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This activity report is based on the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Conference on “Living with Climate Variability and Change: Understanding the Uncertainties and Managing the Risks”, which was organized to review the opportunities and constraints in integrating climate risks and uncertainties into decision-making in the core socio-economic sectors. The conference gathered climate scientists and user communities to collate their experiences in managing risks of climatic origin and to build a framework for future strategies. The conference drew on experience presented by experts from both private and public organizations. The main results of the conference are synthesized in this report. It is hoped that the summaries and syntheses of discussions and recommendations presented in this report will be a valuable source of information to the wide range of institutions, organizations and consortia of organizations engaged in supporting the society to deal with climate variability and change.

This activity report highlights some risks of climate variability and climate change adaptation and how to better understand and manage them through the development and application of science and knowledge of climate information and prediction. As part of this observation, the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) was initiated and led by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Its goal is to foster the enhancement and incorporation of climate information and prediction into planning, policy and practice on the global, regional, national and local scales. The GFCS also aims to advance global collaboration through multidisciplinary partnerships, improved governance, climate observations, monitoring, research and prediction. These, with exchanges of capacity-building and experiences, could increase the availability of, access to and use of climate services for all countries. This publication also illustrates the benefits of good practices in climate services, such as water management, agriculture and food security, disaster risk reduction and health. These illustrations are for reflecting on how all nations can use climate information to improve their lives and economies in sustainable ways.

These lecture notes are intended to enhance familiarity with the broad scope of topics related to climate change. They provide material on the science of climate change assuming that the users already have a basic understanding of geophysical fluid dynamics, and relevant physical processes such as radiation transfer, diffusion, the hydrological cycle, and cloud physics along with some understanding of air chemistry, hydrology, and oceanography. A list of reference of advanced level material is also available.

Ce manuel concerne la gestion durable des ressources en eau face aux demandes pressantes d’une population croissante dans une période où les besoins sont multiples et les ressources limitées. Dans les pays arides et semi-arides, cette situation est encore plus préoccupante compte tenu des aléas climatiques. Ainsi, il est vital de maîtriser plus particulièrement les eaux de surface qui conditionnent bien souvent la réussite des projets agricoles. Ce manuel donc dirige les lecteurs à travers la destination à des concepteurs de petits barrages. Ses recommandations peuvent être étendues et utilisées dans d’autres pays aux caractéristiques géographiques similaires.

This analytical report focuses on farmers in West and Central Africa and their potential to increase production and lead the way to robust growth and development needed in Africa. It recognises that his cannot be achieved without improving the management of available water resources in the region. IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), through its West and Central Africa Division (WCA), invested in supporting farmers and farmers’ organizations to achieve household food security and respond to growing market demand through activities that strengthen their ability to manage risk and increase returns. This document is part of wider efforts within the division to capitalize on the experience and knowledge among the IFAD staff, and to improve the ways in which they share knowledge and use it to enhance future project design, direction and strategy.

This manual roots for natural resources as the foundation from which rural poor people can overcome poverty. It argues that planners and implementers of natural resource development projects do not always profit from the lessons learned – either information is lost or it is not easily accessible or changing circumstances may limit its value. This is why this manual encourages learning from the past. It does so by selecting case studies and citing how natural resources can be used to for sustainable management.

This analytical report reviews the importance of fisheries and aquaculture, with particular reference to poor people in the developing world, and the likely impact of climate change on these activities and on food security. It highlights some practical measures that can be taken to adapt to the expected effects of climate change. These focus in particular on building the capacity of communities to adapt to climate change in ways that allow them to moderate potential damage, to take advantage of new opportunities and to cope with the consequences of climate change, and on enhancing the resilience of communities and the ecosystems on which they depend. The authors recommend basing interventions as much as possible on local practices and traditions.

This analytical report argues that an integrated farming system consists of a range of resource-saving practices that aim to achieve acceptable profits and high and sustained production levels, while minimizing the negative effects of intensive farming and preserving the environment. Based on this principle of enhancing natural biological processes above and below the ground, this report outlines a series of ways of attaining farming sustainability, and evaluates each of their advantages and disadvantages.

This analytical report focuses on agricultural productivity and on supporting the resumption of rural development processes to help the affected population back on the path of sustainable development. Livestock plays a significant role in these dynamics. The loss of livestock during an emergency situation disrupts the livelihoods of affected households and has long-term effects on both their current and their future income. Following these issues, this report is documented around three principles and highlights various solutions, by evaluating each of their advantages and disadvantages.

This analytical report analyses some of the key issues linking climate change and development practices in livestock and farming systems. It draws on knowledge gained from IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development)-supported projects and programmes, and documents some of the experiences and the lessons learned in addressing livestock and climate change. The report also briefly examines the different effects of climate change on livestock, agricultural management and gender issues. It builds on these concepts and strategies to provide recommendations for project design, together with possible solutions promoting both adaptation and mitigation activities in development projects.

This manual highlights the need for a system approach to contribute to addressing conflict-related issues and improving community ownership in sustainable management. It aims to create better understanding of participatory mapping as an empowerment for vulnerable groups to sustainable management of resources, and to develop an IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) approach to participatory mapping to enable a more systemic implementation of these activities within IFAD-supported programmes. This manual strengthens IFAD’s knowledge about participatory mapping tools and provides the basic for developing IFAD’s step-by-step methodology. It was compiled from desk reviews, knowledge gained in workshops and in field visits.

This analytical report tackles participatory mapping as a contribution to addressing conflict-related issues and improving community ownership in sustainable natural resource management for enhanced rural poverty reduction. Thus, an overall framework for the implementation of participatory mapping processes within IFAD-supported projects becomes critical to ensuring that the potential of this methodology is fully explored. This report provides a comprehensive overview of such a framework. It outlines the actions needed at each step of the project cycle for the implementation of participatory mapping processes in IFAD programmes and projects. Finally, it builds on an initial review that identifies core principles of good participatory mapping processes, and on knowledge captured from visits to ILC and IFAD projects.

This manual provides guidance to IFAD project staff on developing participatory communication strategies that will support and enhance the impact of participatory mapping initiatives, especially among pastoralists, indigenous peoples and forest dwellers. It provides a list of tools for documenting and managing the knowledge that emerges from the mapping process. The first section provides a review of participatory mapping and communication. The second section outlines a four-stage process for developing and implementing a communication strategy to support a participatory mapping initiative. It includes a step-by-step guide for creating a communication action plan and implementing communication activities. And the third section addresses knowledge management procedures that can be employed.

This analytical report addresses International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s staff and was undertaken to complement the IFAD adaptive approach to participatory mapping (IFAD 2010) developed under the project for the Development of Decision Tools for Participatory Mapping in Specific Livelihood Systems (Pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, Forest Dwellers) – Phase I. The ‘adaptive approach’ details the actions needed at each step of the project cycle to implement participatory mapping processes in IFAD supported programmes and projects. To strengthen information regarding the ‘adaptive approach’, this report provides guidance on how to design and implement participatory monitoring and evaluation of participatory mapping initiatives. It is divided into three main sections, providing guidelines expected to help communities, project managers in the field and members of IFAD’s evaluation team to evaluate the outcomes of the processes and monitor their impact on IFAD-supported programmes and projects.

This toolkit details on how ICT companies can build sustainability into the operations and management of their organizations, through practical applications of international standards and guidelines. The toolkit begins with an introduction to the topic, then explores other areas to tackle green initiatives in the ICT Sector. It is designed to help improve business and sustainability performance and explores why companies cannot ignore their sustainability performance if they seek superior financial performance. Finally, the toolkit covers how it may mature and develop in future, through extending its scope, deepening its metrics, lowering the questionnaire burden on ICT companies, and through the provision of an implementation program to enable national regulators, policy-makers and individual ICT organizations to use the toolkit to achieve their own objectives.

This technical document speaks of minerals as key inputs for products of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. A feature of this is that much of the outputs of these minerals are by small-scale mining. This means that the livelihood of much of the population depends on a sustainable minerals supply chain. However, due to global spotlights on the contributing role of artisanally-mined minerals with the financing of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s on-going armed conflict, these minerals have become symbolic of conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the nine adjoining states. This document however raises overlooked issues of artisanal and industrial mining of minerals impacts on two of the most important ecosystems on Earth: the Congo Basin and the Albertine Rift. This document points at the efforts to safeguard and protect ecological resilience.

This technical document speaks of the ocean’s storage of heat and carbon and its connection with the rate and degree of changes in climate and in the Earth climate system. Long-time series data requires cable systems that join continents and form the fabric of the Internet. These cables appear to offer a low cost support mechanism for the placement of instruments to obtain time series data. This document considers the implications for telecommunications companies. It explores existing technologies, future green ones, some assumptions and their responses, and finally, some evaluations and considerations with regards to the findings collected in this report. The study concludes that it is feasible to support a modest number of low power instruments in green repeaters.

This analytical report highlights that standardizing efficiency characteristics could reduce energy consumptions and greenhouse emissions of external power supplies by up to 50 per cent. It underlines opportunities to achieve further reductions in e-waste, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by widening the range of ICTs supported by power adaptors and standardizing design parameters able to optimize these adaptors’ eco-efficiency. It raises awareness on the contribution of innovative technology to sustainability. It presents the results of a study of 300 available adapters, both for ICT and non-ICT use. The report suggests that an environmentally friendly design could result in savings of more than 30 per cent of the materials used to build the devices. Finally, this report focuses on efforts for improving energy efficiency wherever possible by building a responsible world through ICT-enabled transformation.

This analytical report refers to the mobile handset industry as mobile telecom operators and standards bodies develop eco-rating schemes to communicate the sustainability and environmental performance of their products to consumers. It focuses on two approaches to the schemes: the comparative approach to performance that can be reviewed by the purchaser; and the certification approach which provides a level of certification that a device meets a minimum level of performance. This report explains that each approach attempts to provide a broad perspective of the sustainability impact of the manufacture, use and disposal of mobile handsets. This report encourages leading processes in conjunction with mobile operators, manufacturers, countries, NGOs and other interested sustainability stakeholders, to develop a unified global eco-rating standard for communicating the sustainability and environmental attributes of mobile handsets.

This analytical report discusses the potential for scale and sustainability in weather index insurance for agriculture and rural livelihoods and identifies eight key principles. It includes nine case studies – Mexico, India, Ethiopia, China, Canada, United States, Ukraine and Brazil – on index insurance programmes and outlines how donors and governments can support the sector.