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Climate Change and Sustainable Livelihoods Strategies for Building Community Resilience.

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Presentation on theme: "Climate Change and Sustainable Livelihoods Strategies for Building Community Resilience."— Presentation transcript:

1 Climate Change and Sustainable Livelihoods Strategies for Building Community Resilience

2 Session Overview  Conceptual Overview  What can the sustainable livelihoods approach do? Example from India Example from Sudan  Sketch of Sudan Project (AIACC AF14)  Group Discussion: Defining a Research Strategy

3 What does “Sustainable Livelihoods” mean? SL refers to a livelihood that:  can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks,  maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future,  while not undermining the resource base.

4 The Sustainable Livelihoods Connection Poverty Vulnerability to Shocks Vulnerability to Climate Extremes and Climate Change Sustainable Livelihoods Resilience to shocks Climate Change Adaptation

5 What can the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach do?  Enhance a community’s portfolio of “social capital”: composite of natural, physical, financial, technical and human capital  Increase livelihood security  Enhance capacity to cope with climate-related shocks  Build capacity to adapt to climate change

6 Why make the connection to Adaptation? The SL approach helps users to:  Focus on most vulnerable people  Assess their vulnerabilities and strengths  Tap existing knowledge, ongoing efforts to determine what works  Enable community-driven strategies and action; ensure buy-in and longevity  Ultimately… fortify against climate-related shocks

7  Urgent adaptation needs of most vulnerable groups  Existence of local coping strategies  Hard-won lessons from other (non-climate) disciplines (e.g., sustainable livelihoods, disaster mitigation, natural resource management); potential for integration?  No-regrets options and co-benefits  Disconnect between community needs and the policy process Why make the connection to Adaptation?

8 An Example from India:  Context: Poor rural villages in the drought- prone state of Maharashtra  Approach: Micro-catchment Restoration and Community Development  Actors: Local Communities and the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) Image source: http://www.wotr.org/

9 India: What happened? Individual villages undertook a package of SL measures, designed to regenerate and conserve the micro-catchments upon which their community depends: Community Organization Soil, Land and Water Management (e.g., trench building) Crop Management Afforestation; Rural Energy Management (e.g,. tree-felling ban) Livestock Management; Pasture/Fodder Development (e.g, grazing restrictions) Micro-lending for supplemental income generation Human Resource Development

10 India: How did it happen?  Community commitment, investment and control –“Village Self-Help Groups” –Participatory planning, implementation, management, self-assessment –Targeted role for women  Opportunities for livelihood security –Micro-lending; Supplemental income generation –Community self-help groups  Consistency with local land ownership  Support of local NGO (WOTR)  Training and extension services  Blending of “external” and traditional knowledge

11 India: What was the result? Satellite imagery of Shenit Watershed Standard FCC Using IRS 1C LISS III band 2,3,4 data. Date of scan: 19th January 1996. Source: http://www.wotr.org January 1996 Prior to project implementation December 1999 During project implementation

12 India: What was the result? The key outcome has been reduced vulnerability to drought of participating communities As of 2001:  Number of Projects 128  Total Area Covered (ha.) 135,812  No.of Villages 176  No.of NGOs involved 77  No.of Districts 22  Total Population engaged210,000 (approx.) Image source: http://www.wotr.org/

13 An Example from Sudan:  Context: Villages in the drought-prone Bara Province, Western Sudan  Approach: Community-Based Rangeland Rehabilitation  Two main development objectives: Create locally sustainable NRM system to rehabilitate overexploited lands for the purpose of carbon sequestration Reduce the risk of production failure by increasing the number of livelihood alternatives… leading to greater local stability  Key Actors: Villages within Gireigikh rural council, pilot project staff, UNDP/GEF

14 Sudan: What happened? A group of villages undertook a package of SL measures. These included:  Institution Building  Training  Rangeland Rehabilitation Replanting Stabilization of sand dunes Creation of windbreaks Livestock restocking and management  Community Development Water development Rural energy management Introduction of revolving credit Drought contingency planning (Image source: The Near East Foundation, http://www.neareast.org/main/nefnotes)

15 Sudan: How did it happen? Project approach:  Similarities to India case  Community-based participation an essential approach to improving rangeland management  Activities not directly related to carbon sequestration needed Mgmt. plan arises from community assets/needs Address long-term ecological goals with short-term socio- economic (survival) measures

16  Community institutional structure created –land-use master plans; –oversight and mobilization structures  Rangeland rehabilitation measures implemented –5 km of sand dunes re-vegetated –195 km of windbreaks sheltering 130 farms –Approximately 700 ha improved –Livestock restocking  Community development underway –2 revolving funds –5 pastoral women’s groups focused on livestock value-adding activities –5 new irrigated gardens and wells –Grain storage and seed credit program Sudan: What was the result?

17  High impact - Several major objectives exceeded original targets project due to perceived benefits  Positive leakage - additional villages implementing project strategies  Strategies slated for expansion and replication in Province  Effectively combined participatory planning, capacity building and access to credit  Diversified production system and established drought contingency measures Sudan: What was the result? Image source: The Near East Foundation (http://www.neareast.org/main/nefnotes)

18 AIACC Project AF14: Strategies for Increasing Community Resilience in Sudan: Lessons for Climate Change Adaptation  A joint project of the Sudan Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources and SEI-Boston  Project Goal: To contribute to efforts to build the resilience of vulnerable communities to climate change.

19 AF14: Major Objectives  Identify SL and environmental management (EM) strategies that are effective at increasing the resilience of vulnerable communities to climate-related shocks  Assess these in the context of underlying conditions and of climate change  Share lessons for promoting climate change adaptation with the research, planning and policy-making communities

20 AF14: Project Approach The project will look at:  Vulnerable communities within Sudan.  Vulnerability and level of adaptation to current climatic conditions.  Community-based strategies for coping with and adapting to climate-related stressors.  Underlying conditions (socioeconomic, political, ecological) that promote or inhibit these strategies.

21 Want to understand:  what SL/EM strategies can do for a community What measures and strategies used? To what effect?  what factors are needed to support or enable SL/EM strategies What national and local policies, conditions, etc. are behind successful strategies? General steps: –Identify and confirm “successful” SL/EM experiences –Explore the nature of this success – use indicators to determine the way in which the community is resilient –Ask “why?” - what factors/conditions made it possible for strategies to be implemented, to take hold and to persist –Distill lessons on how to build community resilience to climate impacts AF14: Project Approach

22 Developing a Research Strategy 1) Defining Research Goals Key Questions Sample Approach 2) Defining Methodological Approach Key Questions Sample Approach 3) Defining Research Scope Key Questions Sample Approach

23 Developing a Research Strategy (ctd.) 4) Defining Indicators and Data Needs Key Questions Sample Approach 5) Selecting Case Studies Key Questions Sample Approach 6) Developing a Research Protocol Key Questions Sample Approach

24 Using this as a tool in adaptation assessment can help to:  Enable national planning processes to effectively consider the most vulnerable groups; articulate unique local vulnerabilities  Identify locally-relevant resilience-building options  Build understanding of micro- and macro-level enabling conditions for adaptation  Build local adaptation awareness and engage local NGOs (potential adaptation project implementers) Conclusions Tapping the SL Approach: What can it do for adaptation? (Image Source: Global Mechanism for the UNCDD website http://www.gm-unccd.org/English/Activities/Enabling.htm). http://www.gm-unccd.org/English/Activities/Enabling.htm


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