Evidence for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction synergies of interventions: An inductive approach

An inductive approach for the evidence of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction synergies of interventions: Challenges and opportunities
Research Report
Evidence for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction synergies of interventions: An inductive approach

Here are some takeaway messages from our work on climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) synergies of interventions.

1. There is an overwhelming agreement on and evidence for CCA and DRR synergies of DRR and CCA interventions respectively.
CCA synergies were high when skill development and livelihood development activities were implemented in DRR projects and DRR synergies were high when CCA projects used vulnerability assessments and planning based approaches.

2. Most CCA synergies of DRR projects and DRR synergies of CCA projects were unintended benefits outside the intended project objectives and outcomes rather than by design.

3. Both CCA and DRR projects have significant amount of development impacts which are largely co-benefits rather than by design.

4. Synergies were higher when projects were designed with broader scope. However, these projects are also likely to suffer from achieving the intended outcomes reported in the original project proposals.

5. Insurance itself may not provide a necessary and sufficient condition for resulting in CCA and DRR outcomes but rather there is a need for the presence of enabling conditions (capacity building of farmers for better management practices, drought and flood tolerant varieties, linking with markets etc) that are often outside the insurance contracts.

6. Despite the significant possibility of obtaining CCA and DRR synergies in project interventions, the project implementing agencies have mostly refrained from focusing on maximizing these synergies.

7. There is a very limited evidence on the extent the CCA and DRR stakeholders have worked together to obtain maximum synergies out of interventions.

8. Lack of conscious efforts to maximize CCA and DRR synergies of interventions indicate lack of appropriate capacity, largely technical, among the stakeholders implementing these interventions.

9. It is evident that projects that collaborate with knowledge partners such as universities and research institutions were better placed to achieve better synergies than other interventions. This signifies the importance of networks to work with stakeholders on the ground as most networks tend to fail in reaching out to local level implementing agencies.

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