ABSTRACT
Countries with low adaptation capacities will be hit the hardest by climate change. The necessity of adaptation was repeatedly drawn attention to during the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) debates on climate change in 2007 and 2011. Non-violent conflict resolution skills may well be crucial to easing the implementation of necessary but unpopular adaptation measures such as unavoidable resettlement programs or the negotiation of suitable compensation. It is possible to institutionalize responsibility for a coherent implementation of adaptation measures in individual countries by assigning them to a specific state institution or inter-ministerial body. The Water, Crisis and Climate Change Assessment Framework (WACCAF) tool attempts to fill identified gaps in dealing with environmental and water conflict in research and practice. The WACCAF is based on the assumption that conflicts over natural resources and the environment are always embedded in a broader setting, where socio-political, environmental, and economic factors create potential crises and offer entry points for cooperation.
