Livelihood strategies and soil fertility at Fandou Beri, southwestern Niger

This is a study of the relationship between livelihood strategies, soil fertility investment and land use in the village of Fandou Ben, southwestern Niger. The aim has been to place alleged soil degradation in a specific, differentiated and dynamic local context. The village, which is populated by Djerma and Fulani, has a low population density. The agricultural system is dominated by millet cultivation on poor soils. It now depends on short-fallow periods to restore fertility, other sources of inputs being limited. There are high erosion rates and an annual precipitation of 600mm with high variability. The local narrative can be interpreted to represent this landscape as a lifescape: an environment that is a product of a complex sequence of agricultural decisions and livelihood responses. The flexibility in the ways in which the farmers manage their soil is a reflection of the ephemerality of the factors that govern soil productivity and the need to adapt to natural biodiversity and spatial variability. They relied on their local knowledge to maximise productivity, as in their precision application of organic inputs, the ways in which they are increasingly integrating smallstock into their strategies, and the increasing signs of ethnic cooperation. Using a Sustainable Rural Livelihoods framework, the key determinants of land allocation and soil investment were found to be household productive capacity, the productive potential of the land, the degree of household livelihood diversification, and the farmer's capacity to recognise opportunities, prioritise and enact entitlement. The household's endowments were dynamic and spatially differentiated. The diversity of livelihood situation, knowledge, experience, and perceptions of power and identity created many different routes of livelihood response, and varying rates of agricultural investment. Within these multiple pathways, there were dynamic transformations between natural capital and the non-farm component of rural dwellers' livelihoods

Building resilience through improving groundwater management for sustainable agricultural intensification in African Sahel

Background: This paper examines the role of improved groundwater access and management in providing opportunities for sustainable agricultural intensification and building the resilience of community farmers in Southern Burkina Faso. The findings contribute to current debates about pathways of commercialisation and adaptation in the African Sahel, especially those seeking to find responses to managing the impacts of climate change and delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals. Methods: This paper presents data that has been thematically analysed based on the Framework for Sustainable Intensification developed by Pretty and Bharucha (Ann Bot 114:1571–1596, 2014). The data used includes 144 Vulnerability Baseline Assessments which were conducted at the start of the project with the four target Burkinabe communities (Kado, Poa, Tomo, and Zhilivele), and 33 monitoring interviews and vulnerability assessments from the Burkinabe communities of Poa and Tomo to track progress and behaviour change resulting from the BRAVE project interventions. Results: The data analysis showed that Burkinabe communities are already making some use of groundwater to support their agricultural livelihoods; most do this through accessing groundwater from shallow wells. It was also shown that there were improvements in the four main themes Identified by the Sustainable Intensification Framework. These included improved information sharing through increased peer-to-peer learning and improvements in confidence levels; improved social cohesion through reduction in community conflict over water resource management; asset improvements shown by tangible improvement of yields; and increased awareness exemplified by behaviour change. Conclusions: Through using the Sustainable Intensification framework, this paper argues that such an approach improves essential aspects of resilience building such as information sharing, improved local governance and increased social capital and income. We argue that such changes provide essential pathways to reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience of at-risk communities in the Sahel, but that national policy alignment and investment is essential for long term change and sustainability

Challenges to adaptation: a fundamental concept for the shared socio-economic pathways and beyond

The framework for the new scenarios being developed for climate research calls for the development of a set of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), which are meant to differ in terms of their challenges to mitigation and challenges to adaptation. In order for the scenario process to fulfill its goals, the research and policy communities need to develop a shared understanding of these concepts. This paper focuses on challenges to adaptation. We begin by situating this new concept in the context of the rich literatures related to inter alia adaptation, vulnerability, and resilience. We argue that a proper characterization of challenges to adaptation requires a rich, exploration of the concept, which goes beyond mere description. This has a number of implications for the operationalization of the concept in the basic and extended versions of the SSPs. First, the elements comprising challenges to adaptation must include a wide range of socioeconomic and even some (non-climatic) biophysical factors. Second, careful consideration must be given to differences in these factors across scales, as well as cross-scale interactions. Third, any representation of the concept will require both quantitative and qualitative elements. The scenario framework offers the opportunity for the SSPs and full scenarios to be of greater value than has been the case in past exercises to both Integrated Assessment Modeling (IAM) and Impacts,Adaptation, and Vulnerability (IAV) researchers, but this will require a renegotiation of the traditional, primarily unidirectional relationship between the two communities

Differential livelihood adaptation to social-ecological change in coastal Bangladesh

Social-ecological changes, brought about by the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry and the increased occurrence of climatic stressors, have significantly affected the livelihoods of coastal communities in Asian mega-deltas. This paper explores the livelihood adaptation responses of households of different wealth classes, the heterogeneous adaptation opportunities, barriers and limits (OBLs) faced by these households and the dynamic ways in which these factors interact to enhance or impede adaptive capacities. A mixed methods approach was used to collect empirical evidence from two villages in coastal Bangladesh. Findings reveal that households’ adaptive capacities largely depend on their wealth status, which not only determine their availability of productive resources, but also empower them to navigate social-ecological change in desirable ways. Households operate within a shared response space, which is shaped by the broader socio-economic and political landscape, as well as their previous decisions that can lock them in to particular pathways. While an adaptive response may be effective for one social group, it may cause negative externalities that can undermine the adaptation options and outcomes of another group. Adaptation OBLs interact in complex ways; the extent to which these OBLs affect different households depend on the specific livelihood activities being considered and the differential values and interests they hold. To ensure more equitable and environmentally sustainable livelihoods in future, policies and programs should aim to expand households’ adaptation space by accounting for the heterogeneous needs and complex interdependencies between response processes of different groups

Evidence and perceptions of rainfall change in Malawi: Do maize cultivar choices enhance climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa?

Getting farmers to adopt new cultivars with greater tolerance for coping with climatic extremes and variability is considered as one way of adapting agricultural production to climate change. However, for successful adaptation to occur, an accurate recognition and understanding of the climate signal by key stakeholders (farmers, seed suppliers and agricultural extension services) is an essential precursor. This paper presents evidence based on fieldwork with smallholder maize producers and national seed network stakeholders in Malawi from 2010 to 2011, assessing understandings of rainfall changes and decision-making about maize cultivar choices. Our findings show that preferences for short-season maize cultivars are increasing based on perceptions that season lengths are growing shorter due to climate change and the assumption that growing shorter-season crops represents a good strategy for adapting to drought. However, meteorological records for the two study areas present no evidence for shortening seasons (or any significant change to rainfall characteristics), suggesting that short-season cultivars may not be the most suitable adaptation option for these areas. This demonstrates the dangers of oversimplified climate information in guiding changes in farmer decision-making about cultivar choice

The implications of rural perceptions of water scarcity on differential adaptation behaviour in Rajasthan, India

Water scarcity is one of the most critical issues facing agriculture today. To understand how people manage the risk of water scarcity and growing pressures of increased climate variability, exploring perceptions of risk and how these perceptions feed into response behaviour and willingness to adapt is critical. This paper revisits existing frameworks that conceptualise perceptions of environmental risk and decision-making, and uses empirical evidence from an in-depth study conducted in Rajasthan, India, to emphasise how individual and collective memories, and experience of past extreme events shape current definitions and future expectations of climatic risks. In doing so, we demonstrate the value of recognising the role of local perceptions of water scarcity (and how they vary between and within households) in constructing social vulnerability. We also discuss the implications of these perceptions of risk when understanding and incentivising local adaptation pathways