Review of research and policies for climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa

Synthesis of findings and preliminary assessment of gaps in

research and policy

Lars Otto Naess

Research Fellow, Climate Change Team

Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK

FARA Side Event on Climate Smart Agriculture

Africa Agriculture Science Week, 16 July 2013

Outline of presentation

• Background and assumptions for research-policy linkages

• Synthesis of key messages and research & policy gaps from 12 regional reviews (urban areas, agriculture and health)

• Reflections on findings

Future

CC

impacts

Temp

Precipitation

Seasonality

Variability

Flood

Drought

Landslide

Biological

National &

International

Political

Economy

Power

relations

Environmental

Trends

Debt Crises

Etc

Social

Structures

& Power

Systems

Class

Gender

Ethnicity

Caste

Other power

relationships

Effects on

livelihoods

Infrastructure

Health

Ecosystems

Local

dimensions

1. Livelihood

2 Well-being

3 Individual

protection

4 Collective

Protection

5 Governance

S

O

C

I

A

L

F

R

A

M

E

R

O

O

T

C

A

U

S

E

S

Climate change makes hazards worse

Source: Cannon 2012

Adaptation and development ‘pyramid’

(Sources: DFID; McGray et al. 2007)

Drought resistant crops,

livestock breeds, flood

defences, sea walls

What does ‘enabling research-to-policy linkage for adaptation’ mean?

• Partly depends on approach to policymaking processes

• ‘Traditional’ view: Policymaking as linear process with a clearly defined start and finish – Limited arena for research inputs

Or • A complex, incremental and “messy” process, not

limited to formal process of formal policy formulation and implementation – Multiple entry points or ‘policy spaces’

Policymaking: the ‘traditional’ view

(Source: Wolmer et al. 2006)

What does ‘enabling research-to-policy linkage for adaptation’ mean?

• Partly depends on approach to policymaking processes

• ‘Traditional’ view: Policymaking as linear process with a clearly defined start and finish – Limited arena for research inputs

Or • A complex, incremental and “messy” process, not

limited to formal process of formal policy formulation and implementation – Multiple entry points or ‘policy spaces’

12 regional reviews on

urban areas, agriculture, health

- Some key messages from regional reviews

- Preliminary research & policy gaps

Urban areas: findings - research • Climate change is a major challenge to the

sustainability of urban areas in Africa

• Rapid urbanisation rates leading to increasing numbers of people living in slums on marginal land with high exposure to climate risks

• Infrastructure development and service delivery have not kept pace with urbanisation rates

• Most research on urban adaptation so far on coastal cities

• Evidence of success of urban and peri-urban agriculture (e.g. in Nairobi, Maputo, Dakar) – leading the way?

Urban areas: findings - policy

• So far limited focus on climate change in urban sector policy and planning

• Climate change policies (NAPAs, national climate change strategies) tend to focus on rural areas

• But also emerging lessons, e.g. examples of successful integration of climate change in city strategies in South Africa

Urban areas: key recommendations

• Need for more awareness and focus on rural-urban interconnectedness and migration dynamics

• Need for more proactive urban authorities with improved capacity and ‘downscaled NAPAs’

• Address current limited knowledge exchange and missing areas and spaces for research to policy engagement

• Particular need for research on poorest and most marginalised groups, particularly women and children

Agriculture: findings - research

• Rapidly growing body of evidence on impacts of climate change on agriculture, particularly crop systems

• Increasing evidence of autonomous adaptation by crop farmers, pastoralists and fisherfolk, using local knowledge

• Much adaptation happens despite lack of institutional support, but growing focus around ‘climate-smart’ farming systems

• Impacts of climate change and variability on agriculture is moderated by political, economic and social factors

Agriculture: findings - policy

• Agriculture key focus in NAPAs and national climate change strategies, but so far limited climate change consideration in sector policies

• Growing interest in climate smart agriculture

• A number of factors (political, economic, social) hinder uptake of research evidence

• Some promising examples of integration of local and scientific knowledge (e.g. forecasts for improved agricultural productivity)

Agriculture: key recommendations • Adaptation measures should be tested for contribution to

resilience through the whole food chain from producers to consumers

• Need for further research to field test promising ‘climate smart’ agricultural technologies and practices

• Need to tackle root causes for vulnerability in the agricultural sector such as resource access and property rights, closely linked with gender concerns

• Technology and service delivery gaps highlighted (cultivars, credits, markets, extension, forecasts)

• Need more focus on fisheries and pastoralist systems as compared to crop farming systems

• Need for better coordination and coherence between agriculture and environment ministries

Health: findings - research

• Climate change will increase the disease burden on overstretched health services

• To date, evidence on links between climate change and health limited to a few major diseases (malaria, rift valley fever, meningitis)

• Increasing research on the direct and indirect linkages between climate change and HIV/AIDS

• Increasing focus on climate change and malnutrition

Health: findings - policy

• Adaptation hampered by the health sector in disaster management rather than prevention mode

• Few health and climate change projects implemented despite health being a top priority in NAPAs

• Climate change often not integrated in health sector policies

• So far little policy support for development of epidemic prediction models

Health: key recommendations

• Detection of changes in disease spatial and temporal distribution and the role of climate change in affecting these

• Need to expand the range of diseases that are considered

• Suggested early warning systems for disease prevention

• Need for more inclusion of stakeholders in formulating adaptation policies in the health sector, including the use of local knowledge

Crosscutting issues and reflections

Crosscutting concerns

• Significant overlap in the issues covered • The need to tackle gender issues across all

areas and regions • The key role of water for health, agriculture and

in urban areas • Gaps in research capacity, awareness raising • The need for more resources for research • Need for integration of urban, agriculture and

health concerns both in climate change and sector policies

Crosscutting concerns, cont.

• Needs to strengthen research-policy interaction in several areas – The need for researchers to involve

stakeholders – including policymakers – at the outset and throughout research projects

–Need to expand opportunities for research-policy engagement

– Lack of awareness of climate change challenges, perception of climate change as ‘of the future’ and less pressing than other issues: how prevalent?

Types of gaps: adaptation responses

• Findings highlight the need to cover all areas of the ‘adaptation pyramid’ – None of the areas sufficient on

their own to build resilience

– Technology without structure: issues of access

– Structure without climate change responses: risk of lock-in to vulnerable pathways

– Thus, supporting adaptation means technical solutions as well as structural changes to enable uptake

1. Responses to climate projections

2. Climate information and risk mapping

3. Instruments to reduce vulnerability

4. Addressing the ‘development gap’

The reviews demonstrate - • An increasing knowledge base on how people and societies are

responding to changes • Increasing regional research capacity, signs of emerging best

practice • Need for improved policies in key areas, gaps in research-policy

interface • Need for more resources for research, awareness raising and

capacity strengthening

And also that - • More work is needed on how to ensure that the poorest and most

vulnerable will benefit from climate funding? • Politics of adaptation: actors, interests and outcomes • Who wins, who loses?

Final reflections

Thank you

Further information: l.naess@ids.ac.uk