Applications of the CRD Framework

The CCRD project applied the Climate-resilient Development Framework to a handful of projects around the world. Included below are a few examples and their relevant development sectors and climate impacts. 

National Adaptation Planning:  The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supports developing countries as they build climate change resilience through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC’s) National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process. This process helps developing countries integrate climate change adaptation into national processes, such as development planning. Similarly, USAID provides support to developing countries to consider climate change in their development planning and to ensure that decisions made today promote medium- and long-term climate resilience and do not increase future vulnerability to climate change.

The Climate Change Resilient Development (CCRD) project team supported Jamaica, Tanzania, and 11 countries in West Africa in advancing their NAPs through workshops that followed USAID’s climate-resilient development framework, which emphasizes the idea that adaptation efforts must be rooted in the context of broader development goals. In addition, CCRD provided technical support to its German counterpart, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GiZ), in supporting national adaptation planning in Cambodia.

An Assessment of Water Security, Development, and Climate Change in Iloilo, Philippines, and the Tigum-Aganan Watershed: The Iloilo case study applied the CCRD climate-resilient development framework in an on-the-ground assessment of water security and climate change. The Iloilo region is vulnerable to water shortages, poor water quality, and flooding from heavy rain events and coastal storm surge, and climate change has the potential to exacerbate these vulnerabilities.

The objectives of this field work were to (1) identify climate risks to Iloilo’s current and future water security and economic growth; (2) engage local partners in the assessment, laying the foundation to build capacity and ownership of adaptation responses; and (3) identify and analyze a set of options for addressing these risks. The case study team used the draft climate-resilient development framework and the water sector annex to test the guidance in Iloilo and incorporate lessons learned to improve both documents (see Section 2). Through a literature review, stakeholder consultations, and site visits, the team assessed risks to water security and developed 22 adaptation options for developing infrastructure, building capacity, improving policy/governance, and implementing good water management practices.


Kazakhstan—Building Climate Resilience in the Wheat Sector: Kazakhstan is the ninth largest producer and the seventh largest exporter of wheat in the world. Kazakhstan ships almost half of its wheat exports to other Central Asian Republics (CAR). The predominantly rain-fed wheat sector in Kazakhstan must cope with drought, heat extremes during flowering, hail and wind storms, and heavy rains during harvesting. Climate variability affects wheat yields and quality, resulting in significant year-to-year profit fluctuations. Medium- to longer-term changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, including a decrease in rainfall during the growing season, could have significant impacts on annual wheat yields. The wheat sector’s ability to adapt to climate variability will have a direct effect on food security in the region.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a grant to its Regional Mission for CAR (USAID/CAR) for a four-year Global Climate Change (GCC) integration pilot, “Improving the Climate Resiliency of Kazakhstan Wheat and Central Asian Food Security” or “Climate-Resilient Wheat” (CRW) for short. Climate Change Resilient Development (CCRD) staff provided technical assistance and support capacity building on climate adaptation and climate services for CRW in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project office in Astana, Kazakhstan. The objectives of CRW were to:

  • Improve monitoring and information-sharing for CRW production
  • Develop climate resilience through mainstreaming of adaptation measures
  • Support a regional dialogue on wheat, climate change, and regional food security