Using a gender lens to explore farmers' adaptation options in the face of climate change: Results of a pilot study in Ghana

The Upper West Region of Ghana and especially the Lawra-Jirapa districts are highly vulnerable to climate variability and likely to be amongst the worst hit under climate change. Any responses to climate change affected communities cannot be considered complete unless women-specific responses are interwoven in a variety of adaptation options considered in the target area. The overall objective of this short-term research was to test tools and methodologies developed by CCAFS, FAO on analysis of gender issues in climate change, agriculture and food security. The study took place from the 1–4 November 2011, in the village of Doggoh in the Jirapa district of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The segment on climate analogues showed that a gender-differentiated village resource maps could be used as a tool to communicate the concept of ‘climate analogues’ and to facilitate farmer-to-farmer exchange visits to analogue sites. Both men and women groups mentioned farming practices and coping strategies as topics they would like about to learn during an exchange visit to an analogue site. On weather information, all groups (men, women and youth) indicated they receive daily weather forecasts mainly through the radio but these are mostly received by the men and male youth because they own the radio sets. Women do not generally own radio sets in the village setting and as such, receive the daily weather information through their husbands or sons when they are in the house and switch on their radio sets. All groups (men, women and the youth) had never seen the seasonal forecast chart issued by the Ghana Meteorological Services. Both daily and seasonal weather forecasts would be preferred by the community and through the medium of the radio translated, into the local dialect. The church, the chief, assemblyman (local government representative) and agricultural extension agents could publicize the forecasts. Currently some climate smart agricultural initiatives, like tree planting and agroforestry, exist at the individual and household level. The community expressed the desire to undertake any climate smart agricultural initiative. Several external institutions have in the past facilitated the formation of local women groups and promoted agricultural activities. These groups can be used as entry points for future climate smart agricultural initiatives. The gender-specific focus groups in this session on climate smart agriculture worked out well because no group had influence over the other, and each shared their experiences without intimidation. The guiding questions also helped in sourcing the responses from the discussants and gave order to the way questions were sequenced

Participatory gender-sensitive approaches for addressing key climate change- related research issues: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ghana, and Uganda

Getting a better understanding of how climate variability affects rural men and women differently, and in different regions, is challenging. Since their ability to respond to change and take action that will make them more resilient and able to adapt to a changing climate (alongside all the other social and economic change they are dealing with) differs, we need to focus more research efforts on enhancing this understanding and linking this knowledge with actions aimed at enhancing livelihoods and food security. We examine how well existing participatory gender-sensitive research approaches address some key climate change-related research issues that CCAFS has prioritized. Bringing together gender experts and experienced agricultural research teams from Bangladesh, Ghana, and Uganda, multiple methods were tested in the field, and refined through the lessons learned, to help inform future action research and development efforts towards enhancing communities’ and individuals’ (particularly women’s) access to, and use of, information and knowledge to help them adapt to climate variability through more resilient livelihoods and agro-ecosystems

Village Baseline Study: Site Analysis Report for Lawra – Jirapa, Ghana (GH0108)

The village baseline study of Doggoh village in the CCAFS benchmark site Jirapa-Lawra in Ghana took place from 26th to 28st July 2011. Focus group discussions were conducted separately for men and women. Doggoh village is located in a Sudan Savannah characterized by a considerable tree population, and the farming system it practices involves cultivation among trees. Land is cultivated by individuals but owned and administered communally through a traditional system of local chiefs. The average land productivity is low and the community can only produce enough to feed themselves for 3 months a year, resulting in the need to seek food from other sources for 9 months of the year. To survive, people depend on remittances. Trees are communally managed with community sanctions against those who break the accepted practice. Nonetheless, the sale of wood fuel is putting pressure on the tree population. There is evidence of degradation on the landscape where vegetation has been removed and there is bare soil. The community relies on boreholes for their domestic water supply and take for granted the value of wetlands and the rivers, which remained effectively unmanaged. The participants identified 22 organisations in the village, including 12 operating beyond the locality, 3 functioning within the locality and 7 operational within the community. Seventeen organisations contribute to food security, and other 14 encourage natural resource management. Organisations and radio are the most important sources of information

Résumé des résultats des enquêtes de base niveau ménage: site de Lawra-Jirapa, Ghana

Ce rapport présente les résultats des enquêtes de base conduites au niveau des ménages du site de Lawra-Jirapa au Ghana dans le cadre du programme de recherche du CGIAR sur le Changement Climatique, l’Agriculture et la Sécurité Alimentaire. L’objectif de ces enquêtes était de de collecter toutes les données et informations sur des indicateurs clés de base concernant les ménages notamment les moyens de subsistance, l’agriculture et la gestion des ressources naturelles, les besoins d’information sur le climat et la gestion des risques, et les pratiques d’atténuation et d’adaptation. L’agriculture demeure la principale activité économique de la plus part des ménages. La production céréalière et des tubercules/maraichage est très importante. L’élevage contribue aussi fortement à la satisfaction des besoins alimentaires et moyens de subsistance des ménages. La production agricole est très diversifiée avec environ 82% des ménages qui cultivent/produisent plus de 7 cultures. La grande partie de la production aussi bien au sein qu’en dehors de l’exploitation agricole est destinée essentiellement à l’autoconsommation du ménage. Seulement 4% des ménages ont déclaré être « auto-suffisants » toute l’année, alors que 26,4% sont en situation d’insécurité alimentaire pendant presque la moitié de l’année. Plus de 97% des ménages détiennent des terres de plus de 5ha alors que 3% ont indiqué posséder entre 1-5ha. Environ 91,4% des ménages enquêtés n’utilisent que la pluie comme source d’eau pour l’agriculture. Seulement 4% de ces ménages utilisent d’autres sources telles que les forages et barrages. Environ 31% ont indiqué recourir aux intrants agricoles, notamment les engrais et pesticides. Les emplois sur d’autres exploitations, le petit commerce et les transferts/dons sont les principales sources de revenus des ménages. Les ménages ont indiqué plusieurs changements intervenus dans les systèmes de production agricole et animale au cours des dix dernières années. Ces changements ont été induits par plusieurs facteurs parmi lesquels les marchés, le changement de climat, les maladies et ravageurs et les influences des projets et ONG. Plus de la moitié des ménages (87%) ont indiqué avoir reçu des informations sur le climat et la météorologie, parmi lesquelles les plus importantes sont les prévisions sur les événements extrêmes, prévisions sur le début de la saison des pluies et prévisions sur les prochains 2-3 mois. Ces informations obtenues principalement à travers la radio sont souvent accompagnées de conseils que les ménages ont indiqué suivre et prendre en compte dans la prise de décision concernant les activités de production végétale et animale et la gestion de l’exploitation en général. Les groupes épargne et crédit, amélioration de la productivité sont les plus importants avec respectivement 23,7% et 21,7% des ménages qui ont indiqué avoir des membres affiliés à ces groupes. La radio demeure la principale source d’information. La possession de bien est limitée au minimum de base (55% des ménages) et aussi le niveau intermédiaire (44% des ménages)

Impacts of 1.5 versus 2.0 °c on cereal yields in the West African Sudan Savanna

To reduce the risks of climate change, governments agreed in the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to less than 2.0 °C above pre-industrial levels, with the ambition to keep warming to 1.5 °C. Charting appropriate mitigation responses requires information on the costs of mitigating versus associated damages for the two levels of warming. In this assessment, a critical consideration is the impact on crop yields and yield variability in regions currently challenged by food insecurity. The current study assessed impacts of 1.5 °C versus 2.0 °C on yields of maize, pearl millet and sorghum in the West African Sudan Savanna using two crop models that were calibrated with common varieties from experiments in the region with management reflecting a range of typical sowing windows. As sustainable intensification is promoted in the region for improving food security, simulations were conducted for both current fertilizer use and for an intensification case (fertility not limiting). With current fertilizer use, results indicated 2% units higher losses for maize and sorghum with 2.0 °C compared to 1.5 °C warming, with no change in millet yields for either scenario. In the intensification case, yield losses due to climate change were larger than with current fertilizer levels. However, despite the larger losses, yields were always two to three times higher with intensification, irrespective of the warming scenario. Though yield variability increased with intensification, there was no interaction with warming scenario. Risk and market analysis are needed to extend these results to understand implications for food security

THE SAMI GALAXY SURVEY: REVISITING GALAXY CLASSIFICATION THROUGH HIGH-ORDER STELLAR KINEMATICS

Recent cosmological hydrodynamical simulations suggest that integral field spectroscopy can connect the high-order stellar kinematic moments h3 (~skewness) and h4 (~kurtosis) in galaxies to their cosmological assembly history. Here, we assess these results by measuring the stellar kinematics on a sample of 315 galaxies, without a morphological selection, using 2D integral field data from the SAMI Galaxy Survey. A proxy for the spin parameter ($\lambda_{R_e}$) and ellipticity ($\epsilon_e$) are used to separate fast and slow rotators; there exists a good correspondence to regular and non-regular rotators, respectively, as also seen in earlier studies. We confirm that regular rotators show a strong h3 versus $V/\sigma$ anti-correlation, whereas quasi-regular and non-regular rotators show a more vertical relation in h3 and $V/\sigma$. Motivated by recent cosmological simulations, we develop an alternative approach to kinematically classify galaxies from their individual h3 versus $V/\sigma$ signatures. We identify five classes of high-order stellar kinematic signatures using Gaussian mixture models. Class 1 corresponds to slow rotators, whereas Classes 2-5 correspond to fast rotators. We find that galaxies with similar $\lambda_{R_e}-\epsilon_e$ values can show distinctly different h3-$V/\sigma$ signatures. Class 5 objects are previously unidentified fast rotators that show a weak h3 versus $V/\sigma$ anti-correlation. These objects are predicted to be disk-less galaxies formed by gas-poor mergers. From morphological examination, however, there is evidence for large stellar disks. Instead, Class 5 objects are more likely disturbed galaxies, have counter-rotating bulges, or bars in edge-on galaxies. Finally, we interpret the strong anti-correlation in h3 versus $V/\sigma$ as evidence for disks in most fast rotators, suggesting a dearth of gas-poor mergers among fast rotators.Comment: Accepted for Publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 35 pages and 30 figures, abstract abridged for arXiv submission. The key figures of the paper are: 7, 11, 12 , and 1

TXS 0506+056 with Updated IceCube Data

Past results from the IceCube Collaboration have suggested that the blazar TXS 0506+056 is a potential source of astrophysical neutrinos. However, in the years since there have been numerous updates to event processing and reconstruction, as well as improvements to the statistical methods used to search for astrophysical neutrino sources. These improvements in combination with additional years of data have resulted in the identification of NGC 1068 as a second neutrino source candidate. This talk will re-examine time-dependent neutrino emission from TXS 0506+056 using the most recent northern-sky data sample that was used in the analysis of NGC 1068. The results of using this updated data sample to obtain a significance and flux fit for the 2014 TXS 0506+056 "untriggered" neutrino flare are reported