch definition approved by the Commission for Climatology. The aim of this brochure is threefold: 1. To provide a quick reference of common practices in implementing climate watch systems within the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services; 2. To serve as material for WMO workshops dealing directly or indirectly with warning systems against severe weather and climate events; 3. To provide users with a simple description of a climate watch system.

This technical document is part of an annual series published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on the status of the global climate. A key result of the present issue is that the period 2000–2009 was the warmest decade on record since the beginning of modern instrumental measurements around 1850. The document includes inter alia information on regional temperature anomalies, heatwaves and cold waves, droughts, storms and flooding.

This analytical report stresses that AIDS and climate change are two of the most important “long wave” global issues of the recent past, the present and the future. They share similarities, interactions, and present possibilities for a more united response. Yet these links have received little analysis. This paper seeks to address that gap.

This technical document presents issues relating to the transformation of pledges for emission reductions into quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives (QELROs). It provides a brief explanation of this transformation and illustrates the effect that different variables have on it. Chapter II introduces the concepts of QELROs and assigned amounts. Chapter III covers issues relating to the transformation of pledges into QELROs, including the effects of different variables on the resulting QELRO values. Chapter IV introduces additional considerations including which base year is used, the accounting of land use, land-use change and forestry and the implications of efforts and achievements by Parties to date.

This technical document analyses the general methodological issues for estimating the costs and benefits of adaptation options, reviews new studies on the economics of adaptation in light of these methodological issues, and discusses their strengths and weaknesses. Improved understanding and capacity for addressing the costs and benefits of adaptation is an important pillar in implementing enhanced action on adaptation at all levels.

This activity report highlights the successes of the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) in the international waters focal area. The SGP offers a community-based approach in international waters management that generates not only global environmental benefits but also increases adaptive capacity for communities and ecological systems. The publication provides a snapshot of successes pulled from the nearly 600 projects in the SGP international waters portfolio.

This activity report describes the UNDP-GEF adaptation portfolio. Leveraging the strength of the UN family, UNDP is working with international and national development partners to help countries better manage the inherent uncertainties of climate change. Enabling activities include: developing technical capacities at the national and sectoral level to identify climate change risks and prepare long-term strategies for risk management; internalizing climate change risks into planning and decision-making processes of key economic sectors; testing approaches and technologies for climate risk management in key sectors at the sub-national and local levels.     

This activity report summarises the outcomes of a workshop on issues relating to the revision of the UNFCCC Annex I reporting guidelines. At the workshop, participants shared their views on the use of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas and the revision of the Guidelines for the preparation of national communications by parties included in Annex I to the Convention, Part I.

This webpage collects several frequently asked questions about the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). These FAQ lists are offered by the Secretariat of the UNFCCC as a convenience to members of the public wishing to learn more about the CDM. The lists explain issues such as the meaning of the CDM, its modalities and procedures, as well as issues relating to its operation in the post-2010 period.

This activity report describes the GEF investment programme for sustainable forest management (SFM) and for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. It discusses conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+), as well as opportunities for funding of forest-related activities in the fifth GEF cycle (GEF-5). Also available in Portuguese.

This analytical report focuses on assessing the key individual, organizational and systemic capacities needed to meet and sustain global environmental objectives as framed by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), collectively known as the Rio Conventions, and other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). It is based on the results and lessons learned from more than 100 National Capacity Self-Assessments.

This technical document outlines a climate finance framework to assist developing countries to move to low-emissions, climate-resilient growth paths. The challenge in climate finance is to find ways to mobilize a variety of resources at scale, while at the same time ensuring that it can be delivered with sufficient speed to where it is most needed. The majority of proposals for climate change finance address the issues of raising and delivering financial resources separately.This paper takes an integrated approach to the issue, as mechanisms chosen to raise finance will affect the access to, and efficient use of, these resources.

The technical document summarizes existing tools and good practices from a range of organizations to guide development practitioners in their climate change mainstreaming efforts. The components and entry points of the mainstreaming process are explored, key climate change adaptation and mainstreaming concepts are defined, and a comparative overview of existing tools and guidelines is provided.

This technical document identifies key challenges and solutions for carrying out project-level economic analysis of adaptation to climate change, both stand-alone and integrated into broader development projects. The focus of the paper is on the agricultural sector, where the impacts of climate change have the potential to disrupt the livelihoods of rural populations in many regions and where adaptation must be given urgent consideration.

The objective of this technical document is to provide the background to the methodology used to model the impact of climate change on runoff for the global track of the Economic of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC) project. This report presents findings from computer modeling of the impacts of potential climate change on hydrology and water availability (changes in runoff, basin yield, and flooding). Chapter two provides the framework of analysis. Chapter three provides the hydrological drivers and data. Chapter four describes selected climate scenarios. Chapter five provides the runoff. Chapter six describes the basin yield. Chapter seven summarizes the work and discusses future work. The appendixes describe the Climate and Runoff (CLIRUN) model.

This analytical report sits at the apex of a global study report and seven country case study reports. The report highlights that eliminating poverty is central to both development and adaptation, since poverty exacerbates vulnerability to weather variability as well as climate change. It argues that investments should start with low-regret options, with measures that tackle the weather risks that countries already face, such as increased investment in water storage in drought-prone basins or protection against storms and flooding in coastal zones and/or urban areas.