as a result average changes over wide areas can be relatively well understood while there is greater uncertainty about the specific impacts at the local level particularly in countries with diverse ecosystems or topography eg nepal and mozambique regional climate models and statistical techniques have been developed that can downscale climate projections to provide a higher resolution ranger muirwood and priya however applying such techniques requires technical capacity not available in all developing countries given the uncertainties inherent in climate projection national adaptation policies and planning processes can benefit from periodic reviews and assessments