USE OF TERMS uccr synthesis report vol i and ii merged

ACCCRN India: Synthesis Report – Volume I 4

1.4 USE OF TERMS

Climate change resilience is the capacity of an individual, community, or institution to dynamically and effectively respond to shifting climate impact circumstances while continuing to function at an acceptable level. Simply, it is the ability to survive, recover from, and even thrive in changing climatic conditions. ACCCRN Website, www.acccrn.org Resilience is the ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self- organisation, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change. IPCC, Fourth Assessment Report, 2007. Urban Climate Change Resilience UCCR is relatively new and constantly evolving. UCCR brings together researches, policy makers, practitioners and community leaders from multiple disciplines and backgrounds including climate science, development agencies, organizations working in hazard mitigation, disaster risk reduction and emergency relief, global donors, and institutions focusing on globalization, urbanization and sustainability. One of the distinguishing features of UCCR is its focus on systems. Cities depend on both natural ecosystems and engineered services, draw on distant resources as well as utilizing local resources to meet basic needs, and function through complex social and governance systems which can result in the marginalization and increased vulnerability of groups within the community. Cities form a complex web of inter-dependencies, whereby the functioning of the whole system relies on the effective functioning of its constituent parts. ACCCRN Website, www.acccrn.org Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity. IPCC, Third Assessment Report, 2001. ACCCRN India: Synthesis Report – Volume I 5 UrBAnisAtion And risK proFiLe 2 ACCCRN India: Synthesis Report – Volume I 6

2.1 CITIES, RESOURCE BASE AND RISKS