Climate change adaptation planning in Latin American and Caribbean cities: Estelí, Nicaragua

The Climate Change Adaptation Planning in Latin American and Caribbean Cities project is designed to inform policy making and climate change adaptation planning in small and medium-sized cities. The focus is on floods and landslides, which are two of the most common climate-related risks in cities across the Latin America and Caribbean region. This report focuses on the city of Estelí, Nicaragua.

The potential planning themes that create the foundation for a climate change adaptation strategy to help Estelí build its resilience against floods and landslides, both now and in the future, are as follows (pp. 84-85):

• investment in drainage, sanitation and waste removal services, and improved implementation of land use and urban planning laws;
• capacity building in city level government institutions engaged in climate change planning and risk management;
• mechanisms for data collection, storage and dissemination to be created and/or improved for better climate monitoring, risk planning, and information sharing;
• improved budgetary resources and climate financing for long-term recovery and building resilience against climate change hazards;
• cross-scale integration of risk management practice;
• a shift from disaster management to long-term risk reduction and climate change adaptation to ensure a proactive and forward-looking system of risk governance.