Adapting to Climate Change: How Ready is Your Country?

In spite of efforts to curb emissions and the rising global temperature, the climate has changed as the volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has grown over the past century and a half. This reality places a fine point on the imperative of countries preparing for and adapting to the negative consequences of climate change.

The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative's (ND-GAIN) Country Index measures climate adaptation of 192 countries over the past 23 years. Measuring two main dimensions of adaptation - vulnerability and readiness - the Index compares countries by level of readiness for climate change.

• Vulnerability measures a country's exposure, sensitivity, and capacity to adapt to the negative effects of climate change.
• Readiness measures a country's ability to translate investment into adaptation actions.

If the most developed countries consistently hold top positions in the ND-GAIN Country Index over the years, the least developed countries show the biggest improvements. The biggest movers - Rwanda, Georgia, Myanmar, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan - improved their ND-GAIN Country Index scores mainly because of dramatic improvements within components of readiness.

• Rwanda has shown the greatest change in the ND-GAIN Country Index. It decreased child malnutrition by 80 percent and improved terms of doing business.
• Georgia follows Rwanda. Its index value improved by 31.5 percent mainly because of the decrease in its water supply vulnerability and better corruption controls (which, of course, speaks to investment impact potential).
• Myanmar has made strides in access to reliable drinking water and improved educational enrollment and corruption controls.
• Azerbaijan and Tajikistan close out this top-5 list with notable improvements with regard to corruption and political stability, respectively.

Original Data: University of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative