This book, which contains 13 separately authored chapters, has been developed from the ADAPT Project, focusing on the development of regional adaptation strategies to climate change and climate variability for water, food and the environment in river basins across the world. Chapter 1 describes a generic methodology for river basins (called the Adaptation Methodology for River Basins, AMR). Chapter 2 discusses the use of climate change scenarios as provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, more specifically, how these scenarios can be used for regional studies. Chapters 3 and 4 describe in more detail the possible consequences of climate change and climate variability for food security and environmental quality. The application of the generic AMR methodology to 7 basin case studies in contrasting geographical areas of the world is presented in Chapters 5-11: Syr Darya (Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan), Zayandeh (Iran), Rhine (Germany, Netherlands and France), Mekong (Yunnan (China), Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam), Volta (Ghana), Walawe (Sri Lanka), and Sacramento (California, USA), respectively. Chapter 12 integrates the findings of the basin studies and compares these findings with global trends in climate change related to food security. Finally, Chapter 13 gives a summary of the experiences encountered during the ADAPT project, and provides key findings that should be addressed in new regional adaptation studies. This book will be of interest to researchers in climatology, geography, ecology, agriculture, environmental studies and related disciplines. | Gift

The usual vulnerability assessment is often sectoral and hazard-specific. With the nexus approach on water, energy and food (WEF), it is recognized that these three sectors have interactions and synergies and tradeoffs in their activities. Security has five dimensions, namely: availability, accessibility, affordability, accessibility, quality and sustainability. This study involved developing and implementing an integrated vulnerability assessment (IVA) methodology and framework of WEF security nexus applied to a watershed. The framework considered the watershed with three sub-systems of ecological, energy and food interacting with water as the common element. The same concept of vulnerability assessment was used for IVA as a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. IVA was operationalized by identifying variables or parameters pertaining to relationships among WEF and inclusion of sectoral variables related to the various dimensions of security. Based on the study, IVA of WEF nexus is a more holistic approach in assessing vulnerability. IVA account for the relationships among the sectors, in contrast to the sectoral approach. Using the combined climate risks due to different hazards (intense typhoons, erratic rainfall, severe drought, and temperature rise) gives a broader coverage unlike the hazard-specific approach. Parameters used were applicable for IVA of the watershed area. Additional relevant variables can be included if data are available.