[Rantman] Training document for facing the future....from the UN

[rPauli]

A Toolkit for Designing Climate Change Adaptation Initiatives -- from the UN

http://www.undp-adaptation.org/projects/websites/docs/KM/PublicationsResMaterials/UNDP_Adaptation_Toolkit_FINAL_5-28-2010.pdf

About 50 pages.

This document presents basic analysis for generic problem solving - 
applied nicely to small communities. A useful document, no matter what 
the need.


Six Steps for Designing an Adaptation Initiative

The preparation of an adaptation initiative can be made easy by a series 
of simple but sequential steps. They include:

1. Defining the problem.
2. Identifying the causes of the problem.
3. Identifying and articulating the normative response.
4. Identifying key barriers.
5. Designing project responses to overcome key barriers
6. Reviewing i rst i ve steps and completing checklists to ensure 
due-diligence in meeting source of fund requirements

These steps represent a minimum set of activities for defining a project 
with a logical structure. Stakeholder consultation is critical for each 
activity. A non-linear process should ideally be followed when 
undertaking these
========================================
Additional Considerations
The following list of best-practices should be helpful in clearly 
articulating the problem.
1. Define a clear and precise problem statement, preferably without jargon.
2. Clearly define the expected results of the adaptation initiative. Do 
not state climate change as the
problem. The problem statement should be of a much lower-order; 
typically an issue that is within
the ability of one adaptation initiative to tackle. Define the problem 
in terms of how climate change will
impact a key sector at the national, sub-national, or local level.
3. Avoid the temptation to describe the causes of the problem in the 
problem statement itself.
For example: Intensified and frequent coastal flooding due to climate 
change adversely affects
community livelihood opportunities. The reason this distinction is 
important is because it is highly
unlikely that there is only one type of cause for the problem. Causes 
are discussed under Step 2 of this Toolkit

===================
UNDP’s Adaptation Policy Frameworks for Climate Change: Developing 
Strategies, Policies, and Measures (APF), suggests a variety of 
approaches to analyze the climate change-related problem in a rigorous 
manner. The four major types of approaches are:

1. Hazards-based approach: The problem is identii ed and assessed based 
on current vulnerability and current risks. Climate change scenarios are 
then used in conjunction with other information to examine how 
vulnerability and risks are likely to change over time and space.
2. Vulnerability-base: The problem is identii ed based on an assessment 
of how likely it is that the critical thresholds of vulnerability 
(viewed as a combination of development conditions and sensitivity to 
climate change) will be exceeded under alternative climate change 
scenarios.
3. Adaptive-capacity-based approach: The problem is assessed by 
examining the current adaptive capacity of a system and determining 
weaknesses in the context of emerging risks and opportunities under a 
range of climate change scenarios.
4. Policy-based approach: The problem is assessed based on whether an 
existing or new policy is robust under climate change. A number of 
qualitative and quantitative techniques can be employed to test whether 
the policy is robust enough when looked at against a range of 
anticipated climate change risks