Posted in the South Bend Tribune: Climate change projects win Notre Dame prizes

SOUTH BEND — Two projects that address climate change in developing countries have won the 2015 Corporate Adaptation Prize, which is awarded by the University of Notre Dame's Global Adaptation Index.

The university announced this year's winners on Thursday.

One of the winning projects is a program in Mozambique that produces starch for craft beer from cassava, and the other is designed to help cities worldwide develop resiliency to disaster. Here are details about the winners:

• AECOM, a global provider of support services in energy and other fields, and technology company IBM, for developing a Disaster Resilience Scorecard designed to help communities understand, communicate and put into effect actions to reduce disaster risk and accelerate recovery from disasters. The scorecard supports the United Nation’s efforts to manage and reduce disasters by bringing together expertise and resources from the public and private sectors.

• DADTCO, a cassava-processing company, for developing a mobile facility for processing fresh cassava close to smallholder farmers instead of transporting the plants to a central factory. Cassava is a tropical plant grown for its starchy roots. The technology provides the opportunity for cassava, a major food crop in Africa, to replace expensive imported cereals and boost the national economy.

The winners will be honored at a Sept. 23 event in connection with Climate Week NYC and the United Nations Sustainability Summit.

ND-GAIN, based at Notre Dame, is a global annual index that ranks more than 175 countries based on their vulnerability to climate change and their readiness to adapt to droughts, superstorms and natural disasters that climate change may cause.

Award submissions represented projects in more than a dozen countries and topics ranged from reforestation, water and food to energy and health.