Abstract:The recently released Rural Poverty Report 2011 (IFAD, 2010) notes that some 1.4 billion people continue to live in extreme poverty, struggling to survive on less than US$1.25 a day and that more than two-thirds reside in rural areas of developing countries. That climate variability and change is likely to worsen their situation, including the further entrenchment of gender inequalities, is no longer a matter of debate. The policy dilemma remains in “how” to reconcile the complexities and multiple dimensions of this “problematique”. The intensity of the need for action comes amidst the reverberating impacts of a global economic crisis and the preceding fuel and food crises. Systemic vulnerabilities arising from income inequality and volatility, lack of opportunities, unequal distribution of and access to resources and a high dependence by the poor and vulnerable on climate-sensitive sectors (Perch et al, 2010) add to the urgency to define the right “mix” of actions in addressing immediate and long-term impacts. How then can adaptation serve not just climate change imperatives but development needs? (...)
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