Our experience of community-based approaches to natural resource management has shown that this is an effective way of engaging with communities such as pastoralists, refugees and host communities, starting a dialogue that can in time broaden out from natural resources to include issues such as WASH, livelihoods and education. Community environmental action plans – many of which follow an ecosystem-based approach – help people to identify and prioritise needs and take control of managing their own local resources.

Climate-related stresses and shocks already figure prominently in the lives of many of the world’s people, particularly so the poor. With its combined focus on environmental management and humanitarian assistance, Proaction engages with a wide range of partners in relation to strategy development, integrating disaster risk reduction into risk assessments, policies and practices and in designing and delivering contextualised and practical assistance to help reduce the potential impact of natural disasters.

Livelihoods, such as farming and livestock keeping, based on natural resources, are particularly vulnerable to climate change. To build social and economic resilience, new and integrated approaches need to be demonstrated; people need to gain control over decisions that affect their lives, while access to services and opportunities needs to be enhanced. We have seen how simple actions can transform people’s lives, helping them to be better prepared for a future climate shock. We want to help more people do the same.