Climate impacts on the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor people around the world, impacting poverty eradication efforts such as the Millennium Development Goals. Climate also impacts on economies, including on investments in agriculture, human health, water resources, infrastructure and environment. The Climate and Society publication series is a platform, designed to bring together partners to share knowledge on what can be done to manage climate risks today.
Development planners and resource managers must address these climate risks and the fact that future climatic conditions are bound to be different from present ones. A substantial amount of coordination, capacity building and knowledge sharing is required to meet these challenges. However, many of the most effective measures to adapt to future climate change coincide with those to reduce vulnerability to current climate variability and extreme weather events.
Climate and Society Publication: It's a Process!
Each issue of Climate and Society centers on a specific, timely, climate-related development. It captures state-of-the-art practice in a policy-relevant language. The publication evolves from discussion with partners and practitioners, writing and review by leading authorities, and synthesis from a broad range of relevant fields. The process is designed to capture and lay out the current state of knowledge about the problem and identify key practical chellenges and opportunities. Climate and Society No. 2 will build on high-level roundtable discussions attended by public-and private-sector leaders engaged or interested in index insurance. It will also build on the ideas and expertise of researchers and practitioners presented during targeted workshops designed to focus on a particular question. Climate and Society No. 1 was the result of a partnership among IRI, the Africa Union, UN-Economic Commision for Africa, the Africa Development Bank and the Global Climate Observing System. It was supported by the U.K. Department for International Development and U.S. National Oceaninc and Atmospheric Administration in response to the G8 Gleneagles Summit focus on climate and sustainable development in Africa. The report was released at the Africa Union Heads of State Summit in 2007 during a special session on Climate and Technology.
Recent Events
October 7, 2008. IRI hosted Workshop. Role of Climate Science for Index Insurance . A workshop bringing together experts to focus on innovative research and technologies that have potential in scaling up index insurance. Background documents on each key topic were commissioned for review and discussion.
December, 2008. COP14 side session with partners: presentation of core issues and findings, draft publication available.
January, 2009. World Economic Forum. Publication launching event
