Reducing human vulnerability: Helping people help themselves

"Reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience to the climate has traditionally been the responsibility of households and communities. Experience shows that local decision making, diversity, and social learning are key features of flexible, resilient communities and that vulnerable communities can be effective agents of innovation and adaptation. But climate change threatens to overwhelm local efforts, requiring more from national and global supporting structures... People’s vulnerability is not static, and the effects of climate change will amplify many forms of human vulnerability.  People’s livelihoods need to function under conditions that will almost certainly change but cannot be predicted with certainty," writes Alula Berhe Kidani on the pages of Sudan Vision Daily.

Kidani concludes that "Incremental environmental impacts imply stronger physical constraints on future development. Climate-smart policies will have to address the challenges of a riskier and more complex environment. Development practice has to be more adaptive to shifting baselines, grounded in strategies robust to imperfect knowledge. Cropping strategies need to be robust under more volatile weather conditions by seeking to maintain long-term consistency in output rather than to maximize production. Urban planners in coastal cities need to anticipate demographic developments and new risks from rising seas or flooding. Public health workers need to prepare for surprising changes in climate-linked disease patterns. Information is crucial to support risk-based planning and strategies—it is the basis of good policy and better risk management."