Climate Resilience
Widespread improvements in the quality of life of many of the world’s populations have accompanied increased demands on natural resources. The planet is struggling to keep up, with increases in the average global temperature and the frequency of extreme weather events transforming ecosystems worldwide. Moreover, climate change impacts the world’s disadvantaged people the most, many of whom lack the resources to adapt to new climate realities.
The locations where we work are affected by multilayered challenges: poverty, conflict, increased inequality (especially related to gender and social inclusion), food and water insecurity, power dynamics, biodiversity losses, and ecosystem degradation.
On top of these, the climate crisis has and will continue to have a major impact on people’s lives, livelihoods and ecosystems. The sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses the occurrence of widespread adverse impacts of climate change. Increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and slow-onset processes cause enormous losses and damages to human and natural systems. If no urgent actions to reduce climate risks is taken immediately, the number of people needing international humanitarian assistance annually could double by 2050.
These impacts, added to existing vulnerabilities, pose a significant threat to the stability and prosperity of societies, economies, and ecosystems, thereby challenging the aspirations for sustainable development and individual well-being.
Embracing a Climate Justice Approach
To respond to climate emergencies, we work with people, communities, and governments to strengthen their resilience to climate change. Our work embraces a climate justice approach recognising the unequal impacts of climate change, especially as people living in lower-income countries are more impacted but less responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.
We recognise the urgency of addressing these challenges. We are committed to integrating climate change considerations across all our development initiatives through Climate Resilience Programming and efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of our operations and programmes. Our work is in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
When designing climate-resilient interventions, we consider how our programmes contribute to anticipating and absorbing external shocks and stresses, adapting to them, and promoting low-carbon transformative development.
We can improve transformative capacities through good governance and institutional strengthening, skills development, policy shifts, leadership and empowerment, and innovation in technologies and processes.
We also initiate efforts to move towards low-carbon societies, shifting from fossil fuel-dependent economies to sustainable, low-carbon economies. This includes redesigning key sectors such as energy, transport, and food systems to avoid releasing greenhouse gases that damage the climate, and moving towards more sustainable ways of life.
Our key principles
We adhere to the following key principles and approaches in our climate resilience programming:
Our main areas of focus are:
Among the different approaches that contribute to resilience building, our climate resilience theory of change focuses on the following key objectives:
- Improve food and livelihood systems
- Improve water access and governance, hygiene, and sanitation
- Improve landscape and ecosystem management
- Strengthen green and circular economies, including skills development
- Improve access to climate smart energy solutions
- Increase Disaster Risk Management, Disaster Preparedness, Early Warning Systems, and Anticipatory Action
We have defined these objectives in the following thematic that represent our key climate resilience programme components:
Find more details about each theme under the links below.
