Climate-related risks in Central and South America have received increased attention and concern in science and policy, but an up-to-date comprehensive review and synthesis of risks and adaptation potential is currently missing. For this paper we evaluated over 200 peer-reviewed articles and grey literature documents published since 2012. We found that climate change in Central and South America during the 21st century may increase the risk to severe levels for the following topical risk clusters: 1. Food insecurity; 2. Floods and landslides; 3. Water scarcity; 4. Epidemics of vector-borne diseases; 5. Amazon Forest biome shift; 6. Coral bleaching; 7. Coastal risks of sea level rise, storm surges and erosion; 8. Systemic failure due to cascading impacts of hazards and epidemics. Our synthesis also identified feasible adaptation measures for each risk. The impacts of the risks will be heterogeneous throughout the region, with rural communities, Indigenous peoples, Afro-Latin Americans, women, disabled people, and migrants identified as being the most severely affected. We refer to a number of adaptation options for each risk. However, unabated climate change together with low adaptive capacity will strictly limit adaptation options. Immediate strengthening of policies for building adaptive capacity and increase of research on the risk-adaptation nexus in Central and South America are paramount. Our findings might contribute to guide the adjustment and emphasis of adaptation policies and climate risk management strategies from local to national level.

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<p>Climate-related sudden-onset events (e.g., floods, cyclones) and slow-onset processes (e.g., sea level rise and heat waves) pose a major risk to communities all over the world. With intensifying climate change in combination with unequal socioeconomic development, climate-related risks are expected to escalate in the future, potentially leading to critical losses and damages. This calls for efficient and achievable risk management strategies. Climate Risk Management (CRM) is a leading approach to identify, assess and reduce risks, through an integration of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation, and sustainable development. CRM aims at comprehensively managing risks and increasing resilience and adaptive capacity. To date, several conceptual CRM frameworks have been developed, which have, however, rarely been applied to real-world cases.</p><p>Based on this conceptual literature, we further develop a comprehensive CRM framework, comprising both the risk assessment as well as the implementation and monitoring domains of CRM, and test it on three real-world risk cases in Peru, India and Austria. The cases have distinct spatial scales, from local level in Peru, to district level in India, to nationwide in Austria. The risks covered in these cases are linked to different hazards, ranging from glacier lake outburst floods (Peru), sea level rise, salinization and cyclones (India), to riverine flooding and agricultural droughts (Austria).</p><p>The aim of this complementary case study approach is to validate the overall structure and individual steps of the CRM framework against actual risk management practices in the three case studies. Based on the specific results and common insights from the three cases, we are able to (1) evaluate the applicability of the proposed conceptual CRM framework in real world circumstances, (2) present evidence on the extent to which comprehensive management of climate-related risks has been achieved in the three cases, and (3) synthesize policy recommendations towards an achievable comprehensive CRM in practice, acknowledging specific local contexts and characteristics.</p>

<p>The highly populated Peruvian Andes is impacted by a multitude of climate-related risks. Comprehensive climate risk management and adaptation measures can bring risks down to an acceptable level, as determined by the local population. However, increased magnitude and frequency of risks, together with the possibility of reaching adaptation limits, are hindering risk reduction. Adaptation limits are reached due to a complex interplay between socio-economic, cultural, political, institutional, technical and bio-physical factors. Whilst there is an emerging conceptual understanding of adaptation limits, there is little empirical research investigating limits in real-world settings.</p> <p>The aim of this study is to identify and define the limits of adaptation on a local scale, which limits are approaching and which have already been reached. We investigate the limits of adaptation in two catchments in the Peruvian Andes. The most prevalent climate-related risks in these two regions are from glacial lake outburst floods, landslides, shifts in precipitation patterns, and glacier retreat. We use a conceptual framework developed by Juhola et al. (unpublished), and determine adaptation limits and the intolerable risks space through investigating human wellbeing, governance systems, ecosystem functions and climate hazards in the two localities. The data was collected through a thorough literature review, together with 50 semi-structured interviews conducted in May-July 2022; 28 with local residents in the Río Santa and Salkantay catchments, and 22 interviews with experts from 14 different local and national institutions and NGOs. The interviews were analysed in Atlas.ti using a content analysis approach. We emphasize the focus on basic needs and wellbeing, to encompass not only what are obvious losses from climate impacts, such as loss of life or livelihood, but also more intangible losses, such as limited mobility, loss of a social network, or loss of local knowledge. The conclusions of this study can help decision makers and practitioners improve the positive impact of future risk management and adaptation projects in the two regions.</p>