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Introduction: Climate Volatility and the Poor in Southern and Eastern Africa Will Martin Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 24 February, 2010 Supported by the Trust.

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Presentation on theme: "Introduction: Climate Volatility and the Poor in Southern and Eastern Africa Will Martin Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 24 February, 2010 Supported by the Trust."— Presentation transcript:

1 Introduction: Climate Volatility and the Poor in Southern and Eastern Africa Will Martin Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 24 February, 2010 Supported by the Trust Fund for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development

2 Why are we concerned? The poor in Africa are perhaps the most vulnerable to climate change What are the goals of this project? Understand the likely impacts on Tanzania – Through climate change, crop responses, economic impacts, household responses Consider policy responses to promote resilience

3 Interdisciplinary Research is Challenging!

4 4 Welcome So you need great collaborators!

5 Carbon Emissions Impacts Policy Responses Adaptation Emissions Reduction Financing Natural Systems Human Systems

6 Climate Science Debate Detection: - Little doubt about global warming – despite recent cold weather in N. Hemisphere - Rise in atmospheric CO 2 also unambiguous, as are man-made contributions Attribution: -Much more complex - Making the connection from rising GHG concentrations to global warming/climate change requires a “counterfactual” experiment: what would the temperature be in absence add’l GHGs? - Hence need for climate models Not dissimilar to the problem faced by economists who cannot conduct controlled experiments. E.g., what was the impact of the Uruguay Round on Tanzania?

7 To measure impact of increased GHG releases on climate, calibrate model to track current climate with observed GHG, then run counterfactual without human GHG emissions: What lessons can we learn?

8 Source: IPCC, 2007

9 IPCC 2007: Key Points Africa Among most vulnerable continents to climate change and climate variability – aggravated by the interaction of ‘multiple stresses’, occurring at various levels, and low adaptive capacity. IPCC suggested that agricultural production and food security may be severely compromised – Crop yields likely to fall

10 World Bank Research World Development Report 2010 – 2°C warming by 2050=> 4-5% reduction in annual income per capita in Africa & S. Asia, vs global avg. GDP drop of 1% Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change: – Estimated cost between 2010-50 of adapting to ~2°C warmer world by 2050 = USD 75-100 billion a year – 7 country case studies, incl Ghana, Ethiopia, & Mozambique Development Prospects Group – Emission controls, border tax adjustments, agricultural productivity, distributional impacts Numerous other projects

11 Source: WDR, 2010

12 Key Points Tanzania IPCC (2007) focuses on water sector vulnerability – Interannual lake-level fluctuations and lake-level volatility owing to periods of intense droughts followed by extreme rainfall events especially in late 1997 (e.g., in Lakes Tanganyika, Victoria and Turkana). – Mt. Kilimanjaro (see figure)

13 Source: IPCC, 2007

14 Knowledge Gaps: Climate Volatility & Poverty Lobell et al (2008) and Battisti and Naylor (2009) – Extreme climate events will reduce agricultural output in the tropics & reduce food security in developing countries. – Food insecurity driven by declines in food production Primarily rain-fed agriculture makes Tanzania especially vulnerable – only 2 percent of arable land has irrigation facilities Majority of the poor live in rural areas where agriculture is the dominant economic activity – Poor consumers are very vulnerable to food price rises Few Tanzania-focused analyses of climate impacts on economy or poverty

15 How does this project contribute to filling knowledge gaps? Tanzania focus Focus on climate volatility & extremes Integrated analytical framework: climate volatility-crop modeling-economic simulation High resolution climate modeling for Africa Statistical & simulation based crop response Poverty impacts at global, national, & subnational levels

16 Percentage Change in Intensity of 1 in 30 Year Extreme Dry Spell, 1971-2001 vs 2070-99 Source: Diffenbaugh, forthcoming

17 Precipitation: Averages & Trends Source: Rowhani et al

18 Analytical Framework 18 CLIMATE ANALYSIS STATISTICAL ESTIMATION OF CROP YIELDS GLOBAL ECONOMIC SIMULATION MODEL HOUSEHOLD MODEL GRAIN YIELD PREDICTIONS temperature & precipitation, from General Circulation Models Predicted changes in crop output, current + future climate changes in prices & wages from simulation results POVERTY IMPACTS Parallel biophysical simulation modeling ECONOMIC IMPACTS NATIONAL ECONOMIC SIMULATION MODEL

19 State of Play Fundamental analyses completed – Survey of the relevant literature – Projections of changes in climate & volatility – Estimated crop responses to climate change – Impacts on poverty world wide & in Tanzania – Regional impacts on poverty within Tanzania Your feedback and input sought – Especially on how best to contribute to policy

20 Today’s Presentations 1.Tom Hertel: Review of the science and economics of climate change, agriculture and poverty 2.Syud Amer Ahmed: Global analyses of climate volatility & poverty, adaptation potential of trade 3.Channing Arndt: Impacts of climate change at the regional level in Tanzania


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