Multilevel stakeholder influence mapping in climate change adaptation regimes

The extent to which any policy, planning, or funding frameworks aimed at supporting climate change adaptation contribute to improved adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers is strongly affected by the power/influence dynamics between actors within those regimes. Power and influence studies have renewed relevance due to the current proliferation of adaptation initiatives. As these initiatives evolve, they bring up questions of equity, justice, and fairness surrounding the origins and distribution of adaptation resources. In doing so, they have shed light on persistent inequalities in status quo development regimes and asymmetrical power balances between stakeholders. To avoid exacerbating inequalities that contribute to conflict, perpetuate cycles of poverty, and prevent much needed resources from reaching vulnerable communities, it is essential that practitioners seek to make power/influence relationships transparent within any given adaptation regime. Exposing and characterizing these relationships is complex, sensitive, and involves multiple perspectives. This paper introduces the Multilevel Stakeholder Influence Mapping (MSIM) tool, which aims to assist analysts in the study of power dynamics across levels within climate adaptation regimes. The tool is adapted from the Stakeholder Influence-Mapping tool (2005) of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). MSIM is a simple visual tool to examine and display the relative power/influence that different individuals and groups have over a focal issue—in this case, climate change adaptation of smallholder farmers. The tool can be applied individually or in groups, as often as desired, to capture multiple perspectives and also to act as an intermediary object facilitating expression of sensitive information. The multilevel adapted version of the tool was trialed with a cross-section of actors in Nepal’s agricultural climate change adaptation regime. The results of this pilot, the tool use guidelines, and triangulation with supporting methods, as well as forward-looking applications in climate adaptation are provided herein

Calli Essential Oils Synergize with Lawsone against Multidrug Resistant Pathogens.

The fast development of multi-drug resistant (MDR) organisms increasingly threatens global health and well-being. Plant natural products have been known for centuries as alternative medicines that can possess pharmacological characteristics, including antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial activities of essential oil (Calli oil) extracted from the Calligonum comosum plant by hydro-steam distillation was tested either alone or when combined with lawsone, a henna plant naphthoquinone, against MDR microbes. Lawsone showed significant antimicrobial activities against MDR pathogens in the range of 200-300 µg/mL. Furthermore, Calli oil showed significant antimicrobial activities against MDR bacteria in the range of 180-200 µg/mL, Candida at 220-240 µg/mL and spore-forming Rhizopus fungus at 250 µg/mL. Calli oil's inhibition effect on Rhizopus, the major cause of the lethal infection mucormycosis, stands for 72 h, followed by an extended irreversible white sporulation effect. The combination of Calli oil with lawsone enhanced the antimicrobial activities of each individual alone by at least three-fold, while incorporation of both natural products in a liposome reduced their toxicity by four- to eight-fold, while maintaining the augmented efficacy of the combination treatment. We map the antimicrobial activity of Calli oil to its major component, a benzaldehyde derivative. The findings from this study demonstrate that formulations containing essential oils have the potential in the future to overcome antimicrobial resistance

Community-based adaptation costing: An integrated framework for the participatory costing of community-based adaptations to climate change in agriculture

Understanding the cost associated with climate change adaptation interventions in agriculture is important for mobilizing institutional support and providing timely resources to improve resilience and adaptive capacities. Top-down national estimates of adaptation costs carry a risk of mismatching the availability of funds with what is actually required on the ground. Consequently, global and national policies require credible evidence from the local level, taking into account microeconomic dynamics and community-appropriate adaptation strategies. These bottom-up studies will improve adaptation planning (the how) and will also serve to inform and validate top-down assessments of the total costs of adaptation (the how much). Participatory Social Return on Investment (PSROI) seeks to provide a pragmatic, local-level planning and costing framework suitable for replication by government and civil society organizations. The ‘PSROI Framework’ is designed around a participatory workshop for prioritizing and planning community-based adaptation (CBA) strategies, followed by an analysis of the economic, social and environmental impacts of the priority measures using a novel cost-benefit analysis framework. The PSROI framework has been applied in three separate pilot initiatives in Kochiel and Othidhe, Kenya, and Dodji, Senegal. This working paper seeks to outline the theoretical and methodological foundations of the PSROI framework, provide case-study results from each pilot study, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the framework according to its robustness, effectiveness and scalabilit

Cu(II) Ions Adsorption Using Activated Carbon Prepared From Pithecellobium Jiringa (Jengkol) Shells with Ultrasonic Assistance: Isotherm, Kinetic and Thermodynamic Studies

Adsorption of Cu(II) ions from aqueous solution onto activated carbon (AC) prepared from Pithecellobium jiringa shell (PJS) waste was investigated by conducting batch mode adsorption experiments. The activation with ultrasound assistance removed almost all functional groups in the PJS-AC, while more cavities and pores on the PJS-AC were formed, which was confirmed by FTIR and SEM analyses. The Cu(II) ion adsorption isotherm fitted best to the Freundlich model with average R2 at 0.941. It was also correlated to the Langmuir isotherm with average R2 at 0.889. This indicates that physical sorption took place more than chemical sorption. The maximum Cu(II) ion adsorption capacity onto the PJS-AC for a dose of 1 g was 104.167 mg/g at 30 °C and pH 4.5, where the Langmuir constant was 0.523 L/mg, the Freundlich adsorption intensity was 0.523, and the Freundlich constant was 5.212 L/mg. Cu(II) adsorption followed the pseudo second-order kinetic (PSOKE) model with average R2 at 0.998, maximum adsorption capacity at 96.154 mg/g, PSOKE adsorption rate constant at 0.200 g/mg.min, temperature at 30 °C and pH at 4.5. The changes in enthalpy, entropy, free energy and activation energy were determined, and the results confirmed that Cu(II) adsorption onto the PJS-AC was exothermic chemical adsorption in part. There was a decrease in the degree of freedom and the adsorption was non-spontaneous

Deconstructing Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPAs) - Analysis of Nepal and Pakistan LAPA initiatives

This paper analyses the organizational and implementation design strategies of two ongoing Local Adaptation Plan for Action (LAPA) initiatives in Nepal and Pakistan. LAPA is considered an answer for institutionalized local-level adaptation planning that aims to capture local needs and direct resources to where, when and by whom these are most needed. While both Nepal and Pakistan LAPAs have similar objectives of bottom-up planning, the operational and structural designs of the two LAPAs are very distinct, leading to different outcomes. Different internal and external factors such as age and size of LAPA, technology, local institutional arrangements, core process and environment also exert significant structural tensions on the planned organizational design of LAPAs that may inhibit delivery of their objectives