A Risk Management Approach to Climate Adaptation in China

This discussion paper provides the
analytical backdrop for a series of papers on managing
climate- and weather-related risks in China. It reviews and
synthesizes the growing literature on risk-based management
approaches to climate change adaptation and offers guidance
on a process for decision making. Managing risks from severe
weather, present-day climate variability, and future climate
change is integral to China's development. While the
effects of future climate change are deeply uncertain, this
uncertainty should not preclude action. Risk management is
in essence a process for designing, implementing, and
evaluating policies in the face of such uncertainty. The
paper begins by defining key concepts and establishes the
context for climate risk management and adaptation in China.
It then outlines a step-by-step process for a risk centered
approach to adaptation. The focus of the process is on
planning for adaptation, not policy implementation. The
papers that follow in the series take the general framework
set out by this paper and apply it to different sectors,
including transportation, water utilities, urban planning,
and forestry.