Introduction

In recent years adaptation has become increasingly important to many government departments in China. For instance, in 2006 the Chinese government published its National Climate Change Program, which outlined detailed plans and arrangements for adaptation to climate change. Similarly, at the regional level development plans started to address the issue of climate change impacts and adaptation. Both China's National Government Report and Ningxia’s Eleventh Five-Year Development Plan (2006) clearly mentioned that adaptation capacity needs to improve to help face climate change.

Adaptation is a future-oriented and location-specific activity, and adaptive capacity is closely related to the development level of the society that needs to adapt.

For some time now, policy stakeholders and rural communities have been showing signs of reactive adaptation measures such as expanding the use of winter crops and improving the allocation of water resources. However, owing to the scale of the changes, proactive adaptation is key to ensure that the population has the capacity to adapt to the whole range of possible future climate scenarios.

Decision-makers face a number of difficult questions when considering adaptation. These includes such questions as how to identify, prioritise and implement practical adaptation measures, and how and when to phase in adaptation measures

Phase II of ICCCA developed a regional framework for adaptation to climate change in China. This was found to be a useful means of addressing some of these difficult questions.

The framework and the subsequent adaptation strategy were developed with key input from a range of stakeholders, including scientists, government agencies and farming communities. This approach is intended to inform future adaptation policies in other Chinese regions and/or provinces.

Indeed, numerous delegates from other regions and provinces attended ICCCA's final workshops in Yinchuan (Ningxia) and Beijing, where the results of this research project were presented, and expressed their intention to replicate in their home region or province the process that led to the design of a strategy for adaptation in Ningxia.