A
- Adaptation
- Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. There are various types of adaptation:
Anticipatory adaptation: Adaptation that takes place before impacts of climate change are observed; occasionally referred as proactive adaptation
Autonomous adaptation: Adaptation that does not constitute a conscious response to climate stimuli but is triggered by ecological changes in natural systems and by market or welfare changes in human systems.
Planned adaptation: Adaptation that is the result of deliberate policy decision, based on an awareness that conditions have changed or about to change and that action is required to return to, maintain, or achieve a desired state.
- Adaptive capacity
- The ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences. It is used to describe the various socioeconomic, structural, institutional and technological abilities of human system to produce adaptation measures.
C
- Climate
- Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather, or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description of the climate system.
- Climate change
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in its article 1, defines climate change as ‘a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. Climate change thus refers to a change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.
M
- Mainstreaming
- Mainstreaming is the process of systematically integrating a particular issue into all domains of LGED operations. It means that a particular issue is constantly taken into account in what we do and how we do it. The particular issues for LGED concern mainstreaming climate change impact assessment, climate proofing and gender in local infrastructures. Mainstreaming can be facilitated through: (i)Policies, Strategies & Guidelines, (ii) Communication and training, (iii) Documenting experiences, and (iv) Knowledge exchange processes.
V
- Vulnerability
- Vulnerability refers to the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity.