Rethinking Resilience: How to Help People Adapt to Climate Change - Paperback

by Forhad Shilpi (Author), Claudia Berg (Author), Matthew Kahn (Author)

Global warming is accelerating, and harmful weather events caused by climate change--such as extreme storms, droughts, heatwaves, or wildfires--are becoming more frequent and severe. The burden of climate disasters is, and will continue to be, borne disproportionately by poor people and poor countries. This report argues that resilience to climate change will ultimately depend on the adaptation decisions of millions of individual households, farms, and firms. Public policy can coordinate collective adaptation actions, provide incentives, and extend direct support where necessary. But the evidence suggests that adaptation efforts have fallen short. The drivers of the muted adaptation response by households, farmers, and firms include: incomplete information; financial constraints; markets for adaptation tools or services that do not exist or offer limited products; or public policies that are confusing or distorting. Enabling and empowering individuals to take actions and invest in resilience measures appropriate to their own context is the priority for policies. The report offers several broad principles to guide policy and proposes specific policy actions to build resilience. Resilience challenges are complex, and the report recommends layering instruments to deal with multiple constraints, varied weather events, and differential financial abilities of households, farms, and firms

Author Biography

The World Bank came into formal existence in 1945 following the international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements. It is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The organization's activities are focused on education, health, agriculture and rural development, environmental protection, establishing and enforcing regulations, infrastructure development, governance and legal institutions development. The World Bank is made up of two unique development institutions owned by its 185 Member Countries. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries and the International Development Association (IDA), which focuses on the poorest countries in the world.