Adaptive policies: Next steps

TERI and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Canada conducted an Executive Training Course on Adaptive Policymaking to deal with Risks, Uncertainty and a Changing Climate for senior and mid-level policymakers and analysts. The course was held from 19-21 July 2010 at TERI University, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. A selected number of state-level officials and members of the policy community from India participated in this Course. Policy making is a complex task, especially in a modern world that is highly interconnected, owing to advances in science and technology, and highly dynamic, owing to the nature and scale of our impact. Thus there is a need for adaptive policies that employ a suite of specific mechanisms which help them perform effectively in the face of anticipated and unanticipated conditions. Against this backdrop, through the application of seven tools for crafting Adaptive Policies the Course was designed to provide insights to policymakers in addressing (i) the key uncertainties and risks that exist in policymaking and how they affect policy performance and (ii) How can the policy be improved to better deal with anticipated and unanticipated uncertainties and risks.