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Reliance on subsistence agriculture means the impact of stresses and shocks (such as droughts or floods) are felt keenly by rural poor people, who depend directly on food system outcomes for their survival, with profound implications for the security of their livelihoods and welfare. However, such stresses and shocks will not necessarily lead to negative impacts, as risks and uncertainties, often associated with seasonality, are embedded in the practice of agriculture and there is considerable experience of coping and risk management strategies among people working in this sector. With climate change, the magnitude and frequency of stresses and shocks is changing and approaches such as social protection, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) will be needed to bolster local resilience and supplement people's experience. This study examines the opportunities for linking social protection, CCA and DRR in the context of agriculture and rural growth, exploring whether linking these three approaches together will help enhance resilience to shocks and stresses in agriculture-dependent rural communities. The study does this by (i) reviewing conceptual and policy-related similarities and differences between the three disciplines, by (ii) collecting evidence from case studies where climate change-resilient social protection approaches have been trialled and by (iii) developing an adaptive social protection framework that highlight opportunities better coordination. This paper suggests social protection and DRR measures designed to limit damages from shocks and stresses may not be sufficient in the longer term. For social protection to be resilient to climate change impacts, it will need to consider how reducing dependence on climate sensitive livelihood activities can be part of adaptive strategies. Similarly, CCA and DRR cannot effectively address the root causes of poverty and vulnerability without taking a differentiated view of poverty, something that further integration with social protection can help with.

SummaryRapidly expanding urban settlements in the developing world face severe climatic risks in light of climate change. Urban populations will increasingly be forced to cope with increased incidents of flooding, air and water pollution, heat stress and vector-borne diseases. This research, undertaken with a set of partner research institutes, examines how to manage climate-related impacts in an urban context by promoting planned and autonomous adaptation in order to by improve resilience in a changing climate. It investigates the linkages between the characteristics of propoor good urban governance, climate adaptation and resilience, and poverty and sustainable development concerns. The paper develops an analytical framework by combining governance literature with rapid climate resilience assessments conducted in ten Asian cities. Based on this empirical data, we argue that a number of key characteristics can be identified to assess and build urban resilience to climate change in a way that reduces the vulnerability of the citizens most at risk from climate shocks and stresses. These characteristics form the basis of a climate resilient urban governance assessment framework, and include (1) decentralisation and autonomy, (2) accountability and transparency, (3) responsiveness and flexibility, (4) participation and inclusion and (5) experience and support. This framework can help to assist in the planning, design and implementation of urban climate change resilience-building programmes in the future.Keywords: climate change; adaptation; urban governance; resilience; Asia. IDS WORKING PAPER 315 04Thomas Tanner is a Research Fellow at IDS specialising in climate change adaptation and its relation to development theory, policy and practice. His work focuses on international climate policy, linking poverty and climate change; childcentred approaches to disaster risk reduction and adaptation; organisational responses to climate change; and networks and knowledge services for adaptation. He has previously worked for the UK Department for International Development and the United Nations Development Programme on climate change adaptation policy and programmes, and has been a negotiator for the UN conventions on climate change and desertification.

MODIS Protoflight Model, launched on-board the NASA EOS Terra spacecraft on December 18, 1999, has been in operation for more than two years, providing the science community calibrated data sets for the global studies of the land, oceans, and atmosphere. MODIS has 36 spectral bands, covering the spectral range from 412 to 14200 nm, and provides spatial resolutions of 0.25 km (2 bands), 0.5 km (5 bands), and 1 km (29 bands) at nadir. The key On-board Calibrators (OBCs) include a Solar Diffuser (SD) and a Solar Diffuser Stability Monitor (SDSM) system for the reflective solar bands calibration, and a V-grooved flat panel Blackbody (BB) for the thermal emissive bands calibration. In this paper, we describe the use of OBCs for the sensor s radiometric calibration and characterization and discuss on-orbit performance. In addition, we provide an assessment on the SD and MODIS optics on-orbit degradation.