For over a decade, researchers and policymakers have considered enhancing “adaptive capacity” to be a linchpin of successful adaptation to climate change. In 2015, at the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, the international community formally asserted the importance of increasing the ability of individuals and groups to adapt to long-term changes in the climate, and committed to doing so …

Bangladesh has been experiencing a rapid growth in urban population during last four decades. However, this growth follows an imbalanced spatial distribution, mostly directed towards Dhaka city. As of 2011, almost 44% of the country’s urban population lived in Dhaka resulting in excessive pressure on its housing, transportation, infrastructure, and basic services (GED, 2015). This pressure is accumulating every year …

Education and research are explicitly recognized in a number of the SDGs and universities have a direct role in addressing these. However, the contribution of universities to the SDGs is much broader, as they can support the implementation of every one of the SDGs as well as the implementation of the SDG framework itself. Some of these main areas of …

The world community already lives in a climate changed world. However, the need to adapt to its increasing impact is extremely urgent for the particularly vulnerable countries, such as the least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and Africa. Of all these countries, Bangladesh stands unique in terms of climate impacts on a huge population of 160 million …

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) introduce a holistic and integrated framework that spans across social, economic and environmental dimensions. While the 17 goals with 169 targets range from tackling poverty to creating meaningful global partnerships – which are all equally important issues – the goals need to be prioritized according to country-specific needs. Goal 13 is specifically assigned for climate …

Climate change Loss and Damage has emerged as a key challenge of the 21st century. This Policy Brief first frames the challenge and then introduces the Resilience Academy, highlighting 5 key insights that both feed the debate and inform action. Finally, it provides 5 recommendations to the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM ExCom) for its 5-year work …

Although the challenge of climate change is universal, the ability to effectively mitigate climate change and cope with its effects is not. Many of the world’s developing countries have seriously limited capacities to plan and implement adequate climate policies and actions, and these countries “cannot mitigate or adapt to climate change without first having the capacity to do so.”1 Implementation …

This paper aims to raise awareness about Loss and Damage (L&D) and ignite conversation about how Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Loss & Damage (L&D) can be linked in order to ensure more sustainable strategies for building resilience in Pakistan. Example fallback content: This browser does not support PDFs. Please download the PDF to view it: …

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will define the priorities of the UN’s development agenda beyond 2015. But the reality of climate change impacts will render these aspirational goals almost impossibly challenging for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) unless the current level of ambition in development and climate action is urgently increased. This briefing summarises our analysis of the projected impacts …

This paper discusses individual nations’ experiences with Loss and Damage (L&D), their plans to respond, and their calls for international support, as expressed in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). It also considers the developed-developing nation divide that persists in support for addressing loss and damage within the COP and the importance of including L&D in a Paris agreement. Example …