This article highlights the value of a community-based adaptation (CBA) approach to addressing vulnerability to climate change, and describes the rise of the CBA movement, and its current state. Drawing on the recent CBA workshop in Dhaka on February 2007, the article shows that while CBA is now seen as an important component of adaptation action, there remains a great deal of uncertainty, and a lack of structure. This poses a problem for practitioners, funding bodies and other interested parties who perceive the need that CBA aims to meet, but require signposts to distinguish good practice.
The article suggests that following a simple roadmap to show how individual assessments may fit into a broader structure will hopefully show how other forms of community-based development can build climate change into their activities. It is proposed that CBA may be separated into three stages:

concentrates on addressing current climate risks within a development context
monitors progress and looks outward
assesses future development options under climate change.

This one of several papers in this issue of the Tiempo bulletin on climate and development.