Adaptation and adaptive capacity actions
The logical framework for adaption should specify whether the adaptation
intervention aims at strengthening adaptive capacity or at implementing
an adaptation action. Past and future adaptation actions reinforce
community’s adaptive capacity but a high adaptive capacity does not
necessarily translate into actual adaptation measures. Examples of
adaptation actions objectives are:
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Increased robustness of infrastructure design and long-term investment
development
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Increased resilience of vulnerable managed systems, such as
flood-prone coastal areas
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Enhanced adaptability of vulnerable natural systems (e.g. through
reduction of non-climatic pressures, such as increased deforestation
and land degradation)
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Reversal of trends that increase vulnerability (e.g. increased
irrigation in areas of almost depleted or little groundwater recharge)
Each of these actions implies a reduction in vulnerability and may be
the result of an increased adaptive capacity. However adaptive capacity
is principally rooted in changes that happen at behavioural,
institutional and technological levels in order to provide the
foundation for anticipating and adjusting to climatic conditions that
will continue to change over a long period of time. Examples of adaptive
capacity project objectives are:
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Capacity to identify current climate risks and assess likely future
climatic trends
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Inclusion of acquired knowledge about current and future climate risks
in decision making at different institutional levels
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Identification of institutional barriers preventing the formulation of
adaptation strategies (e.g. lack of synergies, capacity and networks)
and of remedies for implementation and enforcement of adaptation
policies
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Approval of adaptation-friendly policies
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Enhanced technological ability
This is in line with the principle that all adaptation interventions
should aim to either increase the adaptive capacity of natural and
managed systems under current and predicted climate variability or
reduce the vulnerability of human populations and the natural, economic
systems on which they depend (UNDP 2007).
Project Indicators
\label{project-indicators}
Indicators, particularly those related to the adaptation project
outcomes and impacts, are complex to identify for the reasons explained
in section 3. Indicators should be chosen carefully, preferably as part
of a balanced package and based on the objectives that the adaptation
intervention sets to achieve. Indicators are the instruments used to
measure the performance of a specific adaptation intervention against
the set of evaluation criteria. It is useful to distinguish between
output and outcome indicators. Output indicators are often linked with
the direct result of an intervention and relate to the timely deployment
of activities and tasks in order to achieve adaptation results. Output
indicators, therefore, are often used for project accountability
purposes and utilized for evaluating intervention’s efficiency and can
be used in combination with process indicators to evaluate the progress
towards implementation. Outcome indicators measure the achievement of
broader results and benefits that an intervention aims to achieve.
Projects, and especially adaptation projects, can have one or more
outcomes. These outcomes can be related to 1) measuring changes in
adaptive capacity of individuals’ and communities; 2) measuring how
adaptation actions manage or reduce biophysical impacts of climate
hazards (vulnerability) or 3) by how the intervention contributes to
sustainable development, such as development or climate mitigation
co-benefits (Spearman and McGray, 2011; Olivier et al., 2013). Outcome
indicators measure the effectiveness of how well the intervention
achieves its multiple outcomes and therefore assess evidence of change.
There is a wealth of literature on possible outcome-based climate change
adaptation indicators (Harley et al 2008, GIZ 2010, GEF 2011, Brooks et
al 2011) and more general performance indicators for sustainable
development projects (ADB 2006). Brooks et al (2011) defines development
indicators and vulnerability indicators to evaluate adaptation projects.
Standard indicators of development performance are related to, for
instance, poverty, health and education. Development indicators can be
used as proxies to complement indicators that monitor changes in
adaptive capacity. Some examples of indicators are presented below,
bearing in mind that indicators measuring reduction in vulnerability are
often conceived at sectoral level with the aim of determining the
percentage change in vulnerability due to the adaptation interventions
implemented.