Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-8 (section)

==== 8.5.2.3 Human Capital ====

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Successful adaptation requires support to be directed towards human capital and socioeconomic capabilities and competences, in terms of education, knowledge, experience, health and well-being, and migration, enabling people to contribute meaningfully towards development ( [[#Bowen--2012|Bowen et al., 2012]] ). At the same time, strong human capital and investment in actions that build human capacities to deal with climate change, can further enhance adaptation activities linked to other capitals, and contribute positively to overall disaster risk reduction.

Analyses of educational attainment distributions with datasets reaching back as far as 1970 show that improving educational attainment in people of working age has been the most consistent and significant driver of economic growth globally ( [[#Lutz--2008|Lutz et al., 2008]] ), showing the importance of the right to education. Education has further supported sustainable development by fostering empowerment, yielding access to information (including on climate change) and has clear links to other aspects of human capital, including health and mortality ( [[#Samir--2017|Samir and Lutz, 2017]] ). There is ''medium evidence'' and ''high agreement'' that education reduces vulnerability and enhances adaptive capacity ( [[#Frankenberg--2013|Frankenberg et al., 2013]] ; [[#Sharma--2013|Sharma et al., 2013]] ), with ''high agreement'' that climate change impacts can have negative effects on existing levels of human capital, with some development pathways affected more than others ( [[#Samir--2017|Samir and Lutz, 2017]] ). Education can help to shape people’s risk perception and assessment, as well as affecting knowledge sharing and the development of problem-solving abilities ( [[#Striessnig--2013|Striessnig et al., 2013]] ).

At the same time, IKLK can inform adaptation actions ( [[#Apgar--2018|Apgar et al., 2018]] ), but is poorly integrated into formal educational systems and, in some cases, is insufficient to adapt to new hazards that are emerging as a consequence of climate change. Education further feeds into livelihood options, with close relationships between people’s earning capacities, the livelihood choices they can make and their levels of financial capital. It also supports food security ( [[#Lutz--2004|Lutz et al., 2004]] ). There is ''medium evidence'' that climate change can undermine human capital and education. For example, studies have shown that higher temperatures reduce exam educational performance (Park, 2020), while extreme weather events such as snowstorms disrupt learning, yielding long-lasting and multidimensional effects ( [[#Maccini--2009|Maccini and Yang, 2009]] ; [[#Cho--2017|Cho, 2017]] ; [[#Graff%20Zivin--2018|Graff Zivin et al., 2018]] ).

As well as studies examining formal education, a large body of research has focused on social learning and its role in building adaptive capacity through joint knowledge production and reflexivity. Foregrounding the need for continuous changes in response to emerging conditions, this literature identifies the potential of shared learning for co-constructing policy and practice responses to complex, multi-stakeholder environmental problems, and highlights both the necessity and challenge of including non-dominant values, knowledge and expertise in adaptation decision making, considering the role of power dynamics therein ( [[#Collins--2009|Collins and Ison, 2009]] ; [[#Ensor--2015|Ensor and Harvey, 2015]] ; [[#Phuong--2017|Phuong et al., 2017]] ; [[#Apgar--2018|Apgar et al., 2018]] ; [[#Brymer--2018|Brymer et al., 2018]] ; [[#Fisher--2019|Fisher and Dodman, 2019]] ). A growing body of evidence also links to organisational learning and adaptation. Organisations’ adaptive behaviours, like those of households and individuals, do not operate in a vacuum, with organisations’ behaviours shaped by policy and market conditions amongst other factors. [[#Mudombi--2017|Mudombi et al. (2017)]] highlight further barriers in their study in South Africa, linked to inadequate resourcing, political interference, governance shortcomings and knowledge/expertise gaps within organisations, alongside short time frames for implementing projects.

Adaptations that support human health and well-being require investments in physical assets and infrastructure linked to water and sanitation (see Chapter 4), particularly in rapidly urbanising areas in the Global South, alongside specific pro-poor investment strategies given disproportionate climate change impacts on women (see Cross-Chapter Box GENDER in Chapter 18), other marginalised groups and low-income households who lack access to healthcare. Climate change facilitates the spread of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, as well as illnesses such as meningitis ( [[#Rocklöv--2020|Rocklöv and Dubrow, 2020]] ). Impacts on health are also experienced, through food insecurity resulting from climate change, including malnutrition, as well as through loss of livelihoods, making it more difficult to afford and to access health services. Health aspects are considered in-depth in Chapter 7, but we underscore the importance of a rights-based approach to adaptation in supporting the right to health and food in the context of inequality.

A key dimension of human capital is local understanding of climate risk, which includes knowledge systems outside Western scientific approaches. For millennia, local communities have relied heavily upon culturally accumulated Indigenous knowledge, participating in landscapes as stewards of their environment, engaged in profoundly detailed livelihood strategies that deal with natural hazards ( [[#Ajayi--2017|Ajayi and Mafongoya, 2017]] ). Indigenous knowledge systems are embedded in culture, and are passed from generation to generation in various ways: livelihoods, traditions, spiritual practices and oral tradition, cultural identity and historical memory. Indigenous knowledge is known or learnt from experience, or acquired through observation and practice, and handed down from generation to generation. It is acknowledged that Indigenous communities, particularly those in hazard-prone areas, have developed a profound understanding and knowledge of disaster prevention and mitigation, early warning, preparedness and response, and post-disaster recovery. Indigenous knowledge systems, themselves, are an indispensable dimension of capacity for adaptation, and where threatened represent a major risk to Indigenous communities. While still robust among Indigenous Peoples in many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, Indigenous knowledge is not well reflected or incorporated in assessments such as this, and stands in danger of being lost as its custodians are passing away.

Indigenous knowledge about natural hazards enables communities at risk to take steps to reduce climate risk. Indigenous knowledge systems are locally indispensable resources for adaptation to climate change, yet are often misunderstood and undervalued. Generally, Indigenous Peoples and other local groups hold relevant local-scale knowledge about environmental change, the impacts of those changes on ecosystems and livelihoods at local scales, and possible locally effective adaptive responses. However, it is important that IKLK is situated within knowledge from other scales in order to assess its broader relevance and applicability ( [[#Ahlborg--2012|Ahlborg and Nightingale, 2012]] ). Some authors suggest including Indigenous knowledge in the IPCC assessment process should be of high priority, as it is becoming increasingly relevant for climate services ( ''high confidence'' ) ( [[#Strauss--2003|Strauss and Orlove, 2003]] ; [[#Crate--2009|Crate and Nuttall, 2009]] ; [[#Crate--2011|Crate, 2011]] ). Their knowledge can draw attention to climate baselines and change, and identify adaptation priorities, such as plant and animal species that should be protected given local contextual environmental considerations. For example, using Indigenous knowledge in weather and climate prediction, local communities in different parts of Tanzania have been coping with, and adapting to, increased climate variability normally manifested in the form of increased frequency and magnitude of various exigencies, including droughts and floods, and outbreak of pests and diseases ( [[#Kijazi--2013|Kijazi et al., 2013]] ). Prediction of impending hazards has been an integral part of Indigenous Peoples’ adaptation strategies. Various environmental and astronomical indicators are used to predict rainfall, including plant phenology, behaviour and movement of birds, animal and insects, in many parts of Tanzania ( [[#Kijazi--2013|Kijazi et al., 2013]] ).

There are efforts in developing adaptation plans that utilise local knowledge. Local knowledge-based adaptation is focused primarily on the use of traditional knowledge to increase adaptive capacity at the community level and less on integration ( [[#Mimura--2014|Mimura et al., 2014]] ). Hence, there is need to increase effectiveness of policy processes that work towards integration of local and scientific knowledge ( [[#Nakashima--2013|Nakashima et al., 2013]] ; [[#IPCC--2014a|IPCC, 2014a]] ).

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