Transcript National Communications Support Programme Global Environment

Assessing and enhancing
project impacts on local
adaptive capacity
Experiences from Mali and
Bangladesh
Aliou Faye (IUCN Mali) & Abdul Quddus, IC Bangladesh
Adaptation Day (Montreal, December 2005)
Project Summary
Project
Aim:
To strengthen the capacity of vulnerable communities to cope with
climate-related disasters and adapt to climate change through
ecosystem management and restoration (EM&R) or sustainable
livelihoods (SL) activities.
Partners:
IUCN, IISD, SEI-B, InterCooperation
Funded by:
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Duration:
2001 – 2005 (with possibility for extending)
Structure:
Project Team members from each partner institution
Secretariat based in IISD’s European Office in Geneva
Phase One: research & communications
Phase Two: facilitating adaptation – tools
Phase Three (proposed): Capacity building, adaptation monitoring
Approach:
a) Starting point of adaptation: Reducing current vulnerabilities
b) Emphasis on locally-driven, bottom-up approaches to adaptation
that complement efforts at national and international levels;
c) Adaptation should be based on peoples’ livelihoods
d) Given the importance of environmental resources and services to
vulnerable peoples’ livelihoods, adaptation must incorporate EM&R
CRISTAL
(Community-based Risk Screening Tool –
Adaptation & Livelihoods)
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Rationale:
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Community-level projects may improve adaptive capacity or constrain it
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Also, project planners and managers can introduce activities that are neutral
where they could have a positive effect
Purpose:
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Help users to systematically understand the links between livelihoods and
climate
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Enable users to assess a project’s impact on community-level adaptive
capacity
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Assist users in making project adjustments to improve its impact on adaptive
capacity
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User: Community-level project planners and managers
FORMAT: Hardcopy & CD-Rom
2.
3.
4.
Set the climate context: Identify impacts of
current climate hazards and climate change in
the project area, including strategies for
coping with these impacts;
Set the livelihood context: Identify
resources needed to help people conduct
their livelihoods, flagging those that are
strongly affected by climate stress and
important to coping strategies;
Screen project activities: Assess how
project activities affect the availability and
access to key livelihood resources that are
strongly affected by climate stress and/or
central to coping strategies; and
Manage climate risk: Adjust project to
increase opportunities to enhance availability /
access to key resources, and activities that
undermine availability / access are adjusted
Set the climate
context
Stakeholder perspectives
1.
Set the livelihoods
context
Screen project
activities
Adjust project
activities to manage
climate risks
Summary project
profile
Project planner/manager perspectives
DESIGN:
Mali: Background
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Located in Sahelian
zone, West Africa: 60%
arid and desert
Facing recurrent
drought, occasional
flood, deforestation and
desertification
80% people depend on
agriculture/ rural sector
Mali test: PAGEIT (Projet d’Appui à la Gestion des
Écosystèmes Inondables dans le Delta Intérieur du Niger)
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IUCN project working in wetland
area in the north of Mali (started
in 2004, funded by
Netherlands, Sweden)
For sustainable livelihood
improvement through
decentralised natural resources
management
Project activities include:
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Rehabilitation of channels,
wetland forest restoration and
conservation,
Awareness raising on endangered
species,
Improving local resources
management rules
Results of Mali Test
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Project activities generally
improving people’s adaptive
capacity – through equitable
access to, and better
management of, natural
resources
A couple of negative impacts
identified (rehabilitation of
channels affecting roads;
protection of hippo affecting
movement of boats)
Project activities with
negative impacts adjusted
(construction of bridges,
boating outside demarcated
hippo habitats
Bangladesh: Background
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Located in the north-eastern side
of South Asia bordering the Bay
of Bengal; mostly low-lying and
full of rivers and wetlands; 44%
people are poor; depends
significantly on agriculture
Various natural calamities
(floods, drought; tropical cyclone;
hailstorms, risk of earthquake)
with increasing frequency
Sea level rise is a great concern
for coastal areas; upward
movement of salinity is already
experienced
Bangladesh Tests: 3 Projects
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Livelihoods, Empowerment and Agroforestry Project (LEAF) – funded by
SDC and implemented by Intercooperation through 20 local NGOs
 Poverty alleviation project; follows sustainable rural livelihoods and value
chain management approaches.
 Activities include institutional development of community based
organizations; skills development in NRM and other income generating
activities; gender mainstreaming; farmers’ marketing extension
Gorai River Restoration Project – funded by Netherlands Govt,
implemented by Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB)
 To prevent environmental degradation in the Southwest region
 Activities include river dredging and other engineering devices of water
flow regulation in Gorai river (main branch river of the Ganges)
Southwest Area Integrated Water Resources Management Project funded by ADB, Netherlands Govt, Japan, GOB, implemented by BWDB
 Livelihood improvement and economic growth through participatory
management of flood control drainage (FCD) systems
 Activities include participatory management of water management
facilities as well as livelihood improvement activities (vegetable and fruit
growing, agro-processing, livestock rearing, handicrafts making and better
marketing)
Results of Bangladesh Tests
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LEAF activities generally
improving people’s adaptive
capacity – by diversifying
sources of income; creating
access to resources, markets
and services; and improving
social capital
SAIWRM Project had some
potential negative impacts on
adaptive capacity (e.g. land
acquisition, resettlement)
Participants gave useful
feedback on the tool
(suggesting simplifications)
Lessons-learned from field testing
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CRISTAL raises awareness on climate change issues
Provides an entry point for discussing observations of
climate variability and the impacts of climate change
Specifically, it demonstrates the links between climate
change, people’s livelihoods and potential impacts of
project activities on peoples’ adaptive capacities
It is useful in improving project designs
Participatory project analysis and adjustments, using the
tool, improves people’s participation in the project
activities
The tool needs certain refinement
Next Steps
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Tool currently being revised based feedback from
internal review and field tests
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Revised versions will be tested on IUCN and
Intercooperation SL/NRM projects Tanzania and
C. America (Nicaragua or Honduras)
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Results will feed into ‘final’ hardcopy and CDRom versions of the tool, available in mid-2006
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Tool will form basis of capacity building and field
implementation phase of project, and will
continue to be revised/updated as needed