Climate change is transforming life on the planet; global temperatures are rising leading to increased frequency, duration and intensity of drought and flood events. Between 2012 and 2020, an estimated a half million people moved across US States on account of climate induced stresses such as floods, fire, heat, and drought. While globally the transport and energy sectors may be bigger contributors of green house emissions responsible for rising temperatures, the agriculture sector, especially that in the global south is disproportionately affected by the impact of higher temperatures on account of their populations that are reliant on the sector for a living. The potential for climate change induced displacement of people on account of water, energy and food insecurity has increased. Agriculture Research for Development (AR4D) therefore, has a role to play by enhancing the accountability of climate adaptation efforts through identification of financing systems and monitoring regimes that compensate for "loss and damage" of infrastructure, cultural assets and harm to human health especially for historically marginalized communities. 

 

​The Climate Panel initiative supports innovations in data-driven learning and collaborative problem solving with a focus on advancing the resilience of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) systems. Climate resilient WEF planning is fundamentally different from the conventional approach because it necessitates rigorous and integrative assessment of key risks across sectors, departments, and planning themes. The United States Environmental Protection  Agency (EPA) emphasized adaptation planning and monitoring in its Climate Resilience Screening Index (CRSI) Report, 2021. The CRSI provides an overview of the capacity of individual States to respond to climate change risks, indicating which States are most resilient or vulnerable to climate change impacts. Mapping is however only the first step. The critical step that should follow is to incentivize each State to implement adaptation plans by monitoring the use of federal funds through a robust rating and rewards framework. Human centered technology design that employs data analytics to capture localized features of environmental challenges can facilitate robust adaption planning.

 

The Climate Panel seeks to develop a Loss & Damage Registry that can monitor implementation of a rating and rewards regime that responds to local specificities while creating opportunities for experiential learning. Experiential learning is important because too often what is considered scientifically significant is not translated into policy and practice. The nuanced understanding of trade-offs between economic growth and environmental resource conservation/socially inclusive development can support a process of prioritization and targeting of the area and community which stands to benefit the most from climate change interventions in different regional contexts. There are important lessons that can be drawn from co-curation of data and environmental models via a Loss & Damage Registry that can potentially offer benefits to practitioners and students from a variety of disciplines ranging from cloud computing, earth systems science, environmental geosciences, geography, environmental studies, and social science research methodology.

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