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findings provide an understanding of which groups are vulnerable and why; to what extent they can rely on their relatives, neighbors, and government agencies as a coping mechanism; which assets will provide the greatest resilience and adaptive capacity; and how needs are likely to evolve over time. Community-based risk assessment projects are valuable for their ability to involve local participation in adaptation while helping to create social capital. Local institutions can provide communities with a forum to voice their concern and seek representation and accountability; they function as facilitators for households and social groups to inform, design, and implement adaptation practices. However, for local institutions to function effectively, strong institutional ties with the national government are required to ensure a continued exchange of information. For example, incorporating the data and knowledge collected at the local level into regional and national adaptation strategies is contingent on integrating power down through the system, while at the same time keeping governance efficient. Drawing on local knowledge and institutions in designing adaptation measures is essential to achieving sustainable adaptation. The findings in this book repeatedly emphasize the importance of actions that are conceived and executed locally, using area-based, decentralized approaches to enhancing resilience where livelihoods are irrevocably changed. Social capital is essential to facilitate this kind of representation of local interests and knowledge, yet it is also an outcome of the process. Although tensions between different types of social capital can develop, often in rural and traditional settings, the goal is to address underinvestment in social assets by regenerating bonding social capital among stakeholders at the local level. Involving local stakeholders in adaptation initiatives is a practical means to increase institutional and project accountability while building the local asset base. At the institutional level, local civil society organizations can play a key role in tracking the allocation of funding for adaptation projects at the regional and local level. At the project level, retraining local agents to fill jobs in project management and field monitoring and evaluation can provide a safety net by promoting climate-resilient jobs while working toward reducing community risk from climate change. This holds potential to strengthen the physical and financial capital of those whose livelihoods are threatened by climate change. It will also build the social capital needed for communities to voice and represent their own interests, so that national institutions can be made more responsive to, and accountable for, the needs of local communities.