ABSTRACT
The Copenhagen Climate Change conference in March 2009 reported that ‘adaptation measures to lessen the impacts of climate change are urgently needed now. Given the considerable uncertainties around projections of climate impacts on water resources at local and regional scales, building resilience, managing risks, and employing adaptive management are likely to be the most effective adaptation strategies’ (Richardson et al., 2009). The conference went on to conclude: ‘As part of building effective adaptation, research is urgently required into the implications of existing policies and potential future policies with regard to adaptation: do they support or hinder adaptation, and how do they need to be changed?’ (Richardson et al., 2009). This special edition of Climate and Development aims to contribute to the ongoing process of learning how our societies may more effectively adapt to a changing climate. We start here by outlining the choice of focus of this volume and summarizing the papers that comprise it. We conclude by highlighting the key lessons drawn from this research.
