Adaptation Briefs
ND-GAIN’s Adaptation Briefs aim to highlight in-country progress toward adaptation, with a focus on policy or investment strategies. Cases are selected for review based on general screening criteria, including time frame of the intervention, location of implementation, and evidence-based outcomes, as available. Each brief includes country information, a rationale for selection, context and description of the intervention, relevant partners and funding, outcomes from the intervention and dissemination, and other considerations.
The first round of cases are distributed across ten countries in the Global South, focusing on Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. ND-GAIN aims to extend our case knowledge base, if you have an interest in partnering, please email ndgain@nd.edu.
Explore the full collection of Adaptation Briefs listed below, or jump to a specific area of interest:
Bangladesh | Bhutan | Colombia | Ecuador | Guatemala | India | Indonesia | Mozambique | Somalia | South Sudan
Bangladesh
Bangladesh is ranked in the top ten of countries that are prone to extreme disaster risk. Due to increasing salinity in groundwater, residents’ drinking water options have become limited to either inconsistent monsoonal rains or highly saline, often contaminated, water sources. Over 70% of the people in coastal regions lack access to potable water. These effects extend to compromised biodiversity, declining agricultural yields, and unstable local livelihoods.
Read “Securing Water in Coastal Bangladesh”
Bhutan
Bhutan is vulnerable to heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Landlocked and mountainous, Bhutan has more than 2500 glaciers, which are melting. These challenges have led to deadly flooding and landslides in urban and rural areas. In addition to the loss of human lives, flooding causes significant economic and social loss, which threatens to reverse decades of development progress.
Read “The Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility in Bhutan”
Colombia
The Amazon region continues to have the fastest rate of deforestation in the world. Issues of land grabbing for cattle pasture, colonization and population displacement, illicit crops, and illegal gold mining are all exacerbated by the region’s poverty. Agroforestry and silvo-pastoral conservation programs, particularly those that integrate indigenous ecosystem knowledge, are notably relevant for addressing sustained livelihoods while also protecting and regenerating forest cover.
Ecuador
Ecuador’s water and energy security is reliant on the Páramo, an ecoregion that captures large amounts of water during the rainy season and regulates water discharge through streams, rivers, and aquifers during the dry season. But within the province of Tungurahua, high population density threatens water availability.
Read “Páramos Tungurahua Water Fund and Fight Against Poverty”
Guatemala
The Dry Corridor in Guatemala is prone to high temperatures. Reductions in precipitation, along with climatic shifts toward warmer and drier weather, can deteriorate livelihoods, particularly for those in rural areas. With collaborative partnerships among local stakeholders to amplify the voices of these groups and help to inform effective investment, sustainable solutions will be achievable.
India
Seventy percent of India’s energy comes from fossil fuels such as coal, and approximately 60% of its cities have air quality levels that are seven times higher than WHO guidelines. Rural farmers face several challenges related to climate change and unsustainable energy use. These factors hamper sustainable agricultural productivity, hurting local farmers’ incomes and exacerbating rural poverty.
Read “Solar Power as a Renumerative Crop”
Indonesia
Mangrove cover plays a critical role in global biodiversity conservation, coastal protection, and climate change mitigation. Unsustainable aquaculture and timber production — as well as vulnerability to disasters — led to intensified efforts towards the rehabilitation of critical mangrove ecosystems in Indonesia.
Read “Mangrove Restoration and Coastal Greenbelt Protection Project”
Mozambique
With a coastline of approximately 1700 miles, Mozambique is one of the most exposed to coastal flooding in Africa and has experienced an increase in frequency and severity of flooding. Climate change adaptation is one of the priorities for urban development in Beira, Mozambique, a large coastal city that was devastated after Cyclone Idai in 2019.
Read “Cities and Climate Change Project 3CP: Rio Chiveve and Green Urban Infrastructure Project”
Somalia
More than 70% of Somalia’s population depends on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, livestock, and fisheries. But persistent droughts have heightened water and pasture shortages, intensifying the burden on women and youth and escalating conflicts over scarce resources. Altered rain patterns further limit freshwater accessibility, leading to increased water costs and heightened vulnerability, especially for women and girls.
Read “Enhancing Climate Resilience for Vulnerable Communities and Ecosystems”
South Sudan
Livelihoods in South Sudan predominantly revolve around subsistence farming and herding. Climate disasters disasters have intensified food insecurity and internal conflicts, as communities battle over dwindling resources. Since the post-independence conflict, the acutely food-insecure population has doubled in the last five years, and nearly two-thirds of the population facing recurring food insecurity conditions.