Research priorities on vulnerability, impacts and adaptation responding to the climate change challenge

This set of research priorities was developed by the Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA) in consultation with both experts and policymakers to respond to the demand for better coordination of research. The research priorities include new and emerging topics, the importance of which is now coming into focus, and topics that have long been recognized as important but for which research is still required. They reflect the balance between research supply from experts and research demand from policymakers. The focus of the research priorities is on vulnerability, impacts and adaptation, rather than climate science per se, and the VIA topics depend to a varying extent on the state of climate knowledge. Since there remains significant uncertainty about how some key climate drivers may change (e.g., future evolution of tropical cyclones and stability of polar land and sea-ice), a common theme is the importance of building capacity for adaptation, resilience and risk management under uncertainty in both developing and developed countries.