The document discusses community-based adaptation and resilience strategies in East and Southern Africa's drylands, focusing on the vulnerabilities of marginalized communities impacted by climate change. It emphasizes the need for local knowledge, adaptive capacity, and multi-stakeholder collaboration to increase resilience against climate risks. The framework proposed encourages integrating various sectors and policies to empower communities to adapt and manage the changes effectively.

1. Community Based Adaptation and Resilience
in East and Southern Africa’s Drylands
Addis Ababa
1-4th September
2014
Fiona Percy
Adaptation Learning
Programme in Africa, ALP

2. What do we find in the drylands?

3. People are at the centre
Pastoralists, farmers,
entrepreneurs, traders –
their aspirations, agency
and livelihoods
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September 3, 2014

4. The people who feel the impacts of climate
change most :
• depend on climate sensitive, natural resource based
livelihoods – which are rapidly changing
• live in areas exposed to climate risks – droughts, floods
• are marginalised and vulnerable –
o limited agency - voice, access or control over decisions that
affect them
o face multiple challenges and causes of vulnerability
o Poor, isolated communities
o Pervasive gender inequalities
• Often excluded from ‘modern’ developments, which
ignores or undermines or conflicts with the value of
their knowledge and resources they use
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SCeptemlbier m3, 2014ate change worsens existing risks

5. Resilience
Different interpretations by different disciplines:
(IPCC, UNISDR, DFID, FAO etc)
• bouncing back from shocks
• maintaining function of a system in spite of a
disturbance
• long term resilient development pathways
• secure livelihoods, absorbing and adapting to
shocks, managing growing risks, addressing
underlying causes of vulnerability, transforming
lives in response to new hazards and opportunities.
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September 3, 2014

6. Resilience - many questions:
• Whose resilience? To what?
• What is resilience in a changing and uncertain
context?
• Uncertain climate, economy, governance, security….
• Bouncing back - to chronic poverty, inequality?
• Covering up differences in and causes of
vulnerability?
• Who is responsible for vulnerability in drylands
and who is responsible for realising resilience?
• How does climate change affect resilience?
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September 3, 2014

7. Climate change impacts on resilience
• Is happening now, changing variability, seasonal patterns,
intense / extreme events, unpredicted, volatile and
previously unknown weather, CC is not going away
• New normal of constant change, volatility & uncertainty
Transformation to new situations and livelihoods, access
to new development opportunities?
• Large scale of challenge, but localised impacts:
Vulnerable people need to adapt themselves
• Vulnerabilities differ across and among communities,
gender and wealth groups, but all have complementary
capacities to respond
• The science and access to information is becoming a
valuable resource - but a long way to go
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September 3, 2014

8. Adaptive capacity has some answers
The ability to constantly adjust
livelihood and risk
management strategies in
response to new and changing
circumstances (IPCC)
In an uncertain climate, adaptive capacity is
an increasingly critical aspect of resilience
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September 3, 2014

9. Community Based Adaptation?
Evolving approach supporting climate vulnerable
communities to:
• analyse their vulnerabilities, risks and
capacities
• strengthen their adaptive capacity
• decide on and engage in actions that are
sustainable, climate resilient and responsive
to local realities, climate information &
changing risks.
• make 9
choices in an uncertain climate September 3, 2014

10. CBA = Multi-level action with a community focus
• Multi- stakeholder, sector and level, not only in
communities.
• Anticipation of regular and new shocks requires:
• thoughtful and joined up responses,
• working with communities knowledge and aspirations.
• Local and national actors support with:
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► Capacity building ► Systems and services
► Information ► Technology
► Policies ► Finance
► Programmes
September 3, 2014

11. A CBA Framework
COMMUNITY-BASED
ADAPTATION
WWW.CARECLIMATECHANGE.ORG
Local adaptive &
organisational
capacity
Addressing
underlying
causes of
vulnerability
Disaster risk
reduction
Climate-resilient
livelihoods
Influencing
enabling policy
environment
Climate change knowledge
Risk and uncertainty

12. CBA and Resilience - Combining approaches?
• Integrate humanitarian, DRR, social protection, climate
change adaptation, natural resource management, good
governance and sustainable development actions, in all
sectors – informed by Climate Change.
• Empower dryland communities and actors to innovate,
work collaboratively with others, access and control
resources and information, make informed and flexible
decisions for adaptation and moving out of poverty in the
face of worsening climate shocks and uncertainties.
• Invest in long term coordinated multi-stakeholder
responses to underlying causes of vulnerability, safety
nets, early warning, enabling policy for inclusion and
equity.
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September SOUNDS 3, 2014 GREAT  – yes, but realistically how do we do this?

13. We have 4 days to combine our knowledge
and generate answers to:
• How / why vulnerabilities and opportunities are
changing with the climate?
• What does it take to achieve resilience for everyone
in a changing climate? Is that enough?
• Drivers and barriers to change & transformation,
synergies and trade offs involved?
• The added value can CBA bring to achieving
resilience in dryland communities?
• Working together, coordinating across silos - an
integrated and coherent approach?
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September 3, 2014

14. Thank you
alp@careclimatechange.org
www.careclimatechange.org/adaptation-initiatives/alp