Rockefeller convening presentation by Roger Stern

1. CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND
AFRICAN AGRICULTURE GRANTEE CONVENING
24-25 February 2011
Title: Supporting the Rockefeller Foundation Climate
Change Units in East and Central Africa.
Grantee : Walker Institute for Climate System Research,
Presented by: Roger Stern and Peter Cooper (in absentia)
Time allocated: 15 minutes
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2. Background to the grant
• Peter Cooper approached:
– Led ICRISAT’s work on climate for 5 years
• Roger Stern included
– SSC, Reading. Collaborated with ICRISAT recently
• Training added to the proposed work
• Research fellow position added, hence Walker Institute
included
• Work started in the region in early January 2011
– One year grant, but two years for research fellow
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3. Brief Background of
the Institutions involved
• Leading climate research centre at the Univ. of Reading.
• Integrates a range of disciplines to understand changing
climate and its impacts,
• Studies the processes & feedbacks which govern both
climatic variability and change,
• Research underpinned by world-class expertise in climate
modeling and analysis of earth observation,
• Staff involved in IPCC Assessments, the Stern Review of
the Economics of Climate Change.
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4. Brief Background of
the Institutions involved
• Not for profit, self-financing centre within Univ of Reading.
• Established in 1983
• Provides training and advice in statistics and data
management worldwide.
• Special interest in climate variability & climate change.
• Provides training & research support in this area.
• Training to over 400 people from Met. Services, Universities and
research institutes - most from Africa.
• Collaborates with the UK Met Office, and the World Climate
Programme in WMO.
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5. Examples of other projects/programs
on climate change adaptation
has projects on:-
• Understanding the processes that govern the climate variability and
climate change.
• Improving the prediction of climates in the coming decades
• Assessing the impacts of climate change and implications for
Adaptation and Mitigation.
• Capacity building – using historical datasets effectively to assist
end-users in making better decisions.
• SIAC: both e-SIAC and f-SIAC directed primarily at those in Africa
using African climatic data.
• ASARECA Project 2007-2010 (output a Special Edition of Exp. Ag.
Assessing and addressing climate risk in rainfed agriculture in SSA)
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6. Objectives of the Rockefeller
Foundation Grant
The project objectives are four-fold:
1. Provide technical research and training support
• to the eight Climate Change Units in ECA
2. Help develop a regional research programme
• that exploits the synergies between the CCU’s.
3. Facilitate interaction and collaboration
• Between CCU’s and other climate change initiatives in ECA.
4. Appoint and support a Research Fellow
• climate scientist
• two year post based in Nairobi
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7. Key Activities Related to the Grant
during the first year of support (2011)
1. Initial needs assessment - visits completed during by Feb 2011
2. Action plan – develop plan that responds to individual and
collective needs of the eight CCU’s
3. Training - Organize and execute in 2011 a facilitated and tailored e-
learning course and face-to-face training courses.
4. Research assessment - Through a second series of visits during
2011, work with the CCU’s to:-
i. directly respond to some of the identified research support needs.
ii. identify other research initiatives with which the CCU’s could
collaborate with in a regional programme
5. Engagement and communication – Help develop a collaborative
research agenda though a 3 day workshop in Dec. 2011.
6. Recruit the Walker Institute Research Fellow. (Interviews in March
2011)
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8. Highlights on the Progress to date
1. Initial visit to each CCU
• And to the NMS in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
• Discussion on our role and opportunities for support
identified.
2. Two “Back-to-Office” Reports produced
3. Major climate adaptation initiatives identified, including
• CCAFS in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia
• CCIAM in Tanzania
4. ECA climate change literature and information on
Special Edition of J. Exp. Ag. shared with CCU’s.
5. Six candidates shortlisted for the Research Fellow
• Interview in March. 7

9. Role of the Research Fellow
Working closely with other members of the Support Team
The Research Fellow will be responsible for:-
1. Liaising regularly with CCU’s to facilitate collaboration & research.
2. Linking CCU’s with other climate change networks.
3. Assisting with the design & coordination of network meetings.
4. Contributing to reports for journal publication.
5. Developing & disseminating information about the network.
6. Following research progress & recommending areas of new
research.
7. Identifying capacity or research gaps & ways to address them.
8. Monitoring & advising on funding opportunities.
9. Representing the network at selected science & policy fora.
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10. Early Findings
Five themes emerged. They are for:
(i) support for some CCUs, and
(ii) possible regional collaboration.
1. Analysis of historical weather data to characterize
current climate risks and future trends.
2. Adaptation strategies based on evidence derived from
a range of sources.
3. Curriculum development (region-wide?).
4. Improved learning methods to support CCU’s agenda.
5. Crop growth simulation modeling for ex ante analyses.
6. Are there more?
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11. Possible Challenges
Ease of access to high quality long-term daily historical
weather data is important for use in:-
 Climate risk assessment.
 Climate trend analyses.
 Weather driven crop growth simulation models
 (e.g. DSSAT & APSIM).
 The identification and use of climate analogue locations.
 Hence the evaluation of evidence-based adaptation
strategies.
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12. Discussion
• Lessons Learnt and emerging opportunities
• These have been stated in the previous slides
• For discussion during this meeting
• Next steps
• Appointment of research fellow
• Regional training clarified and undertaken
– (discuss with Dar Es Salaam)
• Support started
• Clarified further during this meeting
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13. Emerging Opportunities for Collaboration
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14. Next steps
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