Analyzing the science-policy-practice
interface in climate change adaptation
Todd Crane, Lance Robinson, Wondwossen Wondemagegnehu, Julien Meunier
CCAFS Policies and Priorities for CSA Webinar
2 November 2017

Objectives
• Empirical analysis of
– social processes of policy formulation and
implementation, focusing on interactions between
varied inputs and information streams
– how policy implementation affects livestock keepers’
capacity to adapt to climate change

Hypotheses
• Policy formulation and implementation are
dynamic, multi-actor social processes informed
by many considerations and interests
• “Policy environment”, not individual policies
– Not just climate adaptation policies
• Adaptive capacity is a function of many socio-political factors
that do not just emerge from adaptation initiatives
– Not just livestock policies
• Pastoralists’ access to basic productive resources is shaped
by agricultural initiatives

Case Studies
• Ethiopia
– Formulation of the Climate Resilient Green Economy
(CRGE) as a national policy process
– Wondwossen Wondemagegnehu (UMass-Boston USA)
• Senegal
– Implementation of rural development policies in the
Senegal River basin
– Julien Meunier (Université d’Orleans, FR)

Ethiopia
• Climate Resilient Green Economy
– “Green economy” as international discourse
– Top-down mandate to transform national economy;
minimal input from civil society
– CRGE formulation evolved through emergent
alignments and alliances between political and
technical, national and international actors
– Deliberate effort to attract foreign capital investment,
especially climate finance for mitigation

Ethiopia
• Climate Resilient Green Economy
– International consultancy wrote the CRGE using
Ethiopian data
– New performance metrics for ministries to break down
divide between environment and economy
• Carbon emissions as common currency
– Harmonization of Livestock Master Plan with CRGE

Senegal
• Many policy initiatives affect pastoral resources in
Senegal River basin
– Occupation and Allocation of Land Plan (POAS)
• Improving land mgmt. and planning to rural communes…
• which tend to be dominated by farmers, not herders
• Circumvented by agribusinesses (SENHUILE)

Senegal
• Many policy initiatives affect pastoral resources in
Senegal River basin
– Occupation and Allocation of Land Plan (POAS)
– Sustainable and Inclusive Agribusiness Project
(PDIDAS) [World Bank]
• Irrigated agriculture
• Agribusiness investment in large plots
• “Participatory”, but…
• Promotes fragmentation, enclosure and cultivation
• Environmental transformation, esp. water resources

Senegal
• Many policy initiatives affect pastoral resources in
Senegal River basin
– Occupation and Allocation of Land Plan (POAS)
– Sustainable and Inclusive Agribusiness Project
(PDIDAS) [World Bank]
– Agricultural Markets and Agribusiness Development
Project (PDMAS) [World Bank]

Senegal
• Many policy initiatives affect pastoral resources in
Senegal River basin
– Occupation and Allocation of Land Plan (POAS)
– Sustainable and Inclusive Agribusiness Project
(PDIDAS) [World Bank]
– Agricultural Markets and Agribusiness Development
Project (PDMAS) [World Bank]
– Restoration Project of the Ecological Functions of the
Guiers Lake (PREFELAG) [Global Environment
Facility]
• Hydrological redesign for bird habitat enhancement
• Reduces pasture, but might improve water resources

Conclusions
• Pastoral adaptive capacity is shaped by more
than adaptation or livestock policies
• “Policy environments”, not just a policy
• Analyze policymaking, not just policies
– Political economy of upstream influence, national
contestation and downstream implementation
• Scientific inputs may be useful, but often remain
subordinate to political agendas, both national
and international

Questions?
• Meunier, J. 2017. How does the policy environment
influence pastoral adaptation? The case of Ngnith in
the Senegal delta. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.
http://hdl.handle.net/10568/79997
• Wondemagegnehu, W. 2016. The role of discourses,
structures and agency in national climate policy
formation: The case of Ethiopia. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.
http://hdl.handle.net/10568/79988