This introduction is intended to provide support for country-driven approaches to adaptation, with consideration to indigenous and traditional knowledge (ITK) as a cross-cutting theme in the elaboration of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), and related instruments, such as national adaption platforms where different stakeholders engage with one another and contribute to an integrate national approach to flexible and sustained adaptation. The materials here contribute to bridging the knowledge gap experienced by many countries in understanding how indigenous and traditional knowledge can contribute to national policy process and through a synthesis with other types of knowledge – such as meteorological and biological sciences – an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to climate impacts, vulnerability and resilience can help solve real problems experienced by communities dependent on natural resources and ecosystem integrity.
