Video and report on communities adapting to climate change

A new film and briefing paper are being used to call for greater support to help poor communities in developing countries to adapt to climate change. Both will be shared at the UN Commission for Sustainable Development in New York on 9 May.

"Helping the millions of poor people at greatest risk from climate change to adapt to its impacts is a daunting task," says the paper's author Saleemul Huq, who heads the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). "One new approach that deserves greater support is community-based adaptation."

Huq is also a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report on the impacts of climate change, which was released in February 2007.

His paper outlines the concepts behind community-based adaptation (CBA), shares some early lessons learned, and calls for greater networking, information sharing and support for CBA activities.

"It is important now to support as many CBA activities as possible and to share the experience and knowledge gained," says Huq. "IIED and its partners are creating an online CBA network and other opportunities to share knowledge of what works."

The video (6 minutes) can be viewed online at:

http://www.iied.org/CC/mm/CBAvideo.html

The 2-page briefing paper is available at:

http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=17005IIED&n=1&l=15&a=S%20Huq

Huq will be joined at the UN Commission for Sustainable Development side event by Stephen Gitonga, the community-based adaptation programme manager at the UN Development Programme / Global Environment Facility.

See: http://www.iied.org/events/CSD15_ccdvd_presentation.htm

In February, IIED and the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies organised a workshop on community-based adaptation to climate change.

See: http://www.iied.org/mediaroom/releases/070223Dhaka.html

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Mike Shanahan
Press Officer
International Institute for Environment and Development
Email: mike.shanahan@iied.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7872 7308
Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826
http://www.iied.org

NOTES TO EDITORS

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is an independent, non-profit research institute. Set up in 1971 and based in London, IIED provides expertise and leadership in researching and achieving sustainable development (see: http://www.iied.org).