Checklist for adaptation good practices

Draft v1: Checklist for Adaptation Good Practices Adaptation Learning Programme, July 2016 Introduction Climate change impacts involve three defining features that are not always a part of other development challenges: they are diverse, both short- and long-term and not easily predictable. Adapting to these three traits is difficult because they require making context-specific and forward-looking plans regarding a variety of local climate impacts, risks and vulnerabilities when the future is highly uncertain. Adaptive capacity is central to building resilience and involves developing processes and capacities which enable continued response to a changing and uncertain climate over time.

Against this background, there is need to reflect on and develop standards for good practice that financial decision makers, policy-makers, programme designers and practitioners in the climate change adaptation arena can take into account to ensure vulnerable people, communities, institutions and systems are able to continuously adapt effectively and sustainably to the ever-changing and uncertain future.

Purpose of the checklist The objective of this Adaptation Good Practice (AGP) checklist is to guide and ensure that actions proposed as adaptation do result in long term effective impact. The checklist is for use in the context of designing and deciding financial support to policy, projects, programmes and all other types of initiatives which focus on adaptation specifically or in which climate resilience is mainstreamed. The checklist presents nine practices which should feature in such initiatives in order to qualify as adaptation to climate change. The checklist and its use are described, including a practical scoring method for use by proposal development teams, adaptation financiers and adaptation practitioners to screen concepts, proposals and implementation plans for their incorporation of and compliance with adaptation good practices.

The development of the AGP checklist is in response to ensuring effective adaptation at local, national and regional level as enshrined in the global commitment by Parties to the UNFCCC in the Paris Agreement. Parties also agreed to increase financial flows for adaptation to climate change through a range of bilateral, multilateral and direct and international access mechanisms. Countries in Africa are committed to Nationally Determined Contributions and associated National Adaptation Plans which will frame the development of adaptation programmes to be financed through the Adaptation Fund (AF), Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other mechanisms. Procedures to govern access modalities to the AF and GCF funds have been established with well-developed institutional safeguards, fiduciary and procedural requirements, and readiness programmes to support countries and institutions to strengthen their capacity and prepare proposals. The GCF Concept Note Users guide (2015), the GCF Readiness Programme resources and other GCF literature highlight a number of issues that should be incorporated to reflect good practices, including eight environmental and social safeguards. However, in regard to adaptation, criteria to provide easy to follow guidance on what makes for effective adaptation and adaptation impacts are yet to be clarified or elaborated. Demands for capacity building on applying adaptation in practice are growing. The AGP checklist is an initial effort to fill this gap and demonstrate the adaptation specific practices that are needed to achieve results in a form that can be systematically applied during concept and proposal design and evaluation.

Some important perspectives to inform adaptation.

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Climate change risks and impacts are highly diverse and context specific. Planning for adaption therefore needs to be locally driven and across sectors, and incorporate appropriate local and external resources, expertise and knowledge. Different groups have differing levels of vulnerability and capacity within and across populations and communities which need to be taken into account – As a result, differences in gender, social status, wealth, ethnicity, natural resource base, marginalization, and religion, among others; all affect people’s ability to adapt and are important aspects to understand and work with.

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Timescales matter. Climate change occurs in short to long-term timescales, with direct and indirect changes and impacts. Institutions and systems must consider the linkage of adaptation work across time scales and integrate continuous learning on adaptation.

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Uncertainty - climate change and resultant risks and impacts are difficult to predict with certainty. A framework must be developed with the appropriate flexibility to evolve with the changing climate risks, uncertainties, opportunities and impacts. Adaptation must go beyond being reactive to climate impacts, to focusing on anticipatory and precautionary measures to be prepared for future unknowns.

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Adaptive capacity of vulnerable people, ecosystems and institutions is a critical determinant of successful adaptation in the face of an uncertain future climate. Strengthening control of and access to knowledge and assets, strong institutions and linkages, innovation, anticipation of future risks and opportunities and above all forward looking decision making processes are the capacities which form the basis for adaptation actions to be identified and implemented now and into the future as the climate changes. These capacities ensure that adaptation technologies are relevant and effective.

These capacities therefore require equal attention in terms of resourcing the systems and services which build and maintain adaptive capacity.

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Decision making processes are at the heart of effective adaptation. The changing climate requires continuous and informed decision making, reviewing past trends, current conditions and anticipating future scenarios. This calls for systems and processes which motivate and sustain anticipatory, flexible, locally contextualised decision making, in which those affected by climate impacts are fully involved.

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Underlying causes and drivers of vulnerability - for example, gender inequalities, exclusion or poor governance - and ongoing development and economic growth challenges all affect resilience to climate change and may hinder the success of the implementation of adaptation actions. A holistic response which takes these into account together with climate risks is needed in which adaptation is integrated, embedding climate change across all sectors and within all policy settings and decision making processes.

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Climate Information Services – access to or lack of available and useful climate information contributes to increasing or reducing resilience of the vulnerable groups, systems and institutions to the impacts of climate change and adaptive capacity. Recognition and integration of Indigenous Knowledge (IK), interpretation of scientific/meteorological information, and engagement of users in creating usable and accessible information and communication to those who need it (policy makers, vulnerable group and communities) is key to building resilience, informed policy decisions on and adaptation to climate change impacts.

Against this background, the checklist aims to reflect the latest knowledge on adaptation practices which respond to ongoing climate change and variability, risks, vulnerability and impacts. However, the checklist 2

does not attempt to cover the full range of good practices needed for development as a whole. It is rather, indicative of and focuses on those aspects where adaptation adds a new lens or approach and goes into these aspects in some detail.

Audience The checklist targets planners and proposal development teams involved in the development of proposals to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Adaptation Fund (AF) and other financing mechanisms. It targets decision makers who are responsible for the roll out of national NDCs and adaptation plans and who carry out prioritisation and approve concepts and proposals including multilateral and national Implementing Entities (MIEs / NIEs) and National Designated Authorities (NDAs), development banks and donors, and the AF and GCF boards. It also targets the Executing entities and implementing teams of adaptation initiatives to inform and verify the quality of detailed design and implementation of adaptation processes and activities with local communities, local authorities and at national levels.

Definition of Key Terms: to be revised •

Adaptive Capacity: the degree to which adjustments in practices, processes, or structures can moderate or offset the potential for damage and/or take advantage of opportunities created by a given change in climate.

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Climate Change Adaptation: An adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.

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Capacity: the ability of individuals and organizations or organizational units to perform functions effectively, efficiently and sustainably.

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Desired Future: A common future or end that a country or community or group of individuals desires and is willing to plan for.

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Disaster Risk Reduction: a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them.

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Local Adaptive Capacity: distinct yet interrelated characteristics that are conducive to adaptive capacity. These are: the asset base, institutions and entitlements, knowledge and information, innovation, and flexible forward-looking decision-making.

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Resilient: the ability to cope with, recover from and/or adapt to long-term, systemic and secular change while maintaining or enhancing core properties.

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Sustainability: the ability of socio-ecological processes and activities to continue producing benefits in the long term environmentally, socially, technically, financially and culturally.

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Vulnerability: the extent to which a natural or social system is susceptible to sustaining damage from climate change.

How the Adaptation Good Practice (AGP) checklist was developed As adaptation becomes a priority for decision makers, the demand for knowledge and support on how to implement adaptation in practice is growing. Initiatives such as the development of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and the ongoing GCF readiness programmes provide a good foundation, but do not go into detail of adaptation specific practices. The AGP checklist responds to this need. To identify the AGPs and

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criteria to assess them, the Adaptation Learning Programme for Africa (ALP)1 analysed2 documented perspectives on good practices for adaptation to climate change, comparing knowledge, research and evidence of what works well in the range of approaches to adaptation - community based, ecosystems based – which is emerging across Africa and globally. The ideas and content that make up the checklist are derived from diverse and authoritative sources including the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2014, the GCF Concept Note Users Guide and Kenya’s NAP and INDC. They are also drawn from practical experiences and learning from ALP’s work since 2010 with communities, sub national and national governments and civil society organisations in developing and delivering approaches to community based adaptation in Africa, and providing technical capacity building support to a range of organisations and programmes. It draws from the Joint Principles for Adaptation developed by civil society networks in the Southern Voices programme3. The full list of sources and their mapping against the AGPs is available here XX.TBD The final checklist and criteria elaborating each one will be validated together with Kenya’s adaptation thematic working group members and other key stakeholders in Kenya before sharing more broadly for testing in other contexts.

How to use the checklist The checklist can be used in a variety of ways, to: •

Engage proposal design teams in discussions on what good adaptation would look like in the particular context, vulnerable groups, prioritised sector and geographic areas agreed upon.

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Guide project or programme designs to include essential practices that will support successful and sustainable adaptation outcomes and impacts

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Guide evaluation of concepts and proposals in relation to adaptation content ensuring they satisfy the criteria for good adaptation at all levels, including community and ecosystem based adaptation

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Conduct a desk exercise or stakeholder discussions as a tool to help trigger reflections on how good adaptation can be realised on the ground.

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Guide implementing teams on what to pay attention to in detailed action plans and choice of approaches

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Inspire and document dynamic evolution of adaptation good practice as it continues to be informed by emerging learning from adaptation practices and experiences in response to climate change and uncertainty.

The AGP checklist is comprised of a set of nine broad practices which are elaborated through a number of specific and measurable criteria. The table of AGPs and their criteria provides the core tool for the above uses. They can be used as a simple checklist, or used to score4 the level or extent of meeting each criterion. Each of the practices and their criteria are elaborated in more practical detail5, explaining their importance, how they can be applied in practice, how they work together and with links to relevant learning reports, case studies, approaches and tools.

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ALP: http://careclimatechange.org/our-work/alp/ Comparison of good practices from range of sources, ALP June 2016 MATRIX ANALYSIS TO BE FINALISED and available on http://careclimatechange.org/our-work/alp/ 3 Southern Voices for Adaptation http://www.southernvoices.net/en/ 4 NB. Scoring method and guide TBD and added 5 NB. TBD 2

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The Adaptation Good Practice Checklist 1.

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Analyse climate risks, differential vulnerability and capacity of people, ecosystems and institutions.

Promote participation, agency and inclusion of all groups Incorporate management of uncertainty and use of climate information Promote anticipatory, flexible and forward looking adaptation planning and decision making processes Promote innovation, local knowledge and technology Ensure an integrated and holistic response with adaptive management of climate related risks and impacts over time Establish institutional arrangements and linkages which facilitate multi-stakeholder engagement Integrate sustainable learning, capacity building and knowledge management processes Support ongoing and sustainable adaptation at scale Identify potential for conflicts, or increase in the risk thereof, resulting directly or indirectly from the proposed changes (institutional changes, ecological changes, technological changes).

Criteria for each adaptation good practice are provided in the Adaptation Good Practice Criteria Table below. The criteria elaborate each practice and support their use when developing adaptation initiatives, reviewing designs and evaluating concepts and proposals.

Scoring system guide for use in designing and screening initiatives and programme documents and implementation TBD Annex 1. Detailed explanations, case studies and links to relevant resources TBD

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ADAPTATION GOOD PRACTICE CRITERIA TABLE, June 2016

ADAPTATION GOOD PRACTICE

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

SCORE 1 to 5 6

1. Risk, vulnerability and capacity Analyse climate risks, differential vulnerability and capacity of people, ecosystems and institutions.

a) Climate vulnerable people are targeted and defined, with consideration of: livelihood assets and strategies, social groups, ecological and climatic zones, land use and environmental management, gender and wealth differences. b) Risk and vulnerability assessments examine people’s exposure and sensitivity to climate risk, social, economic and ecosystem vulnerability and their knowledge and capacity to address risk and vulnerability. c) Institutional mapping identifies the range of community, local and national organizations involved in management of climate change risks and impacts, and analyses their organisational/institutional capacity and linkages. d) Analysis is planned with the purpose of initiating a participatory planning process and informing the choice of adaptation strategies.

Total score 2. Participation, inclusion, gender equality

Promote participation, voice and inclusion of all groups.

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a) The analysis in 1b) includes analysis of gender and power dynamics and relations among vulnerable men, women and youth of different social standing, wealth and ethnicity, and how they affect risks, vulnerabilities, adaptive capacities and participation among the targeted vulnerable groups. b) Mechanisms are incorporated for vulnerable communities, men, women, youth and local level actors to have active and ongoing participation and voice in the decisions that affect them and take ownership of adaptation plans and actions c) The initiative facilitates targeted communities, and different vulnerable groups to identify their livelihood aspirations, needs and priorities and assess these against the local context and future climate scenarios. d) The initiative recognises and strengthens the capacity and rights of vulnerable men, women and youth to continually participate in adaptation decision making and ensure gender equitable access, control and accumulation of assets and adaptation benefits.

Total score

Refer to Scoring guidance (TBD)

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ADAPTATION GOOD PRACTICE

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

SCORE 1 to 5 6

3. Climate information, uncertainty Incorporate management of uncertainty and use of climate information

a) The initiative will access climate information from meteorological services, climate science, and other relevant sources to inform activities from initial analysis onwards. b) Design includes plans for enabling the project stakeholders and targeted communities have sustainable access to, confidence in and use of locally relevant climate information at appropriate timescales. c) The initiative addresses uncertainty and ongoing change in climate as important factors to understand, communicate and work with rather than avoid, in all steps of adaptation. d) Design supports local level multi-stakeholder dialogue, integration of indigenous knowledge, collective interpretation and development of climate information which is useful for adaptation decision making. e) The initiative identifies and supports two way communication channels for communicating climate change and climate information which are relevant and accessible to all targeted men, women, youth, sectors and services.

Total score 4. Planning and Decision making processes

Promote anticipatory and flexible adaptation planning and decision making processes with and by the people affected

a) The initiative supports planning and decision making at the most appropriate level (from community to national), to ensure context specific, locally determined plans with the participation of those who will be affected, will benefit and will provide ongoing services and support. b) The initiative establishes or strengthens systematic, forward looking and continuous planning processes to identify adaptation actions and strategies which incorporate flexibility and contingency to respond to uncertainty of climate impacts and to changing needs over time. c) The planning process uses the outcomes of analysis, past information, current conditions, people’s aspirations, and anticipation of future climate impact scenarios to identify a range of options. d) Identified adaptation options are prioritised through screening to ensure their social, economic and environmental feasibility, gender equality, resilience to expected climate impacts and risks and synergies with existing plans. e) The design is based on a good understanding of existing systems and strengthens governance systems which enable equitable and participatory decision making processes.

Total score

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ADAPTATION GOOD PRACTICE Promote innovation, local knowledge and technology

Ensure an integrated and holistic response with adaptive management of climate related risks and impacts over time

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

SCORE 1 to 5 6

5. Innovation, Local knowledge, Technology a) The initiative supports continuous innovation of adaptation approaches, strategies and technologies by project implementers. b) The initiative recognises and strengthens capacity for continuous innovation and experimentation by the target communities, to enable adaptive responses to anticipated and unforeseen future climate risks and impacts. c) The initiative supports use of local knowledge in adaptation through i) access and validation, ii) combining with other knowledge sources, iii) building local confidence and trust and iv) to contextualise and inform innovation and options for adaptation actions. d) Technology choices are made which respond to risk, vulnerability and capacity analysis, as well as anticipation of future climate and uncertainty at community and landscape level, and consider trade-offs and synergies between different vulnerable groups. e) Technology choices build on local knowledge, and consider availability, accessibility, affordability, relevance and environmental impacts, based on a participatory technology development approach.

Total score 6. Integration and adaptive management a) Adaptation good practices are integrated into climate sensitive sector programmes or local / national development planning cycles and development plans. b) The initiative ensures resources will be available and/ or systems in place for ongoing adaptive management activities and systems as well as implementation of adaptation technologies. (eg. continuous and flexible decision making, adaptive capacity strengthening, ongoing service delivery such as climate information services or extension, advocacy for effective policy support, appropriate monitoring, evaluation and learning systems.) c) Disaster risk reduction is integrated into all sectoral and economic investment and livelihood improvement options and plans, (e.g. early warning early action systems, contingency plans or safety nets enhance the resilience of sector based development). d) The design considers concerns, opportunities and synergies or trade-offs between: ecosystems and environmental management, people’s and institutions aspirations for sustainable socio-economic development, and climate risk and vulnerability analysis. This will avoid any potential maladaptation across sectors and range of actors involved.

Total score 8

ADAPTATION GOOD PRACTICE Establish institutional arrangements and linkages which facilitate multistakeholder engagement

Integrate sustainable learning, capacity building, and knowledge management processes

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

SCORE 1 to 5 6

7. Multi-stakeholder institutional linkages a) Implementers and all institutional stakeholders are aware of climate change risks and impacts and their contribution, roles and responsibilities are well-defined at different levels, including coordination. b) Participation of local and national civil society organisations in adaptation decision making, planning and implementation is promoted, including community based organisations and NGOs. c) Multi-stakeholder forums are established or strengthened to enable cross – sector coordination, local contextualization and downscaling, collective decision making and co-generation of new knowledge for innovation and response to climate risks and uncertainties, informed by all actors. d) Linkages between stakeholder institutions are analysed and strengthened or established, to ensure sustainable institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms for participation in adaptation decisions and actions across sectors at local to national levels.

Total score

8. Learning, capacity building, knowledge management a) Iterative learning is a core activity in the project design, linked to activity planning, so that the implementers are able to adjust and improve their activities as the climate and other circumstances change, evidence from adaptation experience emerges, or new information becomes available. b) The monitoring system incorporates reflection by stakeholders and identifies feedback loops to inform modifications as the project evolves so that activities are successfully adapted to new learning. c) Capacity building is planned to meet stakeholder needs and to ensure effective implementation of adaptation good practice by the implementing team and partners. d) The initiative includes mechanisms for ongoing and sustainable monitoring, learning and capacity building by and for the targeted communities and their local service providers, to inform their continuous planning. e) The initiative includes knowledge sharing and learning among relevant institutions, sectors and other adaptation programmes nationally and beyond to enable further learning and scaling up of good adaptation practice.

Total score

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ADAPTATION GOOD PRACTICE Support to ongoing sustainable adaptation at scale

Identify potential for conflicts, or increase in the risk thereof, resulting directly or indirectly from the proposed institutional, ecological and technological changes.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

SCORE 1 to 5 6

9. Scaling up a) The design of the initiative and activities aim to ensure resulting benefits, systems and services are sustainable. b) The initiative identifies and plans from the start for the engagement and participation of existing institutions, systems and services which would enable future adoption, capacity building, mainstreaming and upscaling of adaptation good practice and benefits, including from government, civil society and the private sector. c) The initiative engages with policy processes and the enabling environment to ensure the resulting adaptation processes and outcomes are promoted nationwide. It has the potential to create linkages with existing institutions that can support its sustainability. d) Cost benefit analysis of adaptation actions, innovations and strategies, including costs of ongoing planning, climate service provision and adaptive management, is done to ensure affordability and cost effective outcomes. e) Learning and evidence generated is accessible and can be used by adaptation programmes, NDA, NIEs and other actors for future project design.

Total score 10. Identifying the Potential for Conflict (Conflict Sensitivity) a) The initiative seeks to encourage cooperation between and within communities by creating seeking to emphasise and establish co-benefits for different groups who may or may not have competing claims to access to natural resources (including also migrant communities, such as pastoralists). b) Existing and proposed institutional frameworks are tested in terms of access, participation, quality and justice between and across communities/livelihoods/gender/generation etc. c) The natural resources altered (land, water, crop residue etc.), directly or indirectly, as a result of the adaptation interventions, are analysed, not only in terms of the user groups (and competing claims), but also in terms of the existing relationships between them. d) Where changes resulting from an initiative may not equally distributed amongst communities or groups, the initiative endeavours to establish sustainable, benefit-redistribution mechanisms. e) Target communities or groups are sensitised to the potential for conflict arising directly or indirectly from an adaptation intervention, and are encouraged to establish mechanisms for managing potential conflict.

Total score

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