adaptation

Population and reproductive health in National Adaptation Programmes of Action

carol — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:56:23 -0600

By : Clive Mutunga and Karen Hardee

This paper reviews 41 National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) submitted by Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and identifies the range of interventions included in countries’ priority adaptation actions. The review found near-universal recognition among the NAPAs of the importance of population considerations as a central pillar in climate change adaptation.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Dryland opportunities - A new paradigm for people, ecosystems and development

carol — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:55:06 -0600

Drylands cover 41 percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface. The urgency of and international response to climate change have given a new place to drylands in terms both of their vulnerability to predicted climate change impacts and their potential contribution to climate change mitigation. This book aims to apply the new scientific insights on complex dryland systems to practical options for development. A new dryland paradigm is built on the resources and capacities of dryland peoples, on new and emergent economic opportunities, on inward investment, and on the best support that dryland science can offer.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Weathering the Storm: Options for Framing Adaptation and Development Share

carol — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:53:40 -0600

Attempts to clarify the relationship between adaptation and development by analyzing 135 projects, policies, and other initiatives from the developing world that have been labeled by implementers or researchers as "adaptation to climate change." Confusion about the relationship between adaptation and development has meant that funding mechanisms may create redundancies or leave gaps in the landscape of critical adaptation and development activities.

Drawing on Internet resources, Weathering the Storm attempts to clarify this relationship by analyzing 135 projects, policies, and other initiatives from the developing world that have been labeled by implementers or researchers as "adaptation to climate change."

The report analyzes the objectives of initiatives and the strategies utilized in implementation to characterize some of the ways that adaptation and development overlap. A continuum of activities from "pure" development to "pure" climate change is proposed as a conceptual framework to understand when different "development" activities may play an "adaptation" function. Recommendations address governance challenges, funding implications, and next steps in analysis and policy development.

Author: Heather McGray, Anne Hammill, Rob Bradley, with E. Lisa Schipper and Jo-Ellen Parry
November, 2007 ISBN: 978-1-56973-672-2

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Assessing the costs of adaptation to climate change: A review of the UNFCCC and other recent estimates

carol — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:35:56 -0600

The publication warns that the UN negotiations aimed at tackling climate change are based on substantial underestimates of what it will cost to adapt to its impacts. The real costs of adaptation are likely to be 2-3 times greater than estimates made by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Professor Martin Parry, a former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and his co-authors look at the estimates from a range of perspectives, and conclude that:

the current cost assessments do not include some key sectors, such as ecosystems, energy, manufacturing, retailing, and tourism
some of the sectors included have been only partially covered in cost estimates
the additional costs of adaptation have sometimes been calculated as ‘climate mark-ups’ against low levels of assumed investment.

In some parts of the world, low levels of investment have led to an adaptation deficit, and this deficit will need to be made good by full funding of development, without which the funding for adaptation will be insufficient. Residual damages also need to be evaluated and reported because not all damages from climate change can be avoided. There is an urgent need for more detailed assessments of these costs, including case studies of costs of adaptation in specific places and sectors.

This report aims to demonstrate the need for the further and transparent refinement of cost estimates for responding to climate change.

By: Martin Parry, Nigel Arnell, Pam Berry, David Dodman, Samuel Fankhauser, Chris Hope, Sari Kovats, Robert Nicholls, David Sattherwaite, Richard Tiffin, Tim Wheeler

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

AfricaAdapt - Climate Change adapatation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods

KMAadmin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:20:18 -0600

AfricaAdapt is an independent bilingual French/English network focused exclusively on Africa. The Network’s aim is to facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods between researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations and communities who are vulnerable to climate variability and change across the continent.

AfricaAdapt is available on AfricaAdapt Website

KM & the Environment

Launch of the AfricaAdapt Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund for Climate Change

Binetou Diagne — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:47:49 -0600

Hello All,

Please find below an invitation to submit proposals to the AfricaAdapt knowledge sharing innovation fund. We hope to received expressions of interest from practitioners who would like to engage local communities in knowledge sharing about climate change. More details below.

> For English see below the french overview

Lancement du Fond d'Innovation AfricaAdapt pour le Partage de Connaissances

Vous êtes intéressés par l’adaptation aux changements climatiques en Afrique? Sachez que le réseau AfricaAdapt vient d’être lancé et nous vous invitons à devenir membre de notre communauté via le site : Africa-adapt.net. Le réseau AfricaAdapt vous permet de :

Partager de l’information à propos de vous, et de votre organisation, et créer gratuitement une page web pour vos projets
Savoir ce que font les autres acteurs du climat font dans votre région
Discuter avec les membres du réseau qui partagent vos intérêts
Recevoir les dernières nouvelles et les informations sur l’adaptation en Afrique

Postulez au Fond d’Innovation pour le Partage de Connaissances

AfricaAdapt cherche à encourager le partage des connaissances entre chercheurs, décideurs, praticiens et communautés par le biais de son site web et de rencontres entre les acteurs. Le réseau soutient les initiatives de partage de connaissances des communautés marginalisées qui font face aux impacts des changements climatiques en Afrique. Le Fond d’Innovation AfricaAdapt lance un appel à manifestation d’intérêt jusqu’à la date le 1er aout 2009 pour des financements à hauteur de 10.000 dollars US maximum. Pour plus d’informations, consultez le site : Africa-adapt.net. Les initiatives des médias communautaires sont encouragées.

A propos du réseau

AfricaAdapt est un réseau bilingue qui facilite le partage de connaissances sur l’adaptation au changement climatique sur le continent. Il veut améliorer les conditions de subsistance des communautés les plus vulnérables en favorisant la collaboration entre les chercheurs, les décideurs politiques, la société civile et communautés locales.

AfricaAdapt est coordonné par :

ENDA (Environnement et Développement du Tiers-Monde) au Sénégal,
FARA (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa) au Ghana,
ICPAC (IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre) au Kenya et
IDS (Institute of Development Studies) au Royaume-Uni

Le réseau est financé par le Département International du Royaume-Uni (DFID) et le programme Adaptation aux Changements Climatiques en Afrique du Centre de Recherches pour le Développement International (CRDI).

Devenez membre du réseau AfricaAdapt

Vous pouvez facilement vous inscrire et créer des profils de vos projets sur le site www.africa-adapt.net. Si vous avez des questions ou des commentaires, contactez-nous à cette adresse : info@africa-adapt.net et notre équipe vous répondra dès possible.

Au plaisir de vous retrouver sur le réseau AfricaAdapt !

__________________________________________________________________________

Launch of the AfricaAdapt Network and Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund

Are you interested in climate change adaptation in Africa? If so, an exciting new network called AfricaAdapt has just been launched and we invite you to join by registering on our website – www.africa-adapt.net. AfricaAdapt helps you to:

share information about yourself, your organisation, and easily create your own project website for free
learn about what others are doing in your region,
exchange perspectives with people interested in the same topics as you, and
access news and information on adaptation in Africa.

Apply to the Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund

AfricaAdapt aims to help researchers, policymakers, practitioners and communities share knowledge about adaptation both through our website and through face-to-face meetings. To help achieve this, we offer innovation grants to African-based initiatives that seek to address the barriers to knowledge sharing faced by marginalised or “hard to reach” communities affected by climate change. The AfricaAdapt Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund is accepting expressions of interest (deadline August 1st 2009) for grants of up to US$10,000. Full details are available on the AfricaAdapt website at: : Africa-adapt.net. Community media initiatives are encouraged to submit proposals.

About the network

AfricaAdapt is an independent bilingual network (French/English) focused exclusively on Africa. The Network’s aim is to facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods between researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations and communities, who are vulnerable to climate variability and change across Africa.

AfricaAdapt is collaboratively hosted by:

Environment and Development in the Third World (ENDA-TM, Senegal);
the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA, Ghana);
IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC, Kenya); and
Institute of Development Studies (IDS, UK).

The network is funded through the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme.

Registering with the network is easy

Registering and creating project pages is easy on Africa-adapt.net Should you need any help or have any comments, please send an e-mail to info@africa-adapt.net and an AfricaAdapt Knowledge Sharing Officer will respond quickly.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

KM & the Environment