Summary:

The debate on Climate Change and Agriculture is crucial with regards to Africa's development and to the prosperity of its people. In fact, the continent is particularly vulnerable to Climate Change given the levels of poverty that characterize it.

Climate Change in Africa materializes itself particularly through prolonged periods of drought, which seriously affect the agricultural sector. Consequently, this results in the degradation of soil quality, higher temperatures, desert encroachment, frequent sandstorms, declining water resources, falling yields in agricultural productivity, proliferation of insects, threats to food security and increased poverty on the continent.

Summary:

Coffee is a major cash crop in Uganda, but research shows that the smallholder farmers who produce 90% of it could have their already vulnerable livelihoods made more vulnerable by climate change.

Oxfam’s research project interviewed coffee farmers in the Rwenzori Mountains and found that they are aware that the climate is changing and becoming less predictable, and have used various adaptation strategies. But for Arabica coffee, which can only be grown at high altitudes in Uganda, climate change and rising temperatures are likely to further restrict the areas in which it can be grown.

This report makes recommendations for adapting coffee production in Uganda to reduce the impact of climate change on the economy and to reduce the risks that smallholder farmers will fall further into poverty. Read more http://cc.cc/OSkg

Summary:

DABASO, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When Kahindi Charo gathered 30 of his friends to replant mangroves in the 32 square km (12 square mile) Mida Creek area, people in his village of Dabaso in Kilifi County dismissed them as crazy idlers.

Charo recalls that back then, in 2000, the creek had suffered badly from unregulated harvesting that had left the area bare, with rotting stumps and patches of old mangrove trees. 

Today, Mida Creek, about 60 km (38 miles) north of Mombasa, flourishes with dense mangrove plantations that provide a habitat for birds, fish and crabs. There is also a boardwalk leading to a 12-seat eco-restaurant perched beside the Indian Ocean.

Read more http://cc.cc/GVUt

Summary:

A long-standing irrigation project implemented by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Swaziland has reported results in increasing adaptation to climate change, conserving biodiversity and reducing land degradation through sustainable land management (SLM) practices.

The Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project, which has run from 2004-2013, is reducing the impact of issues surrounding water scarcity through collaboration on constructing water harvesting tanks with the Women in Development department in the Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development. The tanks divert overflow water to backyard gardens, building resilience of local populations and benefiting the livelihoods of the rural poor.

The project creates conditions for commercialization of sustainable, high-value crops through large-scale irrigation. The network of irrigation that will be expanded through the next phase of the project will help meet the water needs of farmers in a cost-efficient way. Additional activities being promoted by the project include low tillage, conservation agriculture, forestation and biomass energy production. [IFAD Press Release] [Overview of the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project]

read more: http://climate-l.iisd.org/news/ifad-irrigation-project-improves-livelihoods-increases-climate-resilience-in-swaziland/

Summary:

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank has approved a US$4.2 million grant to support the Government of Burundi's efforts in promoting sustainable land and water management in coffee farms, within the pilot Sustainable Coffee Landscape Project.

Focusing on the Bubanza, Bururi, and Muyinga provinces, the grant will increase coffee productivity, while improving water pollution levels and promoting landscape conservation and eco-tourism. The project will pilot shade-grown coffee, that promotes coffee cultivation and a planting approach that mixes coffee with various trees and plants such as beans and maize. Planned activities include new bean-washing stations, water-efficient equipment and certification schemes.

Moreover, patrolling equipment, law enforcement measures and environmental education will be fostered in order to reinforce protection of the Bururi Natural Forest Reserve (BNFR), in South-western Burundi. [World Bank Press Release] [Sustainable Coffee Landscape Project]

Summary:

Many Strong Voices (MSV) is developing a project on ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) to climate change, which is a priority area for MSV in 2013. The aim of this project is to reduce vulnerability to climate change by supporting an EbA methodology that integrates scientific and local/traditional knowledge.

Case studies will be carried out in communities in Belize and Seychelles. Work carried out to date includes field visits in both countries to meet with potential partners and assess local conditions. This  project seeks to formalize a methodology that combines evidence-based, scientific data with community knowledge and experiences, and empower communities to make informed choices on how to reduce vulnerability to climate change.

Summary:

The changes in fisheries and other natural resources which are sensitive to climate change affect livelihoods of  communities. There is limited knowledge on impact of climate variability and change on the livelihoods  to facilitate and guide development of adaptation and mitigation measures to  sustain livelihoods in the face of changing climate  that is expected to intensify in future.   This project aims at using quantitative data and survey questionnairrres to determine variations in climate parameters, Key demographic characteristics, Major livelihoods, Adaptation and Mitigation measures of fisher communities with an aim of enhancing adaptation and mitigation. It will be conducted on a shallow Lake which has manifested changes in climate parameters over decades.

Summary:

Located 80 kilometres south of Dakar, the Saly seaside resort area is perhaps Senegal’s most popular and profitable tourist attraction. Hundreds of thousands of tourists, mostly European, visit the country to holiday there, drawn by the year-round sunny weather and beaches of fine white sand. But in the last few years, the ocean that had been an accomplice in leisure became destructive; its waves began to swallow up sand from the beach and damage the hotels. In May, management of the Filaos Hotel, one of the largest in the area, had to evacuate guests from rooms closest to the sea when waves threatened to flood them.It soon transpired that the beach in front of 10 major hotels, beach the national beach soccer team trained on just three years ago, had widely eroded and even disappeared in some places. Read more http://bit.ly/P2jcd9

Summary:

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has published three reports on climate risk management (CRM) in Kenya, Niger and Uganda, as part of the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Climate Risk Management (CRM) Technical Assistance Support Project (TASP). The reports illustrate how different communities in high-risk countries may have to adapt to a changing climate across a range of sectors.

CRM TASP is led by UNDP's Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) with inputs from the UNDP Bureau for Development Policy Energy and Environment Group (BDP/EEG). The objective of the project is to analyze risks to development associated with climate variability and change in order to define and prioritize risk management solution measures in both the short- and long-term. Read more http://bit.ly/13sIPdz

Summary:

The construction of a community gravity flow scheme covering three villages of the Kapchorwa district was officially launched on 11^th April 2012 by IUCN, in partnership with UNDP, UNEP and Kapchorwa District Local Government. Funded by the German Government (Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety) and targeting Sanzara parish, the scheme is one of the nature based solutions being promoted by IUCN under the Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EBA) project to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity of the communities to the adverse effects of climate change - in this case drought. Read more http://bit.ly/15MCae4

Summary:

In Uganda, small scale farmers’ adaptation to climate change is mostly based on local coping knowledge and understanding of seasonality. A typical Ugandan small scale farmer depends on the mercy of nature for agricultural production. Small scale farmers' accessibility to agricultural innovations is often limited by socio-economic institutional deficiencies. In a study that documented climate change impacts on small scale farmers, it was confirmed that indigenous adaptation is small scale farmers’ option towards ensuring food security and income improvement approaches. Indigenous knowledge is an integral part of small scale farmers’ lives. Local coping strategies provide the foundation for small scale farmers’ own ideas on how to survive during harsh times. Adaptation to climate change that is occurring is based on past experiences, which are passed on from one generation to another. Read more http://twinoben.blogspot.com/

Summary:

To help Burkina Faso’s national meteorological service provide reliable, detailed and up-to-date weather monitoring and forecasting, the AAP team there recently helped it acquire new automated weather stations (AWS). A total of 16 AWS were procured, comprising six agro-meteorological stations and 10 hydro-meteorological stations. The new equipment will double the number of weather stations in the country thereby strengthening the capacity of the Directorate General of Meteorology’s (DGM) weather data collection network to provide real-time weather monitoring and more efficient measuring of climatic changes in Burkina Faso. Read more http://bit.ly/TaqZl6

Summary:

Niger ranks among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. People here have already noticed a shortening of the rainy season and higher average temperatures. These changes are resulting in smaller yields in the most widely cultivated and consumed crops. Read more http://bit.ly/TzrxaH