Climate change is disrupting national economies and affecting livelihoods, particularly through the impact on water and water-related hazards. The impact of water-related hazards is felt more in developing than in developed countries, both in terms of economical and human losses, reinforcing inequality and poverty.
Although global assessments of climate change impact can provide a rough indication of trends and expected impacts, the local conditions define how vulnerable the communities are to these water security threats. Adaptation to this climate stress is therefore a local process that requires the design of tailored solutions. In this context, the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme presents therefore the Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA). This approach provides a crucial framework to enable water managers and policy makers to assess the impact of climate uncertainty and change on their water resources and work towards effective adaptation strategies.
The multi-step process embraces a participatory, bottom-up approach to identify water security hazards, and is sensitive to indigenous and gender-related water vulnerabilities. By engaging local communities in the design of the analysis, the information provided by scientific modeling and climate analysis can be tailored and thus provide more useful answers to the challenges they are facing. They are also providing a more informed starting point to assess the different options for adaptation, and design robust adaptation pathways, in line with the local needs.
The CRIDA approach advocates hereby to move away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach, and to pursue locally embedded solutions to the specific threats to water insecurity due to climate and other global changes. Therefore, this reference document is also an invitation to become part of a global water community that engages with the local stakeholders to identify their water security vulnerabilities, and to support their capacities to address their water management challenges under climate change