Technologies for community-based adaptation to climate change: some options and challenges

Technologies for adaptation to climate change Some observations from Practical Action’s work with communities in sub-Saharan Africa

Context: a technology and policy gap
Ecosystems – soil, water, air, plants and animals – underpin all our lives
Rural people and food systems depend directly on ecosystem health
Biodiversity underpins all food production, and ecosystem functions such as clean water, healthy soil, gene pool conservation
Diversity reduces risk from uncertainly and increases resilience to threats
Yet biodiversity conservation is scarcely considered as a climate change or agricultural issue

The role of technology in community based adaptation
Technologies – tools, skills, knowledge
Adaptation to CC involves responding to local challenges and must be rooted in local knowledge, culture and values
Participatory development identifies technologies appropriate to the local context and people’s assets
Technologies are not necessarily transferable across countries and continents – there is no ‘one size fits all’ for adaptation

Technologies for semi-arid areas
Strengthening livelihoods to adapt to increasing drought requires:
Better access to water resources and improved water management
Improved access to seeds of drought-adapted crops
Improved livestock productivity through disease control

Rainwater harvesting in Zimbabwe
In western Zimbabwe, rainfall is only 200-300mm per year falling on maybe 10 days
Most of this water will run over the parched ground into rivers
By constructing ridges along the contours, water run off is slowed down and it soaks into the soil.
Constructing underground tanks between the contours traps the water for longer

Contour ridges to trap rainfall
The work is done communally, people work on each other‘s land

Seed saving and exchange
As droughts have become more frequent and longer, maize crops have declined, it is vital to increase availability of locally adapted seeds of maize and more drought resistant crops like millet and sorghum
This can be achieved through:
Community-led sharing of seeds through annual shows
Conservation and increased availability of local seed varieties though community seed banks

Seed show in Tharaka district of Kenya
Farmers display their seeds, hoping for a prize
They share knowledge of the crops, and exchange seeds with each other

Community seed bank The community-based organisation obtained funding to design and build their own seed bank

Tsetse fly control
In low rainfall areas, livestock-keeping is an important source of food and income
In much of semi-arid Africa, tryposomiasis, a disease borne by the tsetse fly, is endemic
Most control systems have been government run, and episodic, linked to the availability of funds for costly chemical control programmes
Alternative, community-managed low cost systems can be effective and sustainable

Control of tsetse fly through trapping Tsetse fly traps are made of low cost locally available cloth and net, with a cheap chemical, acetone and cow urine used to attract the flies. The woman on the left is a trap monitor, who monitors and repairs the trap on a regular basis

Technology contradictions
Major areas where technology needs to be developed and shared:
Water conservation and management, across all countries
Biodiversity conservation
Low-cost local solutions
Currently, most resources go to large-scale, high cost technologies that will not work for 70% of poor people and their agricultural systems

Conclusions
Many of the technologies most relevant for adaptation are tried and tested
The need is for wider promotion of these options, rather than spending on high cost, high technology research
For successful rural agriculture in the face of climate change, the challenge is to channel funds to the grass roots level on a large scale…
… and into relevant, appropriate, sustainable technologies

Technologies for community-based adaptation to climate change: some options and challenges

by Euforic Services on Feb 14, 2008

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Technologies for community-based adaptation to climate change: some options and challenges — Presentation Transcript