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

=== FAQ 8.4 | What can be done to help reduce the risks from climate change, especially for the poor? ===

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''Public and private investment in different types of assets can help reduce risks from climate change. Exactly which assets require investment depends on the specific situation. However, the provision of access to basic services, such as water and sanitation, education and health care as well as the importance of reducing inequity is shown within the assessment for many regions. The poor have fewer resources to invest, so in poorer countries greater public investment is needed. Legal, social, political, institution and economic interventions can alter human behaviour, though care must be taken that these do not amplify existing inequalities, create new inequalities or reduce future adaptation options.''

Adaptation can help to reduce risks for the poor and requires both public and private investment in various natural assets (e.g., mangroves, farmland, wetlands), human assets (e.g., health, skills, Indigenous knowledge), physical assets (e.g., mobile phone connectivity, housing, electricity, technology), financial assets (e.g., savings, credit) and social assets (e.g., social networks, membership of organisations such as farmer cooperatives). Often, the poor have the least to invest, so poverty can reduce adaptation options. Sometimes people migrate as a reaction to floods or droughts, though the poorest groups often lack the resources to move. Exactly what needs investing in to reduce risks varies according to the scale and livelihood system in need of adaptation. In general, risks can be reduced through a range of different technological and engineering approaches (for example, building sea defences to reduce storm surge impacts), as well as ecosystem-based approaches (such as replanting mangroves, altering the types of crops grown, changing the timing of farming activities, or using climate-smart agriculture or agroforestry approaches).

At the same time, legal, social, political, institutional and economic solutions can alter human behaviour (e.g., through enforcement of building codes to prevent construction on low-lying land prone to flooding, timely provision of weather information and early warning systems, knowledge-sharing activities, including adaptation strategies grounded in Indigenous knowledge, crop insurance schemes, incentives such as payments to stop people cutting down trees or to enable them to plant them and social protection to provide a safety net in times of crisis).

The poorest groups often require greater public adaptation investments. Efforts to support adaptation need to be mindful of reinforcing existing inequalities and introducing new ones, making sure they are inclusive, culturally sensitive and that the voices of all groups of people are heard. It is also important that adaptations which reduce immediate risks for the poor do not rule out adaptation options that could help them later on or which could cause them to increase their emissions. Political will is needed to put people at the centre of climate change risk reduction efforts, including support for their livelihoods.

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