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D. Examples of the IEA report content with included vulnerability, climate 80
change and adaptations for regional or sub-national reports
E. Sources of further information 82

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Definition of Key Terms

Adaptation includes initiatives and measures to reduce the vulnerability of natural and
human systems against actual or expected stresses, including climate change effects.
Various types of adaptation exist, for example, anticipatory and reactive, private and
public, and autonomous and planned. Examples include: raising river or coastal dikes,
the substitution of more temperature-shock resistant plants for sensitive ones, etc.

Adaptive capacity refers to the whole of capabilities, resources and institutions of a
country or region to implement effective adaptation measures.

An assessment is the entire social process for undertaking a critical objective evaluation
and analysis of data and information designed to meet user needs, and to support

decision-making. It applies the judgment of experts to existing knowledge to provide
scientifically credible answers to policy-relevant questions, quantifying, where possible,
the level of confidence.

Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified

(e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its
properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer.
Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or
to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in
land use. Note that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), in Article 1, defines climate change as: “a change of climate which is
attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the
global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed

IEA Training Manual Workshop for the National Reporting Toolkit (NRT) 3