Climate change adaptation planning and cross-sectoral policy coherence in southern Africa

The post-2015 development agenda requires policy coherence, where achievement of development goals in one sector does not undermine the achievement of the goals of another. It also recognises that cross-cutting issues like adaptation to climate change need to be mainstreamed across multiple sectors. This paper presents a policy analysis using the cases of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. It analyses the water management and agricultural strategies and approaches identified in a variety of policies and plans. These include national sector policies for water and agriculture, National Development Plans, and climate change policies and strategies, including National Adaptation Programmes of Action and the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions submitted prior to the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties. It assesses the extent to which policies are coherent with one another with regard to their treatment of climate change adaptation using Qualitative Document Analysis. Findings identify that sector policies show some degree of cross-thematic coherence, in particular around their acknowledgement of the importance to address disaster management of floods and droughts. However, policy statements are typified by a relative lack of recognition of the need to develop supporting instruments and strategies that address climate adaptation needs over longer timeframes. Climate change policies explicitly call for significant investment in adaptation from the international community. Where coherence between sector and climate policies and strategies is strongest, the more recent climate policies largely repackage existing sectoral policy statements. These findings can be understood in the context of the uncertainty of climate change impacts for the longer term (for which a wider variety of adaptations are identified), alongside more event-driven disaster management planning where the impacts are more immediate and obviously evident. This prioritisation is also linked to development needs and the short-term nature of political cycles and economic gain. For climate-resilient policy decision-making to make further headway, we argue that governments need to embrace cross-sectoral planning more pro- actively in order to foster greater policy coherence and to deliver more climate resilient agriculture and water management

Climate Science, Development Practice, and Policy Interactions in Dryland Agroecological Systems

The literature on drought, livelihoods, and poverty suggests that dryland residents are especially vulnerable to climate change. However, assessing this vulnerability and sharing lessons between dryland communities on how to reduce vulnerability has proven difficult because of multiple definitions of vulnerability, complexities in quantification, and the temporal and spatial variability inherent in dryland agroecological systems. In this closing editorial, we review how we have addressed these challenges through a series of structured, multiscale, and interdisciplinary vulnerability assessment case studies from drylands in West Africa, southern Africa, Mediterranean Europe, Asia, and Latin America. These case studies adopt a common vulnerability framework but employ different approaches to measuring and assessing vulnerability. By comparing methods and results across these cases, we draw out the following key lessons: (1) Our studies show the utility of using consistent conceptual frameworks for vulnerability assessments even when quite different methodological approaches are taken; (2) Utilizing narratives and scenarios to capture the dynamics of dryland agroecological systems shows that vulnerability to climate change may depend more on access to financial, political, and institutional assets than to exposure to environmental change; (3) Our analysis shows that although the results of quantitative models seem authoritative, they may be treated too literally as predictions of the future by policy makers looking for evidence to support different strategies. In conclusion, we acknowledge there is a healthy tension between bottom-up/ qualitative/place-based approaches and top-down/quantitative/generalizable approaches, and we encourage researchers from different disciplines with different disciplinary languages, to talk, collaborate, and engage effectively with each other and with stakeholders at all levels

Policy Integration and Coherence for Conservation Agriculture Initiatives in Malawi

In sub-Saharan Africa, development and dissemination of perceived new agricultural innovations dominate the development agenda yet hunger and poverty remain widespread. A conducive policy environment is essential to support these efforts. Despite that national policies are a critical component in the functioning of an agricultural innovation system, studies have often overlooked their relevance in farmers’ adoption of agricultural innovations. There is an urgent need to enhance understanding of how policies affect long-term adoption of agricultural innovations aimed at increasing productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers. This study utilises thematic content analysis to examine the extent of integration of Conservation Agriculture (CA) and coherence in Malawi’s national agricultural policies, and their implication for CA adoption among smallholder farmers. Results indicate that inadequate integration of CA in the National Agricultural Policy (NAP), coupled with a lack of coherence of agricultural department policies, undermines farmers’ CA adoption. While inadequate integration constrains resource allocation for supporting CA activities, lack of coherence of agricultural policies radiates conflicting and confusing agricultural extension messages to smallholder farmers. We argue that inadequate CA integration and incoherence of policies are institutional constraints which prevent farmers’ sustained adoption. To facilitate long-term adoption of CA among smallholders, there is need to: (1) strengthen CA integration in agricultural policies; (2) improve departmental coordination to enhance coherence of agricultural strategies and extension messages disseminated to farmers; and (3) strengthen government’s role in supporting multi-disciplinary research to generate and disseminate best practices capable of sustaining CA adoption

Business ‘Power of Presence’: Foreign Capital, Industry Practices, and Politics of Sustainable Development in Zambian Agriculture

Sustainable Development Goals have brought optimism around ‘agriculture for development’ but also questioned agribusinesses in sustainable development. This paper assesses how an agribusiness’ power exploits domains to exert control over industry governance. Using interviews and group discussions from three smallholder outgrower schemes under Illovo Sugar Plc in Zambia, the paper demonstrates that corporations can deploy the ‘power of presence’ to influence national policy development, and sustainability in regional and local practices. Investment and trade policies currently foster agribusinesses but overlook environmental assessments that expose social and ecological contradictions such as on competing water uses. State-donor relations enable smallholder integration in sugarcane as poverty reduction whilst agribusinesses are limiting their participation through controls on resources and production systems. By analysing power expressions, we show how possibilities of sustainable agriculture and rural development are undermined by agribusiness practices. We suggest that current policy efforts around ‘agriculture for development’ in Zambia are about entrenching power and interests of an agribusiness, neglecting industry expansion and sustainability. The paper highlights the limits and importance of domestic institutions in framing large-scale agricultural investments as well as mediating corporate practices that will be required to provide a greater focus on national planning processes for sustainable agriculture and rural development

The Euler spiral of rat whiskers

This paper reports on an analytical study of the intrinsic shapes of 523 whiskers from 15 rats. We show that the variety of whiskers on a rat’s cheek, each of which has different lengths and shapes, can be described by a simple mathematical equation such that each whisker is represented as an interval on the Euler spiral. When all the representative curves of mystacial vibrissae for a single rat are assembled together, they span an interval extending from one coiled domain of the Euler spiral to the other. We additionally find that each whisker makes nearly the same angle of 47∘ with the normal to the spherical virtual surface formed by the tips of whiskers, which constitutes the rat’s tactile sensory shroud or “search space.” The implications of the linear curvature model for gaining insight into relationships between growth, form, and function are discussed

Assessment of physical and hydrological properties of biological soil crusts using X-ray microtomography and modeling

Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are formed by aggregates of soil particles and communities of microbial organisms and are common in all drylands. The role of BSCs on infiltration remains uncertain due to the lack of data on their role in affecting soil physical properties such as porosity and structure. Quantitative assessment of these properties is primarily hindered by the fragile nature of the crusts. Here we show how the use of a combination of non-destructive imaging X-ray microtomography (XMT) and Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) enables quantification of key soil physical parameters and the modeling of water flow through BSCs samples from Kalahari Sands, Botswana. We quantify porosity and flow changes as a result of mechanical disturbance of such a fragile cyanobacteria-dominated crust. Results show significant variations in porosity between different types of crusts and how they affect the flow and that disturbance of a cyanobacteria-dominated crust results in the breakdown of larger pore spaces and reduces flow rates through the surface layer. We conclude that the XMT–LBM approach is well suited for study of fragile surface crust samples where physical and hydraulic properties cannot be easily quantified using conventional methods

The influence of trees, shrubs, and grasses on microclimate, soil carbon, nitrogen, and CO2 efflux:Potential implications of shrub encroachment for Kalahari rangelands

Shrub encroachment is a well-documented phenomenon affecting many of the world's drylands. The alteration of vegetation structure and species composition can lead to changes in local microclimate and soil properties which in turn affect carbon cycling. The objectives of this paper were to quantify differences in air temperatures, soil carbon, nitrogen, and CO2 efflux under trees (Vachellia erioloba), shrubs (Grewia flava), annual and perennial grasses (Schmidtia kalahariensis and Eragrostis lehmanniana) collected over three seasons at a site in Kgalagadi District, Botswana, in order to determine the vegetation-soil feedback mechanism affecting the carbon cycle. Air temperatures were logged continuously and soil CO2 efflux was determined throughout the day and evening using closed respiration chambers and an infrared gas analyser. There were significant differences in soil carbon, total nitrogen, CO2 efflux, light and temperatures beneath the canopies of trees, shrubs and grasses. Daytime air temperatures beneath shrubs and trees were cooler compared to grass sites, particularly in summer months. Night time air temperatures under shrubs and trees were, however, warmer than at the grass sites. There was also significantly more soil carbon, nitrogen and CO2 efflux under shrubs and trees compared to grasses. Whilst the differences observed in soils and microclimate may reinforce the competitive dominance of shrubs and present challenges to strategies designed to manage encroachment they should not be viewed as entirely negative. Our findings highlight some of the dichotomies and challenges to be addressed before interventions aiming to bring about more sustainable land management can be implementedpublishersversionPeer reviewe

Describing whisker morphology of the Carnivora

One of the largest ecological transitions in carnivoran evolution was the shift from terrestrial to aquatic lifestyles, which has driven morphological diversity in skulls and other skeletal structures. In this paper we investigate the association between those lifestyles and whisker morphology. However, comparing whisker morphology over a range of species is challenging since the number of whiskers and their positions on the mystacial pads vary between species. Also, each whisker will be at a different stage of growth and may have incurred damage due to wear and tear. Identifying a way to easily capture whisker morphology in a small number of whisker samples would be beneficial. Here, we describe individual and species variation in whisker morphology from two-dimensional scans in red fox, European otter and grey seal. A comparison of long, caudal whiskers shows interspecies differences most clearly. We go on to describe global whisker shape in 24 species of carnivorans, using linear approximations of curvature and taper, as well as traditional morphometric methods. We also qualitatively examine surface texture, or the presence of scales, using Scanning Electron Microscope images. We show that gross highly conserved, with whisker curvature and taper obeying simple linear relationships with length. However, measures of whisker base radius, length, and maybe even curvature, can vary between species and substrate preferences. Specifically, the aquatic species in our sample have thicker, shorter whiskers that are smoother, with less scales present than those of terrestrial species. We suggest that these thicker whiskers may be stiffer and able to maintain their shape and position during underwater sensing, but being stiffer may also increase wear

Describing whisker morphology of the Carnivora

One of the largest ecological transitions in carnivoran evolution was the shift from terrestrial to aquatic lifestyles, which has driven morphological diversity in skulls and other skeletal structures. In this paper, we investigate the association between those lifestyles and whisker morphology. However, comparing whisker morphology over a range of species is challenging since the number of whiskers and their positions on the mystacial pads vary between species. Also, each whisker will be at a different stage of growth and may have incurred damage due to wear and tear. Identifying a way to easily capture whisker morphology in a small number of whisker samples would be beneficial. Here, we describe individual and species variation in whisker morphology from two-dimensional scans in red fox, European otter and grey seal. A comparison of long, caudal whiskers shows inter-species differences most clearly. We go on to describe global whisker shape in 24 species of carnivorans, using linear approximations of curvature and taper, as well as traditional morphometric methods. We also qualitatively examine surface texture, or the presence of scales, using scanning electron micrographs. We show that gross whisker shape is highly conserved, with whisker curvature and taper obeying simple linear relationships with length. However, measures of whisker base radius, length, and maybe even curvature, can vary between species and substrate preferences. Specifically, the aquatic species in our sample have thicker, shorter whiskers that are smoother, with less scales present than those of terrestrial species. We suggest that these thicker whiskers may be stiffer and able to maintain their shape and position during underwater sensing, but being stiffer may also increase wear

Alleviating impacts of climate change on fishing communities using weather information to improve fishers’ resilience

This study contributes new knowledge in evaluating actions aimed at alleviating impacts of climate change on small-scale fishers and enhancing resilience in their households in West Africa. Evidence of the damage caused by climate change to the artisanal fisheries sector in West African countries is accumulating. Current measures in place for artisanal fishers to adapt to these changes include broad long-term pro-poor strategies designed to manage the persistent problem of overfishing and declining fish stocks. However, one immediate coping strategy is beginning to emerge, the more active use of reliable weather information. Based on 80 semi-structured interviews conducted in Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria between 2021 and 2022, this study investigates claims that the use of weather information (WI) is helping West African artisanal fishers and those involved in secondary fishery activities to build more climate-resilient household income and food security. Unlike the long-term measures for mitigating the impact of climate change, results from the study show that by assessing the risk, their marine capture activities using weather information, fishers are immediately benefitting. Using the diffusion of the innovation theory to investigate the pattern of fishers’ adoption and usage of weather information, we found that Senegalese marine artisanal fishers can be classified as “Early Adopters” of this innovation. However, this is not the case with inland fishers who remain skeptical and will only use weather information if they can ascertain its reliability. West Africa’s inland fisheries sector is often neglected in climate change strategies: there is a lack of coordinated action to understand the weather information needs of these vulnerable fishers in order to coassess and codevelop bespoke weather products that offer benefits to them. However, West Africa’s fisheries, especially those inland, are too important to ignore if the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), including no poverty and zero hunger, are to be achieved. To help this sector fully benefit from the use of weather information, this study recommends detailed research into the weather information needs of these fishers and user-friendly ways to engage with the fishers to transmit the information