The UNDP Climate Change Country Profiles: Improving the Accessibility of Observed and Projected Climate Information for Studies of Climate Change in Developing Countries

It is widely acknowledged that developing countries will suffer some of the greatest impacts of climate change due to their greater reliance on climate-dependent natural resources, and lack of finance and infrastructure for adaptation. However, the number of analyses of climate observations, climate model experiments, climate model projections, and climate change impacts studies that are based on develop-ing countries is significantly smaller than in those which have been undertaken for more economically advanced countries. A 2006 BAMS Article by Wash-ington et al. demonstrates that only 10.7% of Articles in the Journal of Climate and 25.6% of Articles in the International Journal of Climatology published between 2002 and 2004 deal with climate research on Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and South America, while the overwhelming majority concern North America and Canada, Europe, and Australasia. This deficit in knowledge and information doubtlessly limits capacity for climate-related risk assessment, adaptation planning, and decision making in devel-oping countries.