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National adaptation interventions include preparing a country for climate change, developing and implementing national strategies, action plans and specific policies.

Monitoring: to keep track of progress made in implementing an adaptation intervention by using systematic collection of data on specified indicators and reviewing the measure in relation to its objectives and inputs, including financial resources.

Reporting: to provide information about what is happening in relation to adaptation. Reporting is mostly co-ordinated with either a monitoring or evaluation scheme and reported internally (within an organisation or country). Reporting can also be an external, explicit requirement related to international procedures, for example the National Communications of the UNFCCC or the revised Monitoring Mechanism Regulation (MMR) of the European Union.

Evaluation: A systematic and objective determination of the effectiveness of an adaptation intervention in the light of its objectives. It is also a judgement of the measures relevance, efficiency, equity and overall utility. There are many different types of evaluation. An ex-ante or mid-term eval­uation focuses on ways of improving a project or programme while it is still happening. In contrast, an ex-post evalu­ation seeks to judge the overall effectiveness of an intervention, usually after a project or programme has been completed.

Indicators to measure progress of an adaptation intervention: An indicator provides evidence that a certain condition exists or certain results have or have not been achieved and can be either quantitative or qualitative. Two distinct types of indicators can be used:

• a process-based approach seeks to define the key stages in a process that would lead to the best choice of result (process indicators), without specifying that result at the outset and
• an outcome-based approach seeks to define an explicit outcome, or result, of the adaptation action (outcome indicators).

These are composite definitions informed by the following sources: AdaptME (Pringle 2011); EC, 2011; UNFCCC, 2010; OECD DAC Glossary.

For further definitions see the Glossary in Chapter 4.