Managing climate risks through social protection
Strengthening policy and programmatic capacities to link social protection to climate risk management.
Climate change, variability and risk pose significant challenges to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly efforts around eliminating poverty (SDG 1) and reaching zero hunger (SDG 2). In this context, the 2030 Agenda stresses the need to develop integrated and inclusive climate risk management approaches that simultaneously tackle the underlying causes of climate vulnerability, while addressing the drivers of chronic poverty and food insecurity.
Given the growing challenges that small-scale food producers face due to climate change, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has developed an e-learning course on managing climate risks through social protection in partnership with the European Union through the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) and the support of SPACE - Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19. The first three lessons of the course are available in the run-up to this year's most important event on climate risk and climate action: the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), held in Glasgow, Scotland, between October 31st and November 12th, 2021.
Why is it important to link social protection to climate risk management? How can social protection contribute to inclusive climate risk management strategies?
What are the main challenges and opportunities for integrating these two approaches?
These are some of the topics presented throughout the course. Using an illustrative scenario, the course will guide you through the different ways in which social protection can contribute to inclusive climate risk management, with a view to effectively addressing the needs of poor and vulnerable rural communities.
The course offers data, examples and evidence to help you understand the different roles that social protection can play in tackling climate risks. In particular, the course examines how social protection can contribute to reducing people's vulnerability, promoting climate-resilient and sustainable livelihoods, and supporting inclusive disaster preparedness, anticipatory action, and disaster response and recovery.
To do so, the three-hour course is organized into six lessons focusing on the following topics:
- Lesson 1 – Why link social protection to climate risk management
- Lesson 2 – Fundamentals of social protection
- Lesson 3 – Social protection’s role in reducing poverty and vulnerability and increasing coping capacity
- Lesson 4 – Social protection as a steppingstone to climate-resilient livelihoods
- Lesson 5 – Social protection’s role in supporting inclusive disaster preparedness, anticipation, response and recovery
- Lesson 6 – Policy and programme implications: opportunities and gaps
In this early issue, in time for COP26, we offer access to the first three lessons.
Who is this course for?
The course is directed at specialists working in the field of social protection, disaster risk management, and climate change adaptation and mitigation, especially those focusing on rural areas and agri-food systems. The course can also be a resource for development and humanitarian agencies that are interested in scaling up their investments in these areas of work.
Key partners and contributions
This course was developed by the Social Protection Team of FAO's Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP), with financial support from the EU-funded GNAFC, and in partnership with SPACE, funded by UK Aid, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Australian Government represented by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).