Vulnerability of Peasant Farmers to Climate Variability and Change in Semi-Arid Ethiopia

Vulnerability study identifies the most vulnerable systems, regions, peoples, and the contributing factors to the vulnerability. Vulnerability study in climate change context is crucial to effectively and efficiently reduce the impacts of climate variability and change. This study assessed the vulnerability of peasant farmers to climate variability and change in semi-arid Ethiopia. The semi-arid zone was categorized into southern, central, and northern semi-arid. From each semi-arid zone, sample districts and sample peasant associations were selected respectively by manual lottery and purposive sampling techniques. 396 household surveys, 12 focus group discussions, and rainfall and temperature data were used for analysis. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used as the main analysis technique to construct the vulnerability indices. The central semi-arid zone with the vulnerability index of -3.07 was highly vulnerable at χ²(2) =43.9986, P ≤ 0.05, while the northern semi-arid zone with the vulnerability index of 4.83 was the least vulnerable. The lack of access to a clean drinking water source, main road, and market center were among the factors that contributed to farmers’ vulnerability to climate variability and change in central semi-arid Ethiopia. The lack of access to information, small farmland holding size, and lack of multipurpose trees on the farmland are among the factors that have to be addressed in northern semi-arid even if it is relatively the least vulnerable. The level of farmers’ vulnerability to climate variability and change and the contributing factors to farmers’ vulnerability varies in semi-arid Ethiopia. Vulnerability reduction measures need to be specific to each semi-arid zone and priority needs to be given according to their degree of vulnerability. Keywords: Peasant Farmers, Vulnerability, Climate Change, Semi-Arid Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JEES/10-5-07 Publication date:May 31st 202

Towards adoption of mobile data collection for effective adaptation and climate risk management in Africa

From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-02-15, rev-recd 2022-01-31, accepted 2022-02-28, pub-electronic 2022-05-16Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedFunder: Department for International DevelopmentAbstract: The collection and use of data on climate change and its impacts are crucial for effective climate adaptation and climate risk management. The revolution in internet access, technology and costs has led to a shift from using traditional paper‐based data collection to the use of Mobile Data Collection using Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) such as smartphones and tablets. In this paper, we report our experiences using both approaches for a household and business survey during a climate adaptation study in two Nigerian cities—Makurdi and Calabar. The focus of this paper is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of using traditional paper‐based data collection and PDAs as data collection tools for climate change study in African societies. In Calabar, data were collected using paper questionnaires, while in Makurdi the questionnaires were developed on Open Data Kit (ODK) and administered using PDAs. Results show that data collection using PDA was faster, cheaper, more accurate and resulted in fewer omissions than paper‐based data collection. There was a time saving of four (4) minutes per questionnaire and a 24% cost saving when using PDA. PDA provides additional benefits where platforms can collect images, videos and coordinates. This significantly improved the credibility of the data collection process and provided further data that allowed for the mapping of environmental phenomena by linking survey research with geo‐referenced data in a geographic information systems platform to provide spatial representations of social and environmental system convergence. PDA offers a tool for collecting data that will make necessary socio‐environmental data available in a faster, reliable and cheaper manner; future research can build on this study by discovering other possible but less highlighted benefits of PDA. Although, with great benefits, there are lessons to be learnt and issues to consider when deploying PDA in large‐scale household surveys

Towards adoption of mobile data collection for effective adaptation and climate risk management in Africa

Abstract: The collection and use of data on climate change and its impacts are crucial for effective climate adaptation and climate risk management. The revolution in internet access, technology and costs has led to a shift from using traditional paper‐based data collection to the use of Mobile Data Collection using Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) such as smartphones and tablets. In this paper, we report our experiences using both approaches for a household and business survey during a climate adaptation study in two Nigerian cities—Makurdi and Calabar. The focus of this paper is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of using traditional paper‐based data collection and PDAs as data collection tools for climate change study in African societies. In Calabar, data were collected using paper questionnaires, while in Makurdi the questionnaires were developed on Open Data Kit (ODK) and administered using PDAs. Results show that data collection using PDA was faster, cheaper, more accurate and resulted in fewer omissions than paper‐based data collection. There was a time saving of four (4) minutes per questionnaire and a 24% cost saving when using PDA. PDA provides additional benefits where platforms can collect images, videos and coordinates. This significantly improved the credibility of the data collection process and provided further data that allowed for the mapping of environmental phenomena by linking survey research with geo‐referenced data in a geographic information systems platform to provide spatial representations of social and environmental system convergence. PDA offers a tool for collecting data that will make necessary socio‐environmental data available in a faster, reliable and cheaper manner; future research can build on this study by discovering other possible but less highlighted benefits of PDA. Although, with great benefits, there are lessons to be learnt and issues to consider when deploying PDA in large‐scale household surveys

Intangible Cultural Heritage, Diverse Knowledge Systems and Climate Change

Human cultural diversity is reflected in many different ways of knowing, being, and doing, each with specific histories, positionalities, and connections to ecosystems, landscapes, and the world. Such diversity results in plural knowledge systems. This white paper describes the characteristics and complexity of knowledge systems in the context of climate change. It notes the deficiencies of action to date on climate change, which has largely rested on scientific knowledge, and discusses the importance of drawing on other knowledge systems, particularly Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge. This paper synthesises evidence highlighting that Indigenous knowledge systems and local knowledge systems are dynamic, contemporary, and actively applied worldwide. Although Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge systems continue to be politically marginalised, the recognition of their role in climate governance is essential. We consider plural knowledge systems and the interactions and potential collaborations between them, with a goal of informing how they can most constructively, equitably, and inclusively be conceptualised and addressed when discussing and generating knowledge about and responses to climate change

Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research

We argue that solutions-based research must avoid treating climate change as a merely technical problem, recognizing instead that it is symptomatic of the history of European and North American colonialism. It must therefore be addressed by decolonizing the research process and transforming relations between scientific expertise and the knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples and of local communities. Partnership across diverse knowledge systems can be a path to transformative change only if those systems are respected in their entirety, as indivisible cultural wholes of knowledge, practices, values and worldviews. This argument grounds our specific recommendations for governance at the local, national, and international scales. As concrete mechanisms to guide collaboration across knowledge systems, we propose a set of instruments based on the principles of consent, intellectual and cultural autonomy, and justice. We recommend these instruments as tools to ensure that collaborations across knowledge systems embody just partnerships in support of a decolonial transformation of relations between human communities and between humanity and the more-than-human world

IPCC’s sixth assessment report : impacts, adaptation options and investment areas for a climate-resilient Central Africa

Version française disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI : Sixième rapport d’évaluation du GIEC : impacts, options d’adaptation et domaines d’investissement pour une Afrique centrale résiliente au changement climatiqueCDKN – with the African Climate and Development Initiative, SouthSouthNorth and ODI – has launched a new series of factsheets that distil data, trends and analysis from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report most relevant to Africa’s five sub-regions: Central Africa, East Africa, North Africa, southern Africa and West Africa. This in response to demand expressed by our partners in Africa for more country and sub-regional information.Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the NetherlandsUK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO

Sixième rapport d’évaluation du GIEC : impacts, options d’adaptation et domaines d’investissement pour une Afrique de l’Ouest résiliente au changement climatique

Version anglaise disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI : IPCC’s sixth assessment report : impacts, adaptation options and investment areas for a climate-resilient West AfricaMinistère des Affaires étrangères des Pays-BasBureau des affaires étrangères et du Commonwealth (FCDO) du Royaume-Un

IPCC’s sixth assessment report : impacts, adaptation options and investment areas for a climate-resilient West Africa

Version française disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI : Sixième rapport d’évaluation du GIEC : impacts, options d’adaptation et domaines d’investissement pour une Afrique de l’Ouest résiliente au changement climatiqueCDKN – with the African Climate and Development Initiative, SouthSouthNorth and ODI – has launched a new series of factsheets that distil data, trends and analysis from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report most relevant to Africa’s five sub-regions: Central Africa, East Africa, North Africa, southern Africa and West Africa. This in response to demand expressed by our partners in Africa for more country and sub-regional information.Ministère des Affaires étrangères des Pays-BasUK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO