Toolkit for integrating climate change adaptation into development projects

This document is designed to facilitate the integration of climate change adaptation into development projects. It aims to be used to strengthen many different kinds of development projects, and especially climate sensitive ones, incorporating disaster risk reduction measures if appropriated. It identifies key issues, provides step-by-step guidance for each stage in the project cycle, and illustrates practical use through case studies and examples from field testing on CARE projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

It helps: (i) analyse vulnerability to climate change and adaptive capacity of development project's target area and communities, based on both scientific information as well as local information; (ii) evaluate the risks that climate change may pose to the effectiveness and sustainability of the project; (iii) identify options for new or different activities that will increase the sustainability of the project in the context of climate change, and the impact of the project on the adaptive capacity of target populations and the ecosystems on which these populations depend for their livelihoods, (iv) implement project activities in a manner that takes climate change into account; (v) manage and use information and knowledge generated by the analysis, design and implementation stages of the project to apply adaptive management; and (vi) select tools to aid in the above processes.