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6. Move from reactive to preventive action.
A long-
term approach focused on prevention is needed
to adapt to climate change. Many effects to which
society must adapt occur over decades and centuries.
Efficient adaptation must acknowledge where long-
term preventive measures are preferable to short-
term reactive measures, and efforts must be made
to ensure continuity both in policy as well as policy-
implementing institutions. The institutional basis for
long-term monitoring and observations should also
be guaranteed.
7. Promote Result-Based Management.
Comple
mentary policy instruments are required to allow
policies to be implemented: policy alone is not
enough. Adaptation policies should be designed with
inbuilt indicators and mechanisms to measure their
degree of implementation success, effectiveness and
failure. Policy monitoring and evaluation is especially
important in remote areas and in areas where there is
little prior experience. Such measures are central to a
long-term approach to adaptation action.
8. Enhance technical capacity on climate change
adaptation.
Climate change affects all aspects of
society and government. To reach the goals of climate
change adaptation, it is therefore important that
decision makers and implementers at all levels are
educated about climate science and adaptation policy.
This could be advanced by including information
about climate change adaptation in the training of
government actors at all scales, from central agencies
to local governments - especially within mountain
areas. Awareness-raising is generally valuable to
ensuring that local people, private companies and
governments work towards shared goals in climate
change adaptation.
9. Build from existing traditional knowledge
and strengthen women’s role.
Andean mountain
communities have been dealing with an adverse and
changing environment since they first colonized
the mountains more than 10,000 years ago. Their
experiences should be used for local adaptation
action and their knowledge to complement current
research. The inclusion of traditional knowledge in the
design and implementation of mountain adaptation
policies has proved successful and should be further
encouraged. Women have a profound knowledge of
their environment and often play a greater role than
men in the management of natural resources. Through
their experiences, responsibilities and strength,
women are a primary resource for adaptation and
their roles should be strengthened by government.
10. Create an Andean data-sharing platform for
adaptation.
As the tropical Andean countries share
many challenges and opportunities in the mountains
due to climate change, there is potential for mutual
benefit. Both natural and social scientific research
and measurements, as well as lessons learned from
implemented adaptation policies, should be shared to
reduce costs, improve all countries’ adaptive capacity,
and avoid the unnecessary duplication of research,
policy efforts and other measures. Facilitating
interdisciplinary discussions among experts on
mountains and climate change could be an important
part of the knowledge-sharing process.
11. Improve coordination between Andean countries
on sustainable development in the mountains.
International cooperation and coordination on
mountain policy would be of mutual benefit to all
Andean countries in order to strengthen their adaptive
capacity and jointly take advantage of opportunities.
The benefits of an Andean data-sharing platform could
be further enhanced by regional coordination on the
establishment and standardization of indicators and
monitoring systems. Regional coordination could
also ensure demand-driven research and monitoring.
Mutual commitments in the region on adaptation
policies, including joint objectives and programmatic
priorities, could also facilitate a long-term approach.
Regional cooperation
Governance