Water and climate change adaptation

Using water management, ecosystems and empowerment to build climate change resilience:

This briefing paper highlights water-related climate change impacts such as drought, floods, storms, melting glaciers and sea-level rise and put water at the centre of climate change adaptation. It advocates for an agreement on an adaptation framework to reflect the importance of water management for reducing vulnerability and building climate resilience in order to guide effective country-driven climate change adaptation.

It calls for an adaptation framework that: (i) put Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) at the centre of planning and investment for climate change adaptation; (ii) promote implementation that incorporates management, restoration and sustainability of 'natural infrastructure' – the ecosystem services provided by healthy watersheds and coasts through Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA); and (iv) encourage action to build climate resilience, by combining watershed management, sustainable infrastructure, empowerment and learning in adaptive institutions.