Indicators for the monitoring and evaluation of adaptation

Methodologies for the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of adaptation are being developed and tested in a variety of programmes, government systems and climate finance institutions. They face a number of challenges, including: the potentially long timescales over which climate change and adaptation responses may emerge; the lack of clear metrics and criteria for evaluating adaptation ‘success’; the highly contextual nature of adaptation; and the need to evaluate success in the context of evolving and uncertain climatic conditions. The Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development framework identifies four categories of indicator for adaptation M&E: (1) climate risk management indicators; (2) resilience and related indicators; (3) indicators of human wellbeing; and (4) climate indices. These indicators address the above challenges by allowing different but complementary approaches to the assessment of adaptation results.