CRVA METHODOLOGY
CRVA Process
Explore the concepts and methods behind the CRVA process and understand how it can be applied to local, regional and national levels in the Central Asia region. Get insight on how to bridge climate exposure and risk with meaningful, actionable adaptation interventions.
Overall CRVA Process
The CRVA contains 8 steps, or tasks, ensuring solid and comprehensive results. The basic algorithm includes preparation process, stakeholders engagement, evaluation and planning for implementation. The methodology can be successfully applied both nationally and locally.
Step 1 – Understand the context of CRVA
Step 2 – Identify objectives and expected outcomes
Step 3 – Determine the scope of the vulnerability
Step 4 – Prepare an implementation plan
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The preparation phase is a very important step where an understanding of the process is formed together with stakeholders. Main objects and scope of assessment are identified and an implementation plan is prepared. Identification of the issues experienced and the process of public involvement are the key steps under this task. The implementation plan depends on issues and objectives defined in collaboration with stakeholders.
Task 1 includes:
- Understanding issues and processes
- Building issues
- Agreement on the aims
- Arranging public involvement
- Plan for implementation
Step 1 – Identify potential impact
Step 2 – Depermine exposure
Step 3 – Determine sensitivity
Step 4 – Determine adaptive capacity
Step 5 – Brainstorm adaptive measures (optional)
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Determining chains of climate influence is a key task of the assessment. At this stage, links are established between climate change, impacts, sensitivities, influences, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability of sectors as well as threats of economic damage, which are analysed through the joint work of stakeholders and experts. Potential approaches for climate adaptation are discussed (but not measures).
Task 2 includes:
- Assessment of stakeholders and experts
- Establishment of chains' links
Climate influencing factors are closely linked as shown below:
Step 1 – Select indicators for exposure and sensitivity
Step 2 – Select indicators for adaptive capacity
Step 3 – Check if indicators are specific enough
Step 4 – Create a list of provisional indicators for each factor
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To assess identified problems, quantitative indicators are needed to be established. Indicators can be divided into 5 groups according to a number of climate influence chains components: impacts, sensitivities, influences, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Indicators should provide quantitative information about a component of climate chain. Per each specific sector, a small number of indicators is selected. It is not always possible to find suitable data for all five groups of indicators, and indirect indicators are necessary . This is often a case of economic and social data. If indirect indicators cannot be found, then it is necessary to restrict the estimate. At this stage, the most appropriate and most informative climate indicators are identified. The purpose of the step is to use only the key indicators in the assessment.
Step 1 – Gather the data
Step 2 – Data quality check
Step 3 – Data management
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Access to information is often challenging for CRVA. Data can be obtained from various sources. This typically includes line ministries, civil society organizations, statistic centers, public domain data, satellite based data, etc.
Example organizations for data collection include: National hydrometeorological centres, Global hydrimet centers (e.g. World Meteorological Organisation), national statistical offices, UN agency resources (e.g. FAO, UNDP), World Bank resources (Climate Change, SDGs, Landuse, etc.).
The analysis depth of CRVA approach depends on data availability, which may be a limiting factor in the process.
Step 1 – Determine the scale of measurement
Step 2 – Normalise the indicator values
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Since collected data has different formats, further normalisation is required for combining and use. This stage involves converting sets of diverse data into dimensionless quantities of the same scale and interpreting values in terms of vulnerability to prepare them for further combining.
Step 1 – Weight indicators
Step 2 – Aggregation of indicators
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For comprehensive analysis and results interpretation, selected indicators may not only be looked at standalone but combined using weighting factors. This process is optional and depends on decisions of the CRVA scope, e.g. comparing impacts of various indicators. In such cases, individual weights (i.e. multiplicators) are used for different indicators leading to an overall impact. Where weighting is used, it is recommended to provide a clear substantiation for a different weighting. Results of vulnerability assessment are more precise when a combination of weighted factors is used.
Step 1 – Aggregation of exposure and sensitivity to potential impact
Step 2 – Aggregation of potential impact and adaptive capacity into vulnerability
Step 3 – Aggregation of several sub-vulnerabilities into an overall vulnerability
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At this stage, all collected data gets harmonised and systematised with consideration of weighting factors (if applies for assessment goals) to assess potential impact. Next, potential impacts and adaptive capacity are aggregated into a generalized vulnerability score by sectors/areas. Combining sectors' vulnerabilities leads to receiving a complete vulnerability picture for assignment. Following, risk and vulnerability results can be converted into economic damage threat by sector.
The result might be illustrated as GIS maps or other tools for decision making.
Step 1 – Plan vulnerability assessment report
Step 2 – Describe the assessment
Step 3 – Illustrate findings
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At this stage, combined maps and results are prepared, presented and discussed. A vulnerability assessment report highlights climate change impacts under specific risks. It illustrates the most vulnerable sectors/areas and provides influencing factors. This phase of the CRVA links climate exposure through the climate impact chain and vulnerability assessment in the final report. That information may further be used as a basis for adaptation measures selection (which is not a part of CRVA).