This comparative study highlights that rainfall variability and food insecurity are key drivers for human mobility. The empirical research is based on eight country case studies, including a 1,300 household survey and participatory research sessions involving 2,000 individuals. The results reveal that migration is an important risk management strategy for vulnerable households. Land scarce households trying to cope with food insecurity send migrants during the hunger season to find food or money to buy food.

This discussion paper seeks to explore alternative investment options with the aim of enhancing resilience in the Horn of Africa. Climate change, conflict, drought and increasing populations are leading many to pessimistic conclusions regarding the future viability of pastoral farming, arguing that these livelihoods should be sedentarised and diversified. Simultaneously, others argue for their wholesale protection.

This handbook summarises the guiding principles, tools and practice in key economic sectors that can facilitate the implementation of resilience concepts into decisions related to infrastructure investments and general urban management as a means of reducing disaster and climate risks. It is divided into three sections designed to help urban planners and practitioners build elements of resilience into their urban governance and city planning. Chapter 1 presents key guiding principles for resilient cities in the context of today’s urban development.

This collection of papers, presented at the symposium ‘Climate change, water stress, conflict and migration’ held on 21 September 2011 in the Netherlands, highlight how climate change, water stress and other environmental problems threaten human security. For example, the paper by Muniruzzaman ilustrates how water ignores political and community boundaries, and how decisions in one place can significantly affect water use elsewhere.

This technical paper has been produced by the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) to support the implementation of the Strategic Framework for Water Security and Climate Resilience Development, developed by the African Union through AMWOC. The framework itself seeks to help with the identification, development and mainstreaming of ‘no/low regrets’ investment strategies, and to make development planning activities more resilient to climate change.

World grain production is a basic indicator of overall food security at the global level. Since 1984, world grain production has expanded more slowly than the world’s population. By the early years of the 21st century, consumption has outstripped production. Could these trends herald a new "politics of scarcity"?In this article, the author sets out the evidence for his assertion that the world faces a future food security crisis.First, based on current trends, demand for grain will increase significantly over the coming years.

Africa is among the most likely vulnerable regions of the world that are to be negatively impacted by climate change. The continent’s vulnerability to climate change arises from a combination of many factors, including extreme poverty, high rate of population increase, frequent natural disasters such as droughts and floods, and agricultural systems that are heavily dependent on rainfall. Under-development in some African states has also been a function of existing protracted natural resource conflicts and climate change worsens the situation.

The growing scale of resource development activities accentuates the complexity underlying the sustainability of traditional livelihoods in Mongolia. At the same time, Mongolia experiences growing vulnerability to climatic variability and change, expressed in the form of intense desertification, water stress, and extreme dzuds.

This book is a challenge to those who see the drylands as naturally vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty. 

It argues that improving agricultural productivity in dryland environments is possible by working with climatic uncertainty rather than seeking to control it – a view that runs contrary to decade of development practice in arid and semi-arid lands.

Across China, Kenya and India – and most other dryland countries – family farmers and herders relate to the inherent variability of the drylands as a resource to be valued, rather than a problem to be avoided. 

This working paper explores adaptation options in Central Asia. It describes the results of research conducted by a technical assistance in Central Asia. The research combined field observations with satellite-based data and created models to demonstrate the impacts of climate change on the hydrology of the Aral Sea Basin. The adaptation options explored can be summarised in three broad categories: 1) Expanding the supply of water available in the future, 2) Increasing the productivity of water and 3) Reducing future demand for water.

This sourcebook is intended as a ready reference for practitioners (including World Bank stakeholders and clients in borrowing countries as well as Bank project leaders) seeking information on the state of the art about good land management approaches and innovations for investments, and close monitoring for potential scaling up.

Originally Published In: World Bank, Agriculture and Rural Development Department (2008)

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) recently implemented climate risk management studies in seven countries. This report, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, gives a detailed summary of efforts in a Niger wetland environment to conduct one such study, incorporating climate change with three key sectors: agriculture, livestock and water resources.