Tanzania Country Climate Risk Profile Series, Kilolo District

The agricultural sector in Tanzania has been exposed to high climatic risks for the past several decades (Arce & Caballero, 2015). Experts and farmers assert that climatic risks including unpredictable rainfall, prolonged drought, and increased incidences of pests and diseases have resulted in declining agricultural productivity. Concomitantly, the rivers, streams, soils, and forests from which the rural poor build their livelihoods are on the verge of depletion. The situation has been further exacerbated by unstable commodity prices. Future climatic projections show that the climate trends are likely to worsen in the coming years. For instance, mean annual temperatures in Tanzania are predicted to increase by up to 2.7°C by 2060, and by close to 50% by 2090 (Irish Aid, 2018). Similarly, day and night temperatures are also expected to increase. Rainfall will become increasingly erratic both locally and regionally, with both floods and droughts growing in intensity and frequency. Smallholder farmers have the poorest access to resources such as land tenure, water resources, crop and livestock insurance, financial capital, and markets, and thus are the least risk-resilient. Women farmers in particular suffer systematic discrimination in terms of access to these resources. Women are also culturally expected to execute the most laborious agricultural tasks in addition to their household responsibilities of caregiving, preparing meals, and collecting fuel and water. Meanwhile, men tend to be responsible for tasks involving financial exchange, such as land acquisition, sourcing capital for production, purchasing and applying chemicals, and identifying buyers. This cultural norm is reinforced by the tenure system, which assigns land ownership almost exclusively to men. These factors make women the most vulnerable sub-group of smallholder farmers (Irish Aid, 2018). The national government, donor community, private sector, and development partners have invested in helping households prepare for such climate scenarios. A number of policies, strategies, programmes, and guidelines have been documented with the goal of boosting the adaptation capacity of vulnerable groups. Prominent among these are the National Agricultural Policy (NAP 2013), the National Climate Change Strategy (NCCS 2012), the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA 2007), and the Climate-Smart Agriculture implementation guideline. Despite these efforts, several issues remain unaddressed due to a lack of coordination among relevant actors. The development of a local Climate-Smart Agriculture Profile can support the clarification of roles and crucial points of coordination to assist in this effort. This Kilolo District profile thus underscores the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) investments undertaken by farming households in the region. This profile is an output of the CSA/SuPER project on Upscaling CSA with small scale food producers, organized via the Village Saving and Lending Association (VSLA) Project, and implemented by Cooperative Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE International), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) (now part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT), Sokoine University of Agriculture, and Wageningen University and Research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gather the information herein, in accordance with the methodology employed by Mwongera et al. (2015). Secondary information was collected through an extensive literature review. Primary information was collected from interviews with agricultural experts, farmer focus group discussions, stakeholder workshops, and farmer interviews in Kilolo District. This profile is organized into six major sections based on the analytical steps of the study. The first section describes the contextual importance of agriculture to Kilolo livelihoods and households. The second describes historic and future climatic trends. The third section highlights farmers’ priority value chains. The fourth section addresses the challenges and cross-cutting issues in the sector. The fifth section details climate hazards experienced by farmers, as well as the current and proposed adaptation strategies. Finally, the sixth section outlines the policies related to CSA and the institutions that facilitate implementation of climate change initiatives

Tanzania Country Climate Risk Profile Series, Mufindi District

The agricultural sector in Tanzania is facing high climatic risks. Frequent and severe temperature and precipitation, recurrent droughts and increased incidences of pests and diseases are some of the climate effects that have been observed. Catalyzed with rising input prices and price volatility, there has been a decline in food productivity and farmer incomes. The natural resources that support agricultural production—including rivers and forests—are also degrading due to extreme climate events. Projections indicate that these trends are likely to worsen in the coming decades, with temperatures increasing by nearly 2.7°C by and 4.5°C by 2060 and 2090 respectively (Irish Aid , 2018). At the same time, both day and night temperatures will become more extreme, and precipitation will begin to vary more dramatically by geographic area. Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of their low access to the resources needed to adapt to changing conditions. Among smallholders, women are more vulnerable due to their outsized role in agriculture and the social limitations placed on their decision-making and inclusion. A lack of coordination and information symmetry between stakeholders have prevented the full implementation of policies aimed at mitigating climate change. The government, with the support of development partners, has put in place a number of policies, strategies and guidelines to address climate change. The National Agriculture Policy (2013), National Climate Change Strategy (2012), National Adaptation Programme of Action (2007), and the Climate Smart Agriculture guideline (2007) provide a framework for creating agricultural resiliency in the face of climate change. This Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Profile documents the need for, and adoption of CSA practices at the local level in Mufindi District. This profile is an output of the CSA/SuPER project on Upscaling CSA with Small-Scale Food Producers Organized through Village Savings and Lending Associations (VSLA). The project is implemented by Cooperative Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) International, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) (now part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT), Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), and Wageningen University and Research (WUR). Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gather the information herein, in accordance with the methodology employed by Mwongera et al. (2015). Secondary information was collected through an extensive literature review. Primary information was collected from interviews with agricultural experts, farmer focus group discussions, stakeholder workshops, and farmer interviews in the Mufindi District. This profile is organized into six major sections based on the analytical steps of the study. The first section describes the contextual importance of agriculture to Mufindi livelihoods and households. The second describes historic and future climatic trends. The third section highlights farmers’ priority value chains. The fourth section addresses the challenges and cross-cutting issues in the sector. The fifth section details climate hazards experienced by farmers, as well as the current and proposed adaptation strategies. Finally, the sixth section outlines the policies related to CSA and the institutions that facilitate implementation of climate change initiatives

Nexus of thermal resilience and energy efficiency in buildings: A case study of a nursing home

Extreme weather events become more frequent and severe due to climate change. Although energy efficiency technologies can influence thermal resilience of buildings, they are traditionally studied separately, and their interconnections are rarely quantified. This study developed a methodology of modeling and analysis to provide insights into the nexus of thermal resilience and energy efficiency of buildings. We conducted a case study of a real nursing home in Florida, where 12 patients died during Hurricane Irma in 2017 due to HVAC system power loss, to understand and quantify how passive and active energy efficiency measures (EEMs) can improve thermal resilience to reduce heat-exposure risk of patients. Results show that passive measures of opening windows and doors for natural ventilation, as well as miscellaneous load reduction, are very effective in eliminating the extreme dangerous occasions. However, to maintain safe conditions, active measures such as on-site power generators and thermal storage are also needed. The nursing home was further studied by changing its location to two other cities: San Francisco (mild climate) and Chicago (cold winter and hot summer). Results revealed that the EEMs' impacts on thermal resilience vary significantly by climate and building characteristics. The study also estimated the costs of EEMs to help stakeholders prioritize the measures. Passive measures that may not save energy may greatly improve thermal resilience, and thus should be considered in building design or retrofit. Findings from this study indicate energy efficiency technologies should be evaluated not only by their energy savings performance but also by their influence on a building's resilience to extreme weather events

Energy embodied in household cookery: the missing part of a sustainable food system? Part 2: A life cycle assessment of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding

This paper firstly reviews the current state of knowledge on sustainable cookery and the environmental impacts of the food consumption phase. It then uses the example of a dish of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding to explore energy use in food production and consumption. Part 1 of this paper conducts a meta-analysis of 33 roast beef and Yorkshire pudding recipes in order to create a representative recipe for analysis. Part 2 of this paper then uses life cycle assessment and energy use data is coupled with the representative recipe of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, to calculate the embodied energy of the meal. Seven interventions are modelled to illustrate how sustainable cookery can play a role as part of a sustainable food system. Interventions show that sustainable cookery has the potential to reduce cookery related energy use by 18%, and integrating sustainable cookery within a sustainable food system has the potential to reduce the total energy use by 55%. Finally, the paper discusses the issue of how the adoption of the sustainable cookery agenda may help or hinder attempts to shift consumers towards sustainable diets

Preparing for Climate Impacts: Lessons from the Front Lines

In a synthesis report to The Kresge Foundation, the Georgetown Climate Center shares lessons learned from its adaptation work in recent years. The report includes short case studies highlighting successful efforts as well as barriers to change