Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia

CARIAA focuses on three climate change hot spots that straddle countries and regions in Africa and Asia. Each hot spot is home to large numbers of poor people whose livelihoods depend on climate sensitive sectors. Every country and region is unique, but the changes underway have comparable biophysical and social implications within each hot spot.

Some 2 billion people live in semi-arid regions, around half in poverty. In semi-arid parts of Africa and Asia, more frequent and prolonged droughts threaten livestock and agriculture, a major source of food and income.

Sea level rise, changes in runoff and extreme weather events threaten deltas in Africa and South Asia, where some of the world’s largest cities are found. While hundreds of millions of people are affected, those living in informal settlements are particularly vulnerable.

In glacier- and snow-fed river basins in the Himalayas, changes in water flow and in the Asian monsoon cycle will affect some 1.5 billion people. Those living in the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra floodplains are particularly vulnerable.