The Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation Planning Tool

Climate change is a major driver and pressure acting on marine biodiversity, and is an increasingly critical management consideration for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs). Many existing management effectiveness tools and assessments address climate change directly or indirectly by fostering management best practices that can support protected areas under a range of changing circumstances, including a changing climate. However, there is a lack of tools to help MPA practitioners consider in depth how climate change relates to MPA management and the importance of intentionally strengthening management practices in the face of climate change. The Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation Planning Tool (CC-RAPT) for MPAs and Marine OECMs was developed by the Marine Subgroup of the  International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Climate Change Specialist Group  to address that gap.

CC-RAPT is designed to support MPAs in considering climate change as they work to improve their immediate and ongoing management by informing and building upon existing management tools, such as: 

•  Protected Area Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT)  

•  Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET)  

•  MPA Resilience Self Assessment Tool  

•  Rapid Assessment and Prioritisation of Protected Area Management (RAPPAM) methodology 

•  IUCN Green List Standard  

This tool also complements existing climate change resources for protected areas, such as:

•  MPA Adaptation Toolkit  
•  Climate Adaptation Methodology for Protected Areas 
•  Climate Vulnerability Index 

While this tool can be used independently to reflect on the state of climate resilience and adaptation in an MPA, it is intended to supplement existing management strategies and assessments, and make them more holistic, by encouraging a more detailed understanding of climate change impacts on MPA management. 

CC-RAPT is meant to help MPA managers and staff identify strengths and areas for improvement in terms of climate resilience and adaptation. The findings from this assessment can drive climate-informed research, management, and collaboration. This tool also highlights resources that can support operationalizing your results. This tool aims to help MPA programs improve their management and governance in relation to climate change impacts on marine biodiversity and the cultural, social, and economic benefits that marine biodiversity provides. 

While this tool initially focuses on the ecological aspects of MPA management, future versions aim to address social aspects, which are a critical part of collaborative management. MPA staff can also refer to existing social assessment tools like the  Site-level Assessment of Governance and Equity  and  Social Assessment for Protected and Conserved Areas .

When using CC-RAPT, MPA staff are encouraged to first complete a brief preliminary worksheet that asks a series of questions about the degree to which some of the physical and ecological impacts associated with climate change are affecting their MPAs.

Then, the main assessment tool builds on that initial understanding of climate change impacts by asking questions about how these impacts are being addressed through monitoring, vulnerability assessments, resilience and adaptation actions, mitigation efforts, and education and outreach. See below an overview of each of these areas of assessment.

Released in 2023, CC-RAPT can be applied worldwide. 

This is a selection of general, high-level resources. Resources specific to the topics assessed by this tool are included in the tool itself.

 World Bank Climate Knowledge Portal  - Provides global data on historical and future climate, vulnerabilities, and impacts. Explore them via country and watershed views. Access synthesized country profiles to gain deeper insights into climate risks and adaptation actions.

 Climate Adaptation Toolkit for Marine and Coastal Protected Areas  - Provides a range of resources to help MPA managers integrate climate change into their work, including reports, guides, tools, and case studies on assessing climate change vulnerability and developing adaptation strategies. 

 OCTO Resources for Guiding MPA Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation  - Provides a curated list of resources on climate change adaptation and mitigation in MPAs.

 ThinkHazard!  - Provides project-area-specific guidance on hazard risks, an explanation of how different local hazards are impacted by climate change, and recommendations for project planning and management.  Search  a country, region, or project area and see a list of hazards and their risk level, expand each hazard to review details of the risk and its connection to climate change, as well as associated recommendations and resources. 

 Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Country Index  - Provides an assessment of each country's vulnerability to, and readiness to address, climate change impacts and other global shocks. Select your country of interest from the  country index and ranking page , and select view profile to get a detailed look at the indicators underlying the national vulnerability and readiness scores. Vulnerability indicators are likely to be the most relevant, and include information on projected change in marine biodiversity, natural capital dependency, projected change in flood hazard, and projected change of sea level rise impacts. 

 INFORMRisk Index  - Provides country-specific information on disaster prevention, preparedness, and response. Select your country of interest in the  country profile page , and you can see a comparative scoring of national hazard exposure and vulnerability. This is useful to identify the kinds of hazards and vulnerability factors you may want to consider, but will not provide specific data points.