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Author: Tim Magee

7 Years of Extreme Weather in Granada Increases Malnutrition & Poverty

Meredith Waters (US) and Gillian Primus (Grenada) have been working for the past six months on a project on the Island of Grenada that has been hit by a series of tropical hurricanes and tropical storms exhibiting increased ferocity over the past seven years.

1.   Meteorological Data

Most recently, they have investigated meteorological data to see if there have been measurable changes in weather, and long-term weather forecasting to see how climate change may be affecting the island. 
They then conducted a survey with community members to better understand local knowledge of climate conditions—and also coping strategies that these community members have adopted.
2.   Local Knowledge.
They then compared the local knowledge with the scientific knowledge and found substantial similarities. With this new understanding they then fine tuned their project outline to best meet both climate variability and community need.


Here are their conclusions:
Accurately define local CC context and programming.
100 subsistence farm families in the parish of St. Patrick’s (which is considered the food basket of the nation) of Grenada, are suffering from losses of and reduced crop harvests due to extreme weather, an unpredictable rainy season, and extended periods of drought. This is leading to a reduction of food security, increased malnutrition, and increased poverty.

A community-based adaptation program will improve crop harvests through a farmer soil & water conservation program, and through a farmer extension program designed to incorporate drought resistant farming techniques and crops into subsistence farms. This will increase the levels of food security, and decrease the levels of malnutrition and increase farm incomes.

Meteorological research
Research from last week revealed long-term CC challenges over the next 40 years. Scientists are expecting a median temperature increase of 3.0° C, a decrease in precipitation of 9%, and the reduction of surface water of between 10% and 50%. Without adaptation measures, these complications will lead to an expansion of semi arid areas, a further reduction in food production, higher food prices, and less water for agricultural irrigation — contributing to an even greater reduction in food security and an increase in malnutrition and extreme poverty.

Results of community survey
A. Historical Timeline: is the community seeing a change in climate?
—Change in the timing of the planting seasons for a lot of crop varieties; it seems to be starting later and ending earlier
—Drought; prolonged periods of dry spells in the middle of the rainy season
—Shorter duration of rainfall, but heavier in impact in the rainy season
—Unpredictable rainfall during the rainy season
—Two major hurricanes, several extreme tropical storms and one year duration of severe drought for the 10 year period

The extreme weather events were noticeable from eleven years ago, but major observation began 7 years ago in 2004 with hurricanes ‘Ivan’ which was followed in 2005 by Hurricane “Emily” and since then these have been followed annually by tropical storms.

B. Vulnerability Matrix: What is a prioritization of the community’s greatest hazards they face?
—Change in the timing of the planting seasons for a lot of crop varieties; it seems to be starting later and ending earlier
—Drought; prolonged periods of dry spells in the middle of the rainy season
—Shorter duration of rainfall, but heavier in impact in the rainy season
—Unpredictable rainfall during the rainy season

C. Vulnerability Matrix: What parts of their lives (livelihood resources) are the most vulnerable?
These would be the elements in the vertical column of the vulnerability matrix and may include:
—Food Security
—Income Generation
—Proper nutrition for their families

Compare your project outline to new information that you may have learned that the workshop.
Original Project Outline:
Health and Hygiene Program [Solution to underlying cause: little knowledge of health and hygiene]:
Family garden and nutrition program [Solution to underlying causes: little knowledge of nutrition and shortage of food reserves]:

CBA program related to climate variability.
Farmer Soil Conservation and Water Conservation and Management Program [Solution to underlying causes: Climate variability, extreme weather, and unpredictable rainy season have reduced crop harvests]:

New program related to climate change added to outline
Farmer Extension Program [Solution to underlying causes: Unpredictable/late start to rainy season; mid-season drought/early end to rainy season have reduced crop harvests.]

Download the two completed reports here:
1. Community Survey Workshop

2. Combining Local Knowledge with Meteorilogical Data
 
What’s happening in the region where you live?
Please write us with your stories, thoughts and comments through Online.Learning@csd-i.org or post them at our Facebook Page, or on the Center’s Blog.
 
Be sure to visit CSDi’s Development Community. Join 600 colleagues in sharing resources & collaborating online.

 
Like us: CSDi Facebook.
 
I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Sincerely,
 
Tim Magee, Executive Director
 
Would you like to subscribe to this newsletter?
 
The Center for Sustainable Development specializes in providing sound, evidence-based information, tools and training for humanitarian development professionals worldwide. CSDi is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
 
 
We are pleased to draw your attention to a new Guide released by UNDP-UNEP. This guide provides practical, step-by-step guidance on how governments and other national actors can mainstream climate change adaptation into national development planning as part of broader mainstreaming efforts.

Water & Climate Change News | Rainwater Harvesting Mexico | Kenyan Villagers: 4% of Water of Canadians | Tanzania Drought & Flood

November
Water & Climate Change News
Center for Sustainable Development 
 
THIS MONTH’S NEWS
1. Families in Kenyan Village Have 4% of the Water as do Canadian Families
Maggie Muthui of Kenya, and Erin Watson of Canada—developed this project over the course of four months to protect the village spring and distribute fresh water into the Kenyan village of Lita.
 
Due to a lack of adequate water resources, the community of Lita suffers from many problems including a lack of food security, poor hygiene, and increased risk of disease.
500 households require a minimum of 80 liters of water per day for drinking, washing, and cooking. That’s 13.3 L per person per day as compared to the 329 L currently used by the average Canadian! The project will help protect the one remaining natural spring in Lita allowing families access a safe source of drinking water.
2.  36% Water Shortage in Mexico City: Rainwater Harvesting Solution
36% of families in Mexico City do not have adequate access to water for bathing, washing dishes or clothes, or flushing toilets.

CSDi Partner David Vargas began the process of developing a project to help 550 families in Mexico City gain access to water through a rooftop rainwater harvesting project.

Rainwater harvesting systems provide families with about 50% of their water demand.  David’s program trains & pays local plumbers to install the systems. They buy all materials locally to support the local economy & ensure that families can maintain systems easily on their own.  The systems provide families access to clean water while enhancing their economic situation & quality of life.
Chris Enns & Catalina Gheorghe are doing a community-based adaptation to climate change project in Wagete village, Tanzania, impacting 4,000 villagers. Their project is a ‘mainstreamed’ project—they are incorporating adaptation to climate change activities into a traditional rural development project.
 
For the traditional development portion of their project they have a healthcare & education component— and for adaptation—a  water conservation and management program. Detailed project outline & great photos at link.

They’ve been determining their risks and vulnerabilities to climate change by combining scientific data with local community knowledge. Chris and the community developed a list of local resources, hazard maps, a seasonal calendar & a historical timeline.
 
Drought and Flood. The facilitator asked group members to rank the vulnerability of each identified resource from each of the identified hazard. Drought and flood ranked as the highest hazards to livelihood resources. See the livelihood/hazard results matrix link above.
Matt produced this excellent short documentary addressing the impacts of climate change on water resources in Mauritius, an island in the Western Indian Ocean, and how people are beginning to respond.
 
Too much rain in May and drought conditions in November negatively affect farmers with both extremes. Rainfall is down 10 % but the intensity has increased. 50% of water stored in reservoirs is lost to leaks. The film shows us how having supplies of water resources and managing them are 2 different things.
Prem Goolaup, of the island state of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, has been developing a community based adaptation project for the past eight months. At times the farmers suffer from drought—at other times flooding.The adaptation components of his project include a Water Management Program.
 

 He’s using a participatory mapping technique to not only learn more about the specific challenges the farmers face, but by including farmers in the research and drawing of the map, they are better understanding their current challenges and also developing a sense of ownership for the project. 
What is a prioritization of the community’s greatest hazards they face?
  •     Unpredictable rainfall during the rainy season makes it difficult for farmers to plan cropping
  •     Drought has caused livestock deaths and crop failures or low crop yields
  •     Intense sunshine coupled with decreased rainfall causes crops to wilt or ripen early (coconut, banana, cashew nut)
  •     Unusually heavy rainfall causes pit latrines to overflow and contaminate drinking water increasing diarrhea
  •     Shortage of household water

  Farmer adaptation strategies include:
  •     Getting more organic matter into their soil to better hold water
  •     Using mulches to reduce evaporative loss
  •     Water conservation techniques
  •     Water management techniques during periods of heavy rain and flooding 
  •     Drought resistant and early maturing crops varieties
  •     Techniques for protecting young plants during torrential rains and flooding
6. 300 Hands-On Field Activities for Community Based Adaptation Projects: Water is the Underlying Theme
I am announcing an updated  compilation of Community Based Adaptation Field Activities—complete with links to source materials and technical information.
 
This collection of 300 CBA field activities began as a resource for our CBA online students.
However, as it grew, we decided that it was important to make it more broadly available to CBA development practitioners.

 
Water is a key component in each of the following categories.

Here are how the activities are organized:

1. Agriculture and water.
2. Small island developing states.
3. Emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction.
4. Energy.
5. Livelihood.
6. Health & sanitation.
7. CBA project design.
8. CBA participatory inclusion.
9. Long-term investments.
10. General resources.
7. Help Scale Up Project Successes: Help Us Increase Impact to 200,000 Beneficiaries by December 31.
Help us to scale-up these impacted-oriented courses and their resulting projects. In the courses’ first 21 months people from 500 organizations in 153 countries have developed and are developing projects impacting 400,000 people. Help us scale up the reach of our courses so that a much greater number of students can begin projects and increase this impact to 500,000 people by year’s end.
 
HOW: NETWORKING.
Please spread the word about our courses to your friends/colleagues through your blog, your newsletter or your Facebook page—or by ‘liking’ & commenting on this post on our Facebook Page. Consider making a scholarship donation for field staff who can’t afford course fees.

To learn about other student projects in real time, please visit our Facebook Page; or visit the  CSDi Development Community to see their regular postings—and join 600 colleagues in sharing resources & collaborating online.

 
Visit Online Learning to see a full listing of Winter Quarter Community Based Adaptation courses that begin in January 2012.
What’s happening in the region where you live?
Please write us with your stories, thoughts and comments through Online.Learning@csd-i.org or post them at our Facebook Page, or on the Center’s Blog.
 
Like us: CSDi Facebook.
 
I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Sincerely,
 
Tim Magee, Executive Director
 
Would you like to subscribe to this newsletter?
 
The Center for Sustainable Development specializes in providing sound, evidence-based information, tools and training for humanitarian development professionals worldwide. CSDi is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
 

CBA Climate Change News | 300 CBA Actions | Vulnerability-Tanzania | Risk Maps Mauritius | Farmers-Guatemala

Also: Climate Change Study in Injustice | Indigenous Knowledge | Mainstreaming
November
Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change Newsletter
Center for Sustainable Development 
 
THIS MONTH’S NEWS
1.  300 Hands-On Field Activities for Community Based Adaptation Projects: Updated

I am announcing an updated  compilation of Community Based Adaptation Field Activities—complete with links to source materials and technical information. This collection of 300 CBA field activities began as a resource for our CBA online students.
However, as it grew, we decided that it was important to make it more broadly available to CBA development practitioners. Here are how the activities are organized:
1. Agriculture.
2. Small island developing states.
3. Emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction.
4. Energy.
5. Livelihood.
6. Health & sanitation.
7. CBA project design.
8. CBA participatory inclusion.
9. Long-term investments.
10. General resources.
2.  Is Climate Change Affecting Farmers in Your Country? It is in Guatemala.
Each week I hear about subsistence farmers affected by extended drought, rainy seasons beginning late and ending early, too much rain at the wrong time, and extreme weather events destroying crops. But a trip to a coffee farm in Guatemala brought this reality home to me.
My farmer friend Sergio told me that in the past, it rained from May 15 until October 15 every year. For the past few years, the rains have been less predictable and when it does rain—the the rains come with a high intensity and an excess of water—a perfect formula for a fungus locally called “Ojo de Gallo” which causes the coffee plants to drop both leaves and fruit. 2010 coffee production in Guatemala was down 20% because of this fungus.
Sergio’s farm has recently experienced two major hurricanes: Stan and Agatha. Agatha, in 2010, dumped 50 inches of rain on his farm in a 36 hour period.
3. Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation: A Guide for Practitioners
Climate change adaptation is an area of growing concern for many developing countries. Increasingly, countries are coming to realize that, in the long term, climate change adaptation needs to be supported by an integrated, cross-cutting approach.
We are pleased to draw your attention to a new Guide released by UNDP-UNEP. This guide provides practical, step-by-step guidance on how governments and other national actors can mainstream climate change adaptation into national development planning as part of broader mainstreaming efforts.
4. Climate Change Risk & Vulnerability in a Remote Tanzanian Village
Chris Enns & Catalina Gheorghe are doing a community-based adaptation to climate change project in Wagete village, Tanzania, impacting 4,000 villagers. Their project is a ‘mainstreamed’ project—they are incorporating adaptation to climate change activities into a traditional rural development project. 
They have a healthcare & education component— and for adaptation—a soil and water conservation program, and a farmer extension program. Detailed project outline & great photos at link. They’ve been determining their risks and vulnerabilities to climate change by combining scientific data with local community knowledge. Chris and the community developed a list of local resources, hazard maps, a seasonal calendar & a historical timeline.
5. CC Study in Injustice: 10 Million Additional African Children Malnourished by 2050
The World Food Program estimate that globally, 10-20 percent more people will be at risk of hunger by 2050 than would be without climate change. Of these, almost all will be in developing countries, with 65 percent expected to be in Africa. This has severe implications for nutrition, particularly for children.
In sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that 10 million more children will be malnourished as a result of climate change.
Prem Goolaup, of the island state of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, has been developing a community based adaptation project for the past eight months. The adaptation components of his project include a Soil Restoration and Water Management Program. 
 He’s using a participatory mapping technique to not only learn more about the specific challenges the farmers face, but by including farmers in the research and drawing of the map, they are better understanding their current challenges and also developing a sense of ownership for the project.
7. Do you think that local/indigenous knowledge should be incorporated into adaptation to climate change projects?
Last week, Stephen Oluoch met again with his target community to gain a better understanding of their knowledge of climate change, challenges that they are experiencing attributable to climate change, and activities that they have begun on their own using indigenous knowledge to adapt to their changing situation. 

Here is one list that resulted from this participatory exercise:

Vulnerability Matrix 1: What is a prioritization of the community’s greatest hazards they face?

  • Unpredictable rainfall during the rainy season makes it difficult for farmers to plan cropping
  • Drought has caused livestock deaths and crop failures or low crop yields
  • Intense sunshine coupled with decreased rainfall causes crops to wilt or ripen early (coconut, banana, and cashew nut)
  • High temperatures causes people to sleep out in the open or with windows opened which increases malaria incidences
  • Unusually heavy rainfall causes pit latrines to overflow and contaminate drinking water increasing diarrhea
  • Shortage of household water
We’ve trained development professionals from 500 organizations in 153 countries to develop projects impacting over 400,000 people. Student projects have utilized 270 different kinds of solution-oriented activities to address community need. Scan the list to see which would work best for your project.
 
We look forward to working with you in our training programs.
 
Sincerely,
 
Tim Magee, Executive Director
 
Tim Magee is the author of A Field Guide to Community Based Adaptation published by Routledge, Oxford, England.
 
Like us: CSDi Facebook.
Learn more about design and implementing Community Based Development Projects.
 
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If you have a question don’t hesitate to contact us at: Online.Learning@csd-i.org.
 
The Center for Sustainable Development specializes in providing sound, evidence-based information, tools and training for humanitarian development professionals worldwide. CSDi is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.