Cet article propose de vérifier l’hypothèse selon laquelle la perspective des effets associés au changement climatique peut modifier et renouveler l’appréhension des vulnérabilités locales.

The focus of the great majority of climate change impact studies is on changes in mean climate. In terms of climate model output, these changes are more robust than changes in climate variability. By concentrating on changes in climate means, the full impacts of climate change on biological and human systems are probably being seriously underestimated.

 Indigenous communities in the Arctic have become increasingly characterized as "vulnerable" in the context of climate change research. We question the use and application of this term in light of the potential consequences it may bring for indigenous peoples.

Climate change is widely acknowledged as foremost among the formidable challenges facing the international community in the 21st century. It poses challenges to fundamental elements of our understanding of appropriate goals for social and economic policy, such as the connection of prosperity, growth, equity, and sustainable development.

We address the issue of how to develop credible indicators of vulnerability to climate change that can be used to guide the development of adaptation policies. We compare the indicators and measures that five past national-level studies have used and examine how and why their approaches have differed.

We describe the nature of recent (50 year) rainfall variability in the summer rainfall zone, South Africa, and how variability is recognised and responded to on the ground by farmers. Using daily rainfall data and self-organising mapping (SOM) we identify 12 internally homogeneous rainfall regions displaying differing parameters of precipitation change.

The recent Red Cross experience acting on forecasts in west Africa provides examples of how climate information can be linked to decisions and serve development in low-income regions, and how climate and weather forecasts may become useful to communities at risk from climatic events, provided that the obstacles thwarting these communities’ access to and use of forecasts are clearly identified a

 Effective responses to climate change require innovation. ► The concept of social innovation highlights collective action in local climate adaptation. ► Institutional and technological aspects of climate adaptation are inextricably interlinked. ► Individuals adapt and practice innovation through complex interactions between institutions and actors at multiple scales.

Local strategies to manage climate variability are key to adapting to climate change in the long term. We investigate how local adaptive strategies are socially organised through a study of Øystre Slidre, a Norwegian mountain farming community operating close to the climatic margins.

The potential impacts of climate change on human health in sub-Saharan Africa are wide-ranging, complex, and largely adverse. The region’s Indigenous peoples are considered to be at heightened risk given their relatively poor health outcomes, marginal social status, and resource-based livelihoods; however, little attention has been given to these most vulnerable of the vulnerable.