Building adaptive capacity to cope with increasing vulnerability due to climatic change in Africa : a new approach
Date
2008
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Publisher
Elsevier ScienceDirect, Amsterdam, NL
Abstract
The world community faces many risks from climate change, with most scenarios indicating
higher temperatures and more erratic rainfall in Africa. Predictions for southern Africa
suggest a general decrease in total seasonal rainfall, accompanied by more frequent in-season
dry spells that will significantly impact crop and livestock production, and hence economic
growth in the region. The hardest hit will be the rural poor in the drier areas, where crop
failure due to drought is already common and chronic food emergencies afflict the region in
most years. Lessons can be learnt on how the rural poor currently cope with the vagaries of
climate and be used to help them adapt their current production systems to the future threats
of further climate change. But this assumes the institutions that work towards the economic
empowerment of the rural poor have the requisite skills to understand their current coping
strategies and how adaptation can be facilitated. This new initiative led by Midlands State
University and the Zambian Meteorological Office proposes that improving the ability of
institutions that train the ‘Future Change Agents’, who will subsequently support smallholder
communities in adapting their agricultural practices to current climate variability, is the first
step in building adaptive capacity to cope with future climate change. The capacity of African
scientists, regional organizations and decision makers in dealing with the issues of climate
change and adaptation will be enhanced on a continuing basis, and the impacts of their
agricultural development programs improved.
Description
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Journal Article (peer-reviewed)
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Keywords
CLIMATE CHANGE, CAPACITY BUILDING, DROUGHT, VULNERABILITY, ADAPTIVE CAPACITY, COPING STRATEGIES