Analysis of  stakeholder perceptions and practices related to climate change adaptation in Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso, like other Sahelian countries, has experienced a profound change in its climatic regime,with the new context characterised by high rainfall variability with an overall downward trend and ashortening of the seasons. The future rainfall pattern anticipates a decrease in the frequency of lowrainfall (0.1 to 5 mm per day), a lengthening of the average duration of dry sequences, and an early endand late start of rainy seasons. The objective of this study was to perform an in-depth analysis of stakeholder perceptions about agricultural water (AgWater) resources sustainability, practices in the context of climate variability and change in Burkina Faso. Interviews were held with institutional actors involved in water resources decision making and initiatives (Government, Research, Non-Governmental Organisations) in the country. In addition, based on four main criteria (climate condition, type of farm and crop, type of AgWater sources, reliability of AgWater), three agricultural sites were investigated using household surveys. The results showed that organisations and farmers in Burkina Faso were aware of climate impacts and had initiated and implemented for many years, diverse options and water control mechanisms for AgWater adaptation. However, there were still gaps in strategies for adapting the water sector to climate threats. Institutional bodies had not got yet attained capacity to sustainably anticipate the effects of climate change on AgWater. There was a lack of mainstreaming hydroclimate services at farm levels, especially for the dry season crops; lack of on-farm flood control mechanisms, absence of a clear gender approach and no standardised monitoring system, Farmers also lacked anticipatory resilience strategies, particularly those who used water sources that were considered as “reliable” then. In general, most of the climate adaptation initiatives implemented lacked synergies, sustainability, and were uncertain about sound water resource management such as moving towards “no regret” and “win-win” options.

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Farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Change and Agricultural Adaptation in Burkina Faso

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos11080827 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 827 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jorge Alvar-Beltrán ◽

Abdalla Dao ◽

Anna Dalla Marta ◽

Ana Heureux ◽

Jacob Sanou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Burkina Faso ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Sahel Region ◽

Adaptation Practices

The Sahel region is considered a hotspot for climate change hazards and vulnerability of weather reliant sectors, including agriculture. Farmers in Burkina Faso have a long history of adapting their farming activities to frequent changes in climate. Using 150 in-person surveys, this study assesses farmers’ perceptions of climate change based on multiple climate variables, and reviews adaptation practices, including soil and water conservation strategies, in the Soudanian, Soudano-Sahelian, and Sahelian agroclimatic zones of Burkina Faso. In general, farmers are aware of changing climatic conditions, including increased temperatures, greater rainfall variability, heavier precipitation events, delayed onset, and premature offset of the rainy season. However, farmers perceive shifts in climate differently depending on their location and agroclimatic zone. As a result, different adaption strategies are implemented by farmers according to the climatic, societal, and economic context. Survey results show that in the Sahel, climate adaptation strategies rely on traditional knowledge and experimental approaches; whereas in the Soudanian zone, where weather conditions are more favorable for agriculture, adaptation practices are market oriented. These regional differences are important for targeting advisory services, planning processes, and decision-making to support the effective provision of weather and climate information services to the last mile.

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Climate change could intensify Sahel conflicts

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db266662 ◽

2022 ◽

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Security Policy ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Political Stability ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Small Scale ◽

Content Type ◽

Droughts And Floods ◽

Political Conditions ◽

Small Scale Irrigation

Significance It will increase rainfall variability and extreme events such as droughts and floods, as well as raising temperatures. These effects may trigger cascading risks to economic, social and political stability. Impacts The EU could play a key role in moderating climate effects as it shapes migration and security policy in the Sahel. The likelihood and severity of climate impacts will depend on socio-economic and political conditions in the region. Small-scale irrigation, climate-adapted seeds and traditional soil conservation techniques can help increase resilience to climate change.

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Climate Change Adaptation and Gender Inequality: Insights from Rural Vietnam

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11102805 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 2805 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Josephine Ylipaa ◽

Sara Gabrielsson ◽

Anne Jerneck

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Political Ecology ◽

Climate Change Adaptation ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Rural Livelihoods ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Research Approach ◽

Gender Inequalities ◽

Feminist Political Ecology

Vietnam is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change impacts, especially from extreme weather events such as storms and floods. Thus, climate change adaptation is crucial, especially for natural resource-dependent farmers. Based on a qualitative research approach using a feminist political ecology lens, this article investigates gendered patterns of rural agrarian livelihoods and climate adaptation in the province of Thái Bình. In doing so, we identify differentiated rights and responsibilities between female and male farmers, leading to unequal opportunities and immobility for females, making them more vulnerable to climate impacts and threatening to reduce their capacity to adapt. This research also shows that demands on farmers to contribute to perpetual increases in agricultural output by the state poses a challenge, since farming livelihoods in Vietnam are increasingly becoming feminised, as a result of urbanisation and devaluation of farming. Past and present national strategies and provincial implementation plans linked to climate change do not consider the burden affecting rural female farmers, instead the focus lies on addressing technical solutions to adaptation. With little attention being paid to an increasingly female workforce, existing gender inequalities may be exacerbated, threatening the future existence of rural livelihoods and the viability of Vietnam’s expansion into global markets.

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Indigenous communities and climate change: a Recognition, Empowerment and Devolution (RED) framework in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

Journal of Water and Climate Change ◽

10.2166/wcc.2015.058 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 169-183 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

William Nikolakis ◽

Quentin Grafton ◽

Aimee Nygaard

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Indigenous Communities ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Natural Systems ◽

Indigenous Cultures ◽

Murray Darling Basin ◽

Institutional Structures ◽

Depth Interviews

Climate change directly threatens Indigenous cultures and livelihoods across Australia's Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). Using a modified grounded theory methodology, this study draws on in-depth interviews with Indigenous leaders and elders across the MDB to highlight that climate variability and over-extraction of water resources by agricultural users directly threatens the integrity of aquatic systems. As a consequence, Indigenous cultures and livelihoods reliant on these natural systems are at risk. Interviewees identify a range of systemic barriers that entrench vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the MDB. Building on insights from the literature and from interviews, a Recognition, Empowerment and Devolution (RED) framework is developed to establish possible pathways to support climate adaptation by rural IPs. Fundamental to this RED framework is the need for non-Indigenous socio-institutional structures to create a ‘space’ to allow IPs the ability to adapt in their own ways to climate impacts.

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A Strategic Approach for Existing Buildings to Withstand Climate Change

Open House International ◽

10.1108/ohi-04-2012-b0009 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 81-88

Author(s):

T. Valdbjørn Rasmussen

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Building Design ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

Adaptation To Climate Change ◽

Building Stock ◽

Strategic Approach ◽

The Impact ◽

Change In Mean

Buildings play a vital economic and social role in society and are vulnerable to climate change. This paper suggests a strategic approach for existing buildings to withstand climate change. It emphasises the most likely climate impacts, including the change in mean year values as well as the extent of maximum and minimum extremes, which are pointed out and set against a background of national and international agreements. Assumptions that form the basis for the scenarios are outlined and evaluated in a Danish context and similar evaluations can be drawn for other countries. As climate change progresses, the uncertainty of the scenarios leaves major challenges that will grow far more serious, if not addressed and taken into account in building design and into a strategy for the adaptation of existing buildings. An outline of the actions needed for developing a broad strategic approach to the adaptation to climate change for buildings is given. The actions include four stages: a survey of the performance, the impact of climate change, the vulnerability of the existing building stock and climate adaptation needs. This leads to the identification of a risk-based strategic framework for adaptation to climate change based on the results of a vulnerability analysis. In addition, this paper describes some issues that must be addressed in case a strategic approach is not developed, as the building sector is continuously investing in measures to adapt to climate change.

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Interdisciplinary collaboration and joint knowledge production in climate change adaptation in mountain regions in South Asia, Latin America and Switzerland

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9255 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Christian Huggel ◽

Veruska Muccione ◽

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

South Asia ◽

Knowledge Production ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽

A Priori ◽

Solution Space ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Adaptation To Climate Change ◽

Joint Knowledge Production

The level of already committed climate change implies massive impacts and risks to natural and human systems on the planet which probably have been underestimated so far, as recent research and science-policy assessments such as from the IPCC indicate. Scenarios with less stringent emission reduction pose even greater risks of partly unknown dimensions. Adaptation to climate change is therefore of critical importance, in particular for countries with low adaptive capacity where climate change can seriously undermine efforts for sustainable development. Mountains are among the hotspots of climate impacts and adaptation.Climate adaptation is fundamentally an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary endeavor. Various sources of knowledge and perspectives need to be considered and integrated to produce actionable and solution-oriented knowledge. While experiences on joint knowledge production (JKP) has been increasing over recent years there is still missing clarity how to design and implement such a process in the context of climate adaptation.Here we analyze experiences from a new initiative and network of climate adaptation in education and research with institutions from South Asia, the Andes and Central America, and Switzerland (knowledgeforclimate.net). Partners form a highly multi-disciplinary network with diverse cultural and institutional backgrounds which is both an important asset and challenge for interdisciplinary collaboration. A core of the collaboration are case studies conducted in all six countries in mountain contexts which are developed considering different disciplinary perspectives and represent the basis for both research and teaching. JKP takes place at different levels which need to be systematically and carefully analyzed.&#160;We find that the processes of JKP are diverse, complex, and highly dependent on the interests and roles of actors within a network. To keep such processes alive, signposts in form of analysis and intermediary products along the network lifetime should be positioned as means of stocktaking and monitoring for the future.We suggest that existing models of JKP need to be broadened to better accommodate the high diversity and non-linearity of JKP processes. JKP does not just happen as a product of interdisciplinary collaboration but needs continuous reflection, research, update and upgrade. Trust and a range of common interests among partners in the network have been identified as key aspects in the process. A particular challenge furthermore is to dedicate enough time and resources to the framing process but then clearly moving beyond into the action and solution space. Harmonizing different forms of knowledge pertinent to climate adaptation in mountains and harvesting the diversity while accepting possibly limited consensus is essential, yet, it is not a priori predictable where this balance lies.

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Climate Finance and Its Role towards the Transition to Low-Carbon, Climate-Resilient Development in Ethiopia

10.20944/preprints201903.0058.v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Zelalem Dendir

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Strong Relationship ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Gdp Growth ◽

Climate Finance ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Recent Emergence

Achieving and sustaining stability for economic growth remain the greatest and most immediate development challenge for Ethiopia. For natural resource-based economies especially maintaining stability and growth depends fundamentally upon climate change adaptation and mitigation. The close links between climate and Ethiopia’s economy are reflected by the strong relationship between GDP growth rate and rainfall variability. A study by the World Bank projects that unless steps to build resilience are effective, climate change will reduce Ethiopia’s GDP growth by between 0.5 and 2.5% each year. Along with the challenges posed by climate change, a number of development opportunities are emerging in response to climate change which includes access to international climate finance. The international response to climate change in the form of external development finance plays a key role to support developing countries in their transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and sustainable development pathway. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the flow and the overall contribution of climate finance to sustainable development in Ethiopia. Specifically, focused on outlining how climate finance is currently reconciled in the existing Ethiopian climate change governance and its contribution to sustainable development. In order to achieve these objectives, data were collected from different sources. The Rio Marker methodology applied to review climate financial flow over the 5 year period. The result reveals that, climate change is central to development agendas despite its recent emergence in the mainstream, with various initiatives under way to combat or reduce its impacts in Ethiopia. In addition, the amount of climate finance from the developed countries to Ethiopia shows some fluctuation for the past five years. In general, the overall flow of climate finance mostly targeted climate adaptation actions which spur and enable the transition towards climate-resilient growth and sustainable development.

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LIFE URBANGREEN: Innovative technological platform to improve management of green areas for better climate adaptation

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20662 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Paolo Viskanic ◽

Alice Pasquinelli ◽

Alessio Fini ◽

Piotr Wezyk

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Remote Sensing ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Urban Green ◽

Urban Green Areas ◽

Green Areas

Climate change is a serious and cross-cutting issue: urban areas are particularly sensitive to climate impacts, especially to heatwaves, floods and droughts. Typically, urban phenomena (such as the &#8216;urban heat island effect&#8217; &#8211; where the urban area is significantly warmer than the surrounding rural areas) and the impacts of extreme weather events demonstrate the high vulnerability of cities.Specific urban adaptation strategies are therefore needed to make cities more resilient. In this context, green areas and green infrastructures are seen among the most widely applicable, economically viable and effective tools to combat the impacts of climate change and help people adapt to or mitigate adverse effects of this change.LIFE URBANGREEN is a European Funded project dealing with climate adaptation through the maximisation of ecosystem services provided by urban green areas maintained in an innovative way. The main expected result is a smart, integrated, geospatial management system, to monitor and govern all activities related to urban green areas, maximizing ecological benefits.Five innovative modules are being developed within the project, aimed at:<ul><li>providing irrigation to trees only when and where actually needed</li> <li>reducing the carbon footprint of maintenance activities through a more efficient job planning</li> <li>quantifying ecosystem services provided by green areas</li> <li>monitoring health conditions of trees using remote sensing data</li> <li>increasing citizen participation in urban green management</li> </ul>The project involves 5 Italian and Polish partners:<ul><li>R3 GIS (GIS software company and project coordinator, Bolzano, Italy)</li> <li>University of Milano (scientific coordinator, Milano, Italy)</li> <li>ProGea 4D (remote sensing company, Krakow, Poland)</li> <li>ZZM (manager of urban green areas in Krakow, Poland)</li> <li>Anthea (manager of urban green areas in Rimini, Italy)</li> </ul>Also, the National Central University (NCU) in Taiwan, under the coordination of Prof Yuei-An Liou, supports the project and participates as external partner and will test some innovations of the LIFE URBANGREEN Project in Taiwan.During the EGU conference, results obtained during the first two years of the project will be presented. More information on the project is available at www.lifeurbangreen.eu

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Strengthening climate-resilience in the Mekong Delta – an application of the Economics of Climate Adaption (ECA) methodology

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9501 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Arun Rana ◽

David N. Bresch ◽

Annette Detken ◽

Maxime Souvignet

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Local Governments ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Cost Benefit Analysis ◽

Mekong Delta ◽

Cost Benefit ◽

Evaluation Process ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Adaptation Measures ◽

Climate Risks

Climate Change has presented an ongoing and eminent threat to various regions, communities and infrastructure worldwide and in-turn increasingly pressuring national and local governments to take action. In the current study we identify and evaluate climate impacts faced by the city of Can Tho in Vietnam and the broader Mekong Delta and appraise preparedness options to manage today&#8217;s as well as future climate risk. We first, identify the climate risks in co-operation with various local, national and international stakeholders in the region. This is done on the current and future time scales under Socio-Economic Pathways (SSPs) as suggested in the current iteration of IPCC evaluation process. Based on these development pathways, we apply the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) methodology to quantify the climate risks various sectors of the economy will be facing until 2050 with a focus on flood. Further we assess a range of possible adaption measures - including behavioral, environmental, physical as well as financial measures that can mitigate the identified risks by providing a cost-benefit analysis for each of the adaptation measures as well as for bundles thereof. The ECA methodology has proven to be an established tool to enhance our knowledge on the topic and its application in this specific context will enable stakeholders to strengthen societal resilience in the context of both socio-economic development and climate change.

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Assessment of Climate Change Sentiment, Engagement and Adaptation through a Community-Based Outreach Campaign and Questionnaire across the United States

Earth ◽

10.3390/earth1010006 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 75-96

Author(s):

Shahir Masri ◽

Athina Simolaris ◽

Suellen Hopfer ◽

Jun Wu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Low Income ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Low Frequency ◽

The United States ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Local Context ◽

Governmental Organizations ◽

Non Governmental Organizations ◽

Assess Climate Change

(1) Background: Human activity is warming the planet and destabilizing the climate through greenhouse gas emissions, which underscores the need for climate communication to overcome barriers to action. (2) Methods: We launched a five-month campaign that included questionnaires (n = 500) and one-on-one interviews (n = 24) to assess climate change sentiment, engagement, adaptation, as well as understand who climate outreach reaches and the observations and concerns such groups report across the U.S. so as to better understand the local context of climate change and enable more effective climate communication and outreach in the future. (3) Results: Results showed outreach efforts to mostly reach college educated Caucasians who identified as Democrats. “Future generations” was the most frequently ranked climate concern, with the economy, property value, and national security ranked last. Communities frequently observed hotter temperatures, increased flooding, and species impacts. Among “climate-concerned” individuals, the majority reported never contacting a local politician about climate change. College students least frequently reported climate change as a top priority and reported a low frequency of civic engagement on the issue. In-person interviews highlighted climate impacts disproportionately affecting low-income communities and communities of color, such as heat-related mortality and gentrification. Climate adaptation strategies were underway, but mostly among farmers, ecologists, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) workers. (4) Discussion: This study helps inform elected officials, urban planners, and climate communicators as it relates to the allocation of resources for climate adaptation and education, and highlights key knowledge gaps that deserve focus by future outreach efforts.

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