GAIN Index: A Tangible Tool Featured at U.N.'s Rio+20

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Global Adaptation Institute (GAIN) Director of Science & Technology Dr. Bruno Sanchez-Andrade Nuno, along with a data mapping team that has worked with clients such as the U.S. Department of State, will bring the discussion of adaptation and the GAIN Index to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development June 20-22. With 115 heads of state and 60,000 delegates from around the world, a navigation tool like the GAIN Index will offer a tangible approach towards building resilience amongst the world's most vulnerable people.

The GAIN Index ranks 161 countries according to its vulnerability and readiness to adapt to global challenges. It will be on display along with other revolutionary tools in Rio+20's Demo Alley, which features innovative projects from around the world that contribute to the summit's theme. It will also be presented at the U.S. Department of State tent at the summit.

Dr. Sanchez-Andrade Nuno and the team from Development Seed, which helped create GAIN's state-of-the-art adaptation data mapping tool, will focus on GAIN's core sectors of water, food & agriculture, energy and coastal protection and also the private sector's role in investing to save lives and improve livelihoods in their presentation of the GAIN Index.

"GAIN is the leading organization working on adaptation," Dr. Sanchez-Andrade Nuno said. "We are happy to see the work of the UNFCCC and a number of organizations that are now working on adaptation to climate change and other global forces. We have also seen progress in the private sector's mobilization on adaptation since GAIN was founded in 2010. We look forward to meeting with private sector allies in Rio and heightening the conversation of adaptation with world leaders."

High-level discussions in Rio de Janeiro will address non-binding sustainable development goals in GAIN's core sectors and more. GAIN has also been invited to the Partnership Forum at Rio+20, which will showcase partnerships in sustainability that will help to implement priority actions to be agreed upon at the June 20-22 U.N. Summit.

In the days leading up to the summit, the private sector, NGOs and government organizations have released challenges and goals for those attending that focus on tackling poverty, hunger and environmental issues such as the urgent need to adapt to climate change, urbanization and population growth.

For example, CGIAR Research Progamme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Director Dr. Bruce Campbell, contributed a blog post to the Huffington Post on June 11 discussing the future of agriculture and the environment – stating the urgent need to adapt to continue to feed the growing population of the world. Additionally, he noted, "Agriculture is the single largest employer in the world. It provides a livelihood for 40 percent of today's global population … and is the largest source of income and jobs for poor rural households."

With food score (see the GAIN Index Rankings, Vulnerability>Food Score) being one of the key indicators of a country's vulnerability, Rio+20 participants will have a chance to learn to use the GAIN Index and better understand the approximately 40 other indicators of vulnerability and readiness to adapt.

The Global Adaptation Institute (GAIN) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization guided by a vision of building resilience to climate change and other global forces as a key component to sustainable development.

Please visit us at: gain.org 

SOURCE Global Adaptation Institute (GAIN)