For many project officers, climate adaptation is an important topic - but not necessarily their core expertise. When preparing a new project proposal, they may know that climate risks should be addressed, yet finding reliable information and translating it into concrete project components can take time they often do not have.
ACLIMATAR helps bridge this gap.
Think of an example: a project officer in the Ghana office of a large certification organization used the platform while preparing a cocoa sector proposal. The goal was straightforward: understand whether climate change posed a relevant risk for the target region and, if so, how it might affect cocoa production over the coming decades.
Within a short time, the platform provided an overview of projected temperature trends, rainfall shifts and crop-relevant stress indicators. Instead of searching through multiple reports or scientific papers, the project officer could work directly with crop-specific climate information presented in an accessible format. This made it possible to quickly build a first climate risk picture for the project area.
Such a rapid pre-analysis can be particularly valuable at the early stage of proposal development. It helps teams move from a general awareness of climate change to a clear and evidence-based problem statement, that then can be refined through discussion with field extensionists and farmers. If climate stress appears significant, the proposal can explicitly address it. If the risks are limited, teams can still document that the issue has been considered.
ACLIMATAR also helps translate analysis into potential action. The platform provides an overview of adaptation practices linked to specific climatic pressures, offering project designers a starting point for thinking about possible interventions. Rather than starting from a blank page, teams can quickly generate a long list of practices that may be relevant for discussions with partners and farmers now, and then during the implementation phase.
For busy proposal writers, this means two things. First, it saves time: the platform provides a structured overview of climate risks and response options without requiring specialized climate expertise. Second, it strengthens the proposal itself. Climate considerations become easier to integrate because the necessary information is readily available and clearly linked to crop production systems.
While this example comes from Ghana, the same approach can be applied across most coffee- and cocoa-producing regions. ACLIMATAR currently covers countries representing around 95% of global production of cocoa and coffee crops, allowing project teams in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia to conduct similar rapid climate risk checks during project planning. For tea, data is currently available for Uganda and Kenya.
Exploring the platform can therefore be a simple first step toward designing projects that adequately address future climate conditions.
For teams that want to take the next step, ACLIMATAR also provides practical guidance: In particular, the workshop templates for “Use Case 3: Choice of Adaptation Options” and “Use Case 4: Hotspot Analysis” show how climate risk insights can be translated into concrete project activities and geographically targeted interventions. You can also always reach out to our team in case you need further support, via: Alliance-ACLIMATAR@cgiar.org