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Media Mentions

  1. Caribbean Food Systems Are Among The Most Climate Vulnerable Globally

    February 29, 2024

    According to the latest update from the University of Notre Dame's Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) Country Index, Caribbean food systems are among the most climate vulnerable in the world.

    Of the 13 nations from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) that were included in ND-GAIN's annual assessment of 189 countries, only two— Trinidad & Tobago (#73 of 189 countries) and Suriname (#85)— ranked in the upper 50th percentile worldwide, with respect to the climate vulnerability of their food systems.

    Saint Kitts & Nevis and Antigua & Barbuda were the only upper-middle income countries in the bottom 10% of the ranking, assuming positions 176 and 177 respectively on the 189-country scale.

    To provide context, Somalia, identified as the most climate vulnerable country by ND-GAIN, ranked 182nd, while Niger, deemed the world's most climate vulnerable food system by ND-GAIN, held the 189th position in the ranking.
    Other CARICOM countries included in the 189-country assessment were Jamaica (#101 out of 189), Belize (#102), Barbados (#109), Bahamas (#116), Guyana (#122), Dominica (#125), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (#130), Grenada (#131), and Saint Lucia (#139).
    The University of Notre Dame analyzed criteria such as food production, food demand, nutrition, and rural population. Selected indicators included population growth projections, dependency on food imports, rural population statistics, agricultural capacity, and rates of child malnutrition.

  2. OPINION The World May Be Entering a Much Bloodier Era

    February 28, 2024

    Climate researchers have long projected that the Sahel would be one of the regions most threatened by the impacts of warming. The Institute for Economics and Peace has identified the Sahel as one of its ecological threat hot spots, and according to Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Initiative’s index, all six countries in the region rank among the least prepared places in the world. 

  3. Large Ocean States: Partnering towards a resilient future

    February 27, 2024

    Of the 20 countries with the highest average annual disaster losses scaled by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), eight are Pacific Islands. Of the 22 most vulnerable countries in the world according to the ND-Gain, six are Pacific Islands. Pacific-wide, average annual temperatures have increased at an average rate of 0.18°C per decade since 1961, with the expectation and recent experience that seasons are changing and that hazards are becoming more frequent and intense.

  4. Getting climate funds to conflict zones – a case for working with armed groups and local communities

    December 04, 2023

    Civilians and armed groups alike are increasingly concerned about climate change. The international community, however, is doing little to address its impact in these vulnerable areas. The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative has identified 25 countries as most vulnerable to climate change and least prepared to adapt to its impact. Of these, 15 have been hit hard by conflict. This list includes Somalia, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan.

  5. The WPS Index and the Gender-Climate-Security Nexus

    December 01, 2023

    These findings yield critical policy implications. Decisionmakers working on issues of climate and security must:

    Leverage systematized information and metrics—such as the WPS Index, other indices of gender equality, and climate resilience indices such as the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Index, the State Resilience Index, and the Environmental Performance Index—to promote data-informed work across the gender-climatesecurity nexus.

  6. Ancient Warning of a Rising Sea

    November 17, 2023

    Indeed, with half of its land area and 30 percent of its oceans protected, the country’s forests and seagrass meadows currently pull more carbon out of the air than its people emit. Yet the nation is listed sixth in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative’s ranking of countries most exposed to climate impacts. U.N. scientists project that the sea level around the Seychelles will rise by another 2 to 2.5 feet by the end of the century — enough to inundate 1 in 8 buildings and 42 percent of major roads on the main island of Mahé, according to the country’s coastal management plan.

  7. How Africa’s first heat officer is protecting women in Sierra Leone

    November 09, 2023

    Sierra Leone is the 18th most climate vulnerable country in the world, according to the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index. The challenge is compounded by other environmental crises besides extreme heat – in 2017, a devastating landslide and floods affected more than 6,000 people and killed more than 1,000.

  8. Tropical Cyclone Kills Two, Displaces 10,000 In Yemen

    October 25, 2023

    The University of Notre Dame's Global Adaptation Initiative ranks Yemen as one of the region's most climate-vulnerable countries.
    In recent years, Yemen has seen an increase in the frequency and intensity of rainfall due to climate change acting on atmospheric circulation in the Indian Ocean.

  9. Mali's natural capital offers opportunities for private climate finance and green growth, says the African Development Bank's 2023 Country Focus Report

    October 05, 2023

    However, despite its very low contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions at 0.06%, Mali is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate hazards (175th most vulnerable out of 185 countries in 2021, according to Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative). Mali's Nationally Determined Contribution (revised for 2021) estimates its financing needs to address climate change at $15.3 billion over the period 2020-2030.

  10. The Father of Environmental Justice Exposes the Geography of Inequity

    September 20, 2023

    Countries that emit more carbon dioxide per capita tend to be less vulnerable to the effects of those emissions than other regions are. This conclusion is based on data from the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative's country index, which quantifies a country's vulnerability to climate hazards based on a number of variables—exposure, sensitivity and ability to adapt across six areas: food, water, health, ecosystem service, human habitat, and infrastructure. Higher index values reflect higher levels of vulnerablity. When a country's index value is plotted against its per capita carbon emissions, a trend becomes visible and illustrates the vulnerability of less industrialized nations.

  11. Libya floods: There will be many, many more Dernas

    September 18, 2023

    In climate scenarios, a lot comes down to governance. Better leaders and institutions mean countries are more likely to plan ahead, maintain infrastructure and respond to crises. Libya is ranked 126 of 185 countries on the ND-GAIN Index, which calculates resilience to climate change.

  12. Kenya wants to pioneer a new African approach to global warming

    September 14, 2023

    Africa, with 18% of the global population, is responsible for less than 4% of historic carbon-dioxide emissions, but has 16 of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative, an American research project.

  13. Policy paper UK–Uganda development partnership summary, July 2023

    July 17, 2023

    “Uganda is the 13th most vulnerable country to the negative impacts of climate change [footnote 10], and deforestation and land degradation are increasing these risks and damaging biodiversity.” - ND-GAIN citation

  14. Policy paper UK–Sahel region development partnership summary, July 2023

    July 17, 2023

    Three out of the 5 Sahel countries are among the most vulnerable countries to climate change, and least prepared to cope or adapt (Chad is last on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative’s country index). Temperatures in the Sahel are rising at 1.5 times the global average, and, by 2080, due to increase by 2.0 to 4.3°C. The region also suffers increasingly pronounced wet and dry seasons, and extreme rainfall. By 2080, projected annual precipitation is expected to increase by up to 16mm.

  15. Supporting Women's Reproductive Health Is Key to Climate Goals | Opinion

    July 11, 2023

    Growing vulnerability from climate change adds even greater urgency to the challenges posed by these looming population issues. In a new report, Population Growth and Climate Change Vulnerability: Understanding Current Trends to Enhance Rights and Resilience, the Population Institute asked researchers to analyze population and other indicators in the 80 most climate-vulnerable nations, as rated by the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN). They found that the average population growth rate in the most vulnerable countries is double the global rate, and concluded that such growth also has important—yet often overlooked—implications for climate change adaptation and resilience.

  16. From shock and awe to stability and flaws: Iraq’s post-invasion journey

    May 26, 2023

    Looking at ND-GAIN's graph assessing Vulnerability and Readiness for climate change for Middle Eastern countries, many of the world’s poorest countries are vulnerable to a crisis that was largely created by industrial countries and by the unsustainable living standards of the wealthiest nations. 

  17. What does Ireland owe the world for its role in climate change?

    May 11, 2023

    The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative index gauges countries' vulnerability based on their exposure, sensitivity and ability to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change. 

  18. 10 countries at risk of climate disaster

    March 20, 2023

    Chad ranks as the world’s most climate-vulnerable country on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Index, which examines a country's exposure, sensitivity and capacity to adapt to the negative effects of climate change. Flooding in late 2022 affected more than 1 million people in the country while an economic crisis has led to widespread food insecurity.

  19. COMMENTARY AFRICA IN FOCUS Managing the compounding debt and climate crises

    March 01, 2023

    The second challenge is high climate risk exposure. The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Index, or ND-Gain, assesses a country’s susceptibility to the effects of climate changes like sea-level rise, disease, and drought, as well as its readiness to improve resilience and adapt to them. Currently, the average ND-Gain score for 183 countries globally is 49 (out of 100). But when looking at the performance of 47 SSA countries, only three achieved scores at or above the global average–Cabo Verde, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

  20. Cool Mud Beats Concrete for Building Homes in a Hotter Africa

    November 08, 2022

    Like many African countries, Burkina Faso has done very little to cause climate change. It will, however, suffer a disproportionate brunt of its impact, even as it doesn’t have enough resources to adapt. The landlocked nation contributes just 0.08% of global emissions but ranks 159th out of 181 countries in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Country Index, which indicates a nation’s vulnerability to climate change in combination with its readiness to improve resilience. Burkina Faso could see a temperature increase of up to 1.6C by 2050 and up to 4C by 2099, according to the United Nations Development Program, or 2.5 times the global average.