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Climate adaptation in Asia: knowledge gaps and research issues in China. Final report to IDRC and DFID. The full report of the China team.
A study to assess the need for a research programme on climate change adaptation in China
Authors:
Publisher:
Institute For Social And Environmental Transition , 2008
This is a summary of a report on climate change adaptation research knowledge and capacity gaps in China, commissioned by DFID (UK) and IDRC (Canada) to consider support for a programme of applied research on climate adaptation in Asia. Although scientific research capacity on assessing the effects of climate change in China is strong, adaptation as a specific domain of research effort is a new concept.
In accordance with donor priorities, the study involves the identification of vulnerable groups in geographical regions likely to face great stress from climate change. Four domains of adaptation research are seen to be relevant for China. These will provide a way to frame and link research across different disciplines and scales to prepare for appropriate adaptation strategies.
- Local management of natural resources – apart from agricultural research, this area does not receive much research attention, but is likely to grow in importance. For example, rangeland management for livestock production
- Local disaster risk reduction and resilience - assessment of the trends in wetland degradation or lowland vulnerability to sea level storm surges and flooding
- Migration – highlights the need to improve the social and economic effectiveness of migration and to foster climate adaptation in both rural and urban areas
- Practical and flexible organisational strategies for government – discusses the development of better institutions for adaptive management suited to Chinese conditions
- new approaches to shared learning and expertise will be needed - these should recognise the value of diversity, rather than uniformity, in local and regional response strategies to foster resilience
- innovation will be essential - new ways must be found to support local initiative and creativity in combination with scientific expertise and knowledge of good practice
- there is a need to provide better local access to national scientific knowledge networks. Part of the issue is translating scientific and technical innovations into practical and locally relevant formats that can be easily accessed by practitioners
- reforms of the agricultural extension system could contribute to building more responsive local knowledge and learning systems
- build participatory research capacity among provincial academies - they can engage with both national-level interdisciplinary scientific support and county level implementing agencies to test adaptive management interventions.