Climate change is a severe threat that already today severely affects the poor and vulnerable countries and communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The people and regions which contributed least to the problem are confronted with most of its consequences. Reduced and erratic rainfall, intensified drought periods, sea level rise, landslides due to heavy rainfall and more extreme tropical storms are alarming signs that climate change is a severe threat to development. People in the tropics and subtropics, farming mostly on small plots of marginal land, with little access to sound infrastructure and services, have to deal these consequences of climate change which will only increase over time. In many areas, climate change is threatening their livelihoods and is a driver of violent conflicts and migration.
Adapting to climate change has thus become a major issue of the international development cooperation. Analyzing the vulnerability and capacity is a central reference point for climate change adaptation and assesses the capacity of an individual or a community to deal with external shocks and stress factors. Existing local responses provide an important starting point and need to be combined with scientific and technical expertise to better equip local communities in dealing with climate-related shocks and stresses. Comprehensive approaches such as climate and disaster risk management or resilience building support more holistic sets of measures and look at the interconnections with power and marginalization issues. They are thus better able to reflect the complexity of local contexts and enable the communities to develop sustainable solutions. Ecosystem-based approaches reflect the close interconnection between local livelihoods and biodiversity.
Building on its long-standing experience in working with local communities, FAKT’s mission is to support the people, communities and regions most vulnerable to climate change in strengthening their resilience. We provide consulting services in the following areas: