Developing climate-smart villages in Latin America

Project description

This project aids the implementation of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices and the implementation of community engagement strategies. It ensures that implementation is carried out through participatory approaches and creates evidence to support the scaling up and out of CSA through national and regional stakeholders. For example, some of the activities include the implementation of baseline studies, engagement with local level stakeholders, and the development of context-specific agro climate services for each Climate-Smart Village (CSV) in Latin America using agroclimatic information and communication technologies.

The objective of this research is that organized farmers and indigenous communities in Cauca (Colombia) will achieve sustainable food security for themselves and their families by constructing local adaptation plans and adopting CSA practices and technologies. Further, the research aims to enable farmers in Tuma La Dalia (Nicaragua) and Trifinio (Guatemala and Honduras) to implement CSA options including the use of alternatives such as agroforestry and agroclimatic services.

Farmers in Climate-Smart Villages are being prepared to use agroclimatic information and to identify adaptation measures with mitigation co-benefits that can be implemented on their farms. What's more, farmers are being able to use this information to support their decision-making processes. The success of CSVs are being used as evidence to implement local adaptation plans in other villages.

Outputs

Results of CCAFS baseline studies (available in Spanish. draft English baselines report available upon request. Please email to Laura Cramer)
- Cauca: Households / Communities / Organizations
- Santa Rita: Households / Communities / Organizations
- Olopa: Households / Communities / Organizations
- El Tuma-La Dalia: Households / Communities / Organizations
Equitable Local Adaptation Plans to climate variability and changes for communities
Materials of agroclimatic information and CSA options for communities
CSA prioritization tool adapted to community level decision making process
Gender analysis of the communities and intervention strategies
Documentation on the experience of integrating ancient knowledge such as bio-indicators with scientific data such as agroclimatic information
Development of an improved participatory early warning systems
Evidence documentation for national decision makers at the local level in order to use it scaling up the approach
Elaboration of planning guidelines and recommendations report to support policy formulation at national level.
South-south exchanges with other communities within the region and with other CCAFS regions.
Analogues sites within Colombia identified to support the elaboration of the planning guidelines and recommendations report for national policy makers

Partners

The project team is made up of the CCAFS Latin America Team and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Local and regional partners include Asociación Regional Campesina Ch'orti' (ASORECH), Comisión de Acción Social Menonita (CASM), Fundación EcoHábitats, and Fundación Procuenca Rio Las Piedras.

Gender

In this project, the implementation of gender-sensitive baseline studies enable CCAFS to develop equitable interventions that are simultaneously complementary to adaptation, mitigation and food security issues. Equitable interventions at community level are empowered by the members of the community and scalable to other regions through the support of regional and national government based on the evidence generated.