This volume brings together a new set of multi-country empirical case studies that contribute to the understanding the complexities of development and resource governance in the context of climate change in the Mekong Region.

Despite decades of attention, poverty and food insecurity persist, especially amongst rural dwellers in Asia, Africa and Central America. With climate change the challenges only increase and will further intensify as extreme events and variable weather patterns make small-scale production even more difficult.

This discussion paper focuses on how, while many countries have made commitments or plans to integrate adaptation into their social and economic plans and policies, an “action gap” exists. A change in commitments and plans has not yet led to a significant difference in the way development is practiced in response to climate change impacts.

Insurance can be a key tool in reducing vulnerability and promoting resilience. Countries with high insurance coverage recover faster from disasters, and increasingly, governments are recognizing the role and benefits of insurance in transferring risk from disasters. Yet there is a large and even widening ‘protection gap’ of underinsurance.

Springs are the most important source of water for millions of people in the mid-hills of the Himalaya. Both rural and urban communities depend on springs for meeting their drinking, domestic, and agricultural water needs.

Climate finance takes its roots in the ever-intensifying debate about the health of our planet and actions being undertaken (or planned) by countries, cities and companies to keep it habitable for future generations. Financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts is a global, complex, political and economic issue.

This guide presents a basis for understanding how nutrition, specifically undernutrition, is currently influenced by climate and weather, and may be further exacerbated by climate change.

In the context of agriculture both crop modelling as well as statistical modelling approaches are used to assess climate change impacts. Studies comparing both approaches across developed as well as developing country context find little or no difference in their estimates.