Assessing and measuring adaptive capacity: the experiences of African countries in developing meaningful metrics for water management

This paper reviews and interprets recent literature published on a range of topics related to the assessment of adaptive capacity particularly from a sub-Saharan African context. While these topics provide a useful frame for what can be discussed under the theme of assessment, we argue that they account less for the content of adaptive capacity in the context of developing countries. We explore these topics to present two categories of assessments: technical and market-based. We use the topics to examine the nature and substance of adaptive capacity assessments in developing country context. Issues that are strongly related to water sustainability in developing countries form the core basis of the paper.