The document discusses vulnerability, adaptation and resilience to climate change. It notes that climate change affects all people but impacts the poorest and most vulnerable the most. These groups have contributed the least to global warming. The document presents a community-based adaptation framework and discusses how social factors like gender, asset ownership, and access to information influence people's vulnerability. It argues for understanding and empowering vulnerable communities to adapt to climate impacts through strengthening capacities and supporting adaptation efforts at all levels.

1. Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience
Sept 2nd, 2014

2. ‘Climate change affects us all, but it does
not affect us all equally.
The poorest and most vulnerable – those
who have done the least to contribute to
global warming – are bearing the brunt of
the impact.’
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
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3. Community Based Adaptation Framework
Climate Change knowledge
COMMUNITY-BASED
ADAPTATION
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Local adaptive &
organisational
capacity
Addressing
underlying
causes of
vulnerability
Disaster risk
reduction
Climate-resilient
livelihoods
Influencing
enabling policy
environment
Risk and uncertainty

4. Differential vulnerability: The role of social incl.
gender dimensions
• Vulnerability to climate change: exposure, sensitivity and
capacity also depend on roles, responsibilities, voice, access,
control ...  result of social relations
• Different groups within a community have different but
complementary knowledge, capacities, experience

5. Underlying causes of vulnerability
• Asset base: ability to be proactive and innovate / take risks requires
minimum asset base  strong differences e.g. land tenure, livestock,
credit
• Exclusion/ lack of voice: ethnic minorities, younger generations, or
poor, uneducated women lacking voice in decision-making on e.g. DRM,
land use, development planning
• Access to information and training: language,
generation and gender gaps in access to crucial
information (weather, early warning, markets..)
• Labour division by gender group  differential
exposure and sensitivity to climatic hazards depending on
crops grown,livelihoods activities, time use
• Climatic shifts and social change: transitions in/ out of
livelihoods, changes in labour division, erosion of
community safety nets
5

6. What can be done?
• Understand who is vulnerable to climate
change and how they feel its impacts
• Recognise vulnerable people as owners of
knowledge and agents of change
• Strengthen their capacity and empower
them to adapt in different and
complementary ways
• Support adaptation to the impacts of
climate change at all levels
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7. Some Points of Reflection
1. How do we really include the most vulnerable?
2. Is there more to addressing vulnerability than adding some
members of the various groups?
3. Is it enough to isolate them and do something ‘special’ with them, or
are there opportunities for more meaningful interaction and
engagement more with others?
4. When is it most useful/ appropriate to focus on the ‘differences’ and
how or look at how better or worse off; more less the groups have?
5. Is it enough to focus on just the supply, but not the demand or the
impacts?
6. Is it useful to also look at the intra relations/ processes?
7. How community based are the our community based approaches?
8. Are vulnerability assessments and gender assessments/ issues in
conflict with pastoralism? Can they co-exist?

8. ALP, CARE & climate change: For more info
alp@careclimatechange.org
www.careclimatechange.org/adaptation-initiatives/alp
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