Climate Change

The debate on whether climate change will impact on peoples’ livelihoods and, hence, the need to act is essentially over and has instead shifted to the development of strategies needed by different regions and countries to adapt to climate change effects. However, there is still scanty information necessary to ably address climate change related issues. There is a considerable knowledge gap with respect to climate change impact, vulnerability and adaptation to increased climate variability and change.

Obtaining relevant and reliable data is the first step in addressing any environmental problem, with global climate change being no exception. In considering next steps in the international effort against climate change, policymakers and stakeholders are confronted by a wealth of data on everything from century-old emission trends to likely economic growth decades into the future.

This summary provides an overview of the report on Climate Change, Disaster Risk, and the  Urban Poor: Cities Building Resilience for a Changing World. It is part of a broader effort under the Mayors’ Task Force on Climate Change, Disaster Risk and the Urban Poor that was launched at the Mayors’ Summit in Copenhagen in 2009. The Task Force is comprised of the Mayors of Dar es Salaam, Jakarta, Mexico City and São Paulo who have recognized the importance of these issues in their cities and demonstrated strong support.

In most of African countries whose economy  is heavily depending on rainfed agriculture, accurate estimation of the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall and observing its trends are crucial input parameters for securing sustainable agricultural production. This paper examines the  spatial and temporal  rainfall characteristics of Amhara Region, Ethiopia; using standard rainfall statistical descriptors. For this purpose, 10 meteorological stations with 30 years of daily rainfall data have been used. Variations of rainfall were found in every month in all stations.

Compared to some neighboring countries, Senegal has a relatively low child mobility rate. Yet, concern has been raised about girls who work as domestic servants and boys who leave to study the Koran within informal structures. This report presents information about their numbers and the reasons why they leave their homes. Shocks related to climatic conditions like drought, irregular rainfall, animal disease and locust are especially explored as reasons behind child mobility.

This paper examines climate adaptation strategies of farmers in the Limpopo Basin of South Africa. Survey results show that while many farmers noticed long-term changes in temperature and precipitation, most could not take remedial action. Lack of access to credit and water were cited as the main factors inhibiting adaptation. Common adaptation responses reported included diversifying crops, changing varieties and planting dates, using irrigation, and supplementing livestock feed.

The present study employed the Heckman sample selection model to analyse the two- step process of adaptation to climate change, which initially requires farmers' perception that climate is changing prior to responding to changes through adaptation. Farmers' perception of climate change was significantly related to the age of the head of the household, wealth, knowledge of climate change, social capital and agro-ecological settings.

This study identifies the major methods used by farmers to adapt to climate change in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia, the factors that affect their choice of method, and the barriers to adaptation. The methods identified include use of different crop varieties, tree planting, soil conservation, early and late planting, and irrigation.