From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

4 RISK AND VULNERABILITY CLIMATE CHANGEclimate risk into development plans, governance at local, regional, andnational levels must be strengthened; information systems to accuratelyforecast and monitor climate impacts must be established; technologiesmust be developed or adapted for changing local conditions; andinfrastructure and ecosystems such as forests must be protected.In planning and implementing climate adaptation, local andnational governments must ensure that adaptation initiatives givepriority to those people most vulnerable to climate risks. That meanstaking account of the different impacts of climate change on womenand men, and likewise understanding the impacts on and needs ofindigenous communities. Rural women and indigenous communitiesgenerally face more climate risks because of their intense dependenceon natural resources. However, their knowledge of biodiversity andthe options for managing it in times of stress will be essential forspurring innovative approaches, and so their involvement must lie atthe heart of successful plans to adapt.On Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast, the traditional authorities of theMiskitu Indians are trying to remedy some of the damage alreadycaused by climate change. The community’s long-standing equilibriumwith the forest was based on its ability to forecast the weather and soknow when to plant crops,but that predictability has gone.‘The summernow is winter. April used to be summer, but it rained all month. Now,in May (winter) it doesn’t rain. We listen to the thunder, we see thelightning that should let us know the rain is coming, but it is not’, saysMarciano Washington, a farmer on the bank of Coco River. ‘We can’tdepend on nature any more. We don’t know when to plant our crops.’The traditional indigenous authorities, along with a local NGO,Christian Medical Action (CMA), are introducing an early-warningsystem to monitor rainfall and river levels, in order to provide thatinformation in a format useful for the community’s way of life.Effective state action on adaptation may also call for a reconsiderationof wider economic policies, such as land ownership and use.Economic reforms in Viet Nam, for example, have seen public mangroveforests along the coast replaced by private shrimp farms, which havebrought income to some but at the same time have curtailed poorpeople’s livelihood options and destroyed vital natural buffers againststorm surges. The increasing income inequalities that have resulted265