Climate impact chains for envisaging climate risks, vulnerabilities, and adaptation issues

Abstract

Planning adaptations to climate change require an understanding of how climate-related impacts cascade across sectors of society. Equally important is the need to engage stakeholders in discussions of climate-related impacts, risks, vulnerabilities, and adaptation issues. The impact chain (IC) approach, which emerged about a decade ago, can be used to reveal potential climate risks and vulnerabilities and to visualize how climate-related impacts may propagate as cascades. Here, we discuss the composition, key features, and potentials of the IC approach. Drawing from actual experience, we discuss some important factors that must be considered in the development of ICs via stakeholder participation. Such considerations are centered on the need for clarity with respect to the conceptual framing of relevant ICs, the need to allocate ample time for the development of ICs, and the need for stakeholders to be representative of the relevant sectors and sub-sectors. The insights presented in this article should facilitate the implementation of this relatively simple, practical, and useful approach for understanding climate-related impacts, risks, vulnerabilities, and adaptation issues.