adaptation

Bit by bit, East African smallholder farmers are adapting to climate change, according to a study we recently published in the journal Food Security. The story received significant attention from a number of global and African media outlets, highlighting both the positive aspects (farmers are adapting) and pointing to the ongoing challenges (they are not adapting quickly enough and not using well-tested approaches). Here are some of the highlights.

Reuters said that African farmers must do more to beat climate change, a story that was picked by worldwide media including the Huffington Post, the Jerusalem Post, Reuters AlertNet, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and Scientific American. 

Voice of America wrote how East African Farmers Plant Seeds of Innovation. In an interview, Patti Kristjanson, who led the research, described how East African farmers are aware of the extremes of climate change, but the driving factor behind their innovations is to ensure there’s enough to eat.

The New York Times featured the study in its Dot Earth blog. Andrew Revkin wrote that that the study’s conclusions show “there’s enormous potential to boost human resilience to climate extremes — whether the result of building greenhouse gases or nature’s built-in shocks — in places that are in harm’s way.” Read more »

Yesterday we launched a series of reports which look at the effectiveness of global climate models in predicting agricultural impacts in Africa and South Asia, with a particular emphasis on their ability to predict how climate change will affect key crops in those regions. The results are not surprising: we don't have perfect climate projections for agriculture, and in many cases, the data is quite weak. So what can we do about it?

In a live video seminar yesterday, lead authors Mark New from the University of Cape Town and Richard Washington from Oxford University, noted the weaknesses and emphasized that in some cases, a variety of models can be used together to overcome individual weaknesses. This approach, however, requires quite a lot of time and effort. On the bright side, the authors noted that more and more information is becoming available. The studies also highlight where models need further development, providing a useful guide for research investments. In case you missed it you can still watch a recording of the session.

The overarching message is that this uncertainty not an excuse for inaction. In response to yesterday's report, our colleagues at CIAT have published an insightful analysis of the role of uncertainty. Rather than being something that dogs climate science, uncertainty must be perceived as a basic feature and can even be a positive driver: Read more »

par Sonja Vermeulen

Au cours de l’année 2011, les catastrophes naturelles ont causées des pertes économiques mondiales de US$ 380 milliards les plus hautes de tous les temps, dépassant largement le précédent record de US$ 220 milliards, atteint en 2005. Si les pertes les plus coûteuses ont été dues aux séismes du Japon et Nouvelle-Zélande, les catastrophes d’origine météorologiques, souvent liées à La Niña, ont été également  nombreuses et amplement répandues: une grande sécheresse en Afrique de l’Est, une surabondance des cyclones dans l'Atlantique tropical, et les pires inondations depuis des décennies dans certaines régions de la Thaïlande, le Cambodge, la Namibie, le Brésil, les Etats-Unis et l’Australie.

Avec le changement climatique, les événements météorologiques extrêmes tels que les canicules, les sécheresses, les tempêtes et les inondations devraient augmenter en fréquence et/ou intensité. Les catastrophes du passé sont une source de leçons précieuses pour la préparation future. Globalement, les catastrophes naturelles ont à la fois des impacts négatifs et positifs sur les économies nationales. Ce qui est particulièrement ambigu c’est leur impact relatif sur les ménages ruraux les plus pauvres. Certaines opinions soutiennent que les chocs climatiques frappent la capacité des agriculteurs pauvres à réinvestir dans les saisons à venir; dans ces cas des mesures de protection de risques comme l'assurance sur les récoltes ou les aides sociales peuvent aider. Selon d’autres, les chocs apportent de nouvelles opportunités pour les pauvres et les programmes de protection des risques sont un frein qui décourage leur adaptation à long terme aux changements environnementaux. Read more »

Written by Caitlin Corner-Dolloff, Oxford ECI. This story was originally published on Agricultureday.org.

Farmers, researchers, and government officials alike recognize that adaptation to climate change must take place now. But how can this be done most effectively? It was clear from the ARDD learning event on lessons from the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) program, funded by the Canada’s IDRC and UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), that one of the biggest challenges is the need for climate change adaptation solutions to be context specific. A one size fits all approach to policy will not work. This has led many researchers, practitioners and funders to focus on local participatory approaches to adaptation planning and building adaptive capacity. Read more »