Editorial

Learning from Tribal Innovations: Lessons in Climate Change Adaptation

Purpose- Cities and their residents are affected by climate change, the poor are more vulnerable to consequences of climate extremes and variability increases. Climate change mitigation and adaptation are challenges that face cities. City administration offices can contribute positively in mitigating climate change impact if workers have right perception. This study focus on determining the perception of Gondar City administration workers on climate change impact, organizational adaptation capacity and adaptation works. Factors associated with adaptation practices of climate change impact were also determined. Design/methodology/approach- A cross sectional study design was implemented among Gondar city administration workers. Findings - Majority of workers in City of Gondar administration offices were aware of climate change and its impact. Adaptation capacity of the city administration was relatively low; which results unavailability of adaptation plans and minimal works done on climate change adaptation. The study also revealed that adaptation capacity of Gondar city administration offices was associated with the practicality of adaptation activities within the city. Originality/value - This paper will be of value to city management and policy developers looking in to mainstream climate change adaptation in Ethiopia at City level. Key words : Awareness, Perception, Climate change adaptation, Adaptation capacity

In contemporary media discourse, suggestions for publicly mandated climate change mitigation or adaptation measures are frequently challenged from a cost perspective. However, empirical data on the actual economic appreciation of local mitigation and adaptation measures expressed as citizen willingness-to-pay (WTP) are scarce. In this paper, we report results of a prefer- ence survey using a choice experiment (CE) that quantifies economic preferences for biodiversity- based climate change mitigation and adaptation in the region surrounding Hainich National Park (Thuringia, Germany). A representative sample of 302 respondents — the majority of them frequent Hainich forest visitors — was interviewed in autumn 2006. Nested logit analysis showed that respon- dents state a substantially positive WTP for climate change mitigation by afforestation (p < 0.001). If converted to WTP for an additional sequestration of carbon that average German citizens emit as CO2, a monetary value of 7.34 € yr -1 t C -1 is obtained. For increasing forest resistance and resilience against insect pests and storms (climate change adaptation) a WTP of 27.54 € yr -1 (p < 0.001) is obtained, and 16.83 € yr -1 (p < 0.001) is obtained for increasing the general resilience and resistance of forest ecosys- tems to environmental stressors. Respondents support moderate programs to eradicate invasive plants when compared to more aggressive eradication measures. Due to the lack of comparable studies, it can only be conservatively assumed that WTP would be lower if mitigation and adaptation measures were to be implemented in forests not, or only rarely, used by respondents. As all proposed means for climate change mitigation and adaptation contribute to local forest ecosystem biodiversity, the results of the study advocate the realization of measures that potentially benefit both climate policy and regional conservation concerns.

A conceptual framework for an urban areas typology to integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation

The impacts of urban structure on PM2.5 pollution depend on city size and location

Climate is one of the most important factors that influence and determine the behavior, abundance and distribution of species, as well as having a strong influence on the ecology of habitats and ecosystems structure. Changes in the behavior, abundance and distribution of species are linked to climate. Diversity and plant species are highly interlinked and the relationship between biodiversity and climate change should be explored from several perspectives. This variety provides the building blocks to adapt to changing environmental conditions which are caused due to climate change. Conserved habitats can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus helping to address climate change by storing carbon in the plant biomass. Climate is one of the major limiting factors which determine the survival and growth of plants. The conservation and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services can play a key role in helping societies to adapt to climate change. Biodiversity is affected by climate change, but biodiversity, through the ecosystem services and function it supports, also makes an important contribution to both climate-change mitigation and adaptation. Maintenance of agro-biodiversity and carbon sequestration through the process of photosynthesis is the two important and complementary environmental services of agro-ecosystems. Climate change affects biodiversity and one of the causes of biodiversity loss. At the same time climate change will accelerate further if biodiversity and ecosystems are not effectively protected. Generally due to the variation of genetic makeup within pants, different plant species diversity plays a great role in climate change adaption and mitigation process.

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Early forest thinning changes aboveground carbon distribution among pools, but not total amount

Studies suggest that the restoration of degraded land through planting bamboo could be a viable strategy for forest landscape restoration. As part of more extensive landscape restoration, planting bamboo in degraded and marginal landscapes have the potential to restore its productive use and ecosystem services, thus improving the adaptive capacity and resilience of such systems under the accelerated climate change phenomenon. However, using bamboo in landscape restoration has yet to receive significant attention primarily due to data scarcity, scattered or even missing in the literature, and general poor perception, thus contributing to less attention at policy and development planning levels. The lack of adequate information has hindered the potential usefulness of bamboo in landscape restoration and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Therefore, this chapter aims to review and assemble existing knowledge on bamboo resources related to its ability to restore the degraded forest landscape and its contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The chapter, therefore, also aims to highlight promising practices deemed viable to inform decision-makers and to upscale in Africa, which has a bamboo potential of about 115 species covering 7.2 million ha. We highlighted specific key characteristics of bamboo in forest landscape restoration, such as rapid growth, soil binding, and erosion control properties, adaptive capability, nutrient and water conservation, and the provision of a continuous and permanent canopy. Furthermore, we examined its contributions to direct and indirect human well-being through ecosystem services. It is concluded that bamboo has enormous potentiality in landscape restoration vis-a-vis climate change adaptation and mitigation. Finally, it is suggested to initiate an action call for good practices to restore degraded forest landscapes in Africa within frameworks of initiatives such as the REDD + strategy, Bonn Challenge, Afr100 initiative, and the Great Green Wall incorporating bamboo as one of the essential components.

The climate challenges confronting agriculture are multiple, interconnected and multi-scaled. Agriculture is a source of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, but it is also vulnerable to climate change impacts. Adopting resilient approaches in the agricultural industry can help to contribute to both climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. Climate-smart agriculture has emerged as a solution to address the multiple challenges of climate change and food security by sustainably increasing productivity, enhancing resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To date, there is limited scholarly evidence on what constitutes climate-smart agriculture, and how it is framed globally and practiced by smallholder farming communities. This research helps to bridge this gap by analysing the international discourse around climate-smart agriculture, and providing local empirical evidence derived from smallholder farming communities in the Philippines and Timor-Leste. At the broad level, this research aims to identify how climate-smart agriculture within community-based adaptation programs is contributing to the integration of mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change. Drawing from political ecology and climate change (adaptation and mitigation sciences) theories, the research explains how socio-institutional factors – inequality, unequal power relations and social injustice – influence climate-smart agriculture. The theoretical arguments are illustrated with empirical case studies of smallholder farmers and civil society organisations in the two case studies. Using mixed qualitative methods and descriptive analysis of over 150 semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation, the research examines climate-smart agriculture practices across three broad categories: vulnerability of smallholder farmers (socioeconomic factors), synergistic relationships (adaptation, mitigation and food security) and governance (socio-institutional determinants). This research argues that mitigation and adaptation interventions are climate-smart for smallholder farmers when they directly address local climate risks, support a combination of adaptation, food security and livelihood strategies, and empower at-risk and marginalised populations. Results indicate that climate-smart agriculture in the Philippines and Timor-Leste are characterised and influenced by multiple socio-institutional factors. The increasing burden of loss and damage as a result of extreme climate events subject women to migration, increased discrimination, loss of customary rights to land, resource poverty and food insecurity. In terms of farming practices implemented by smallholder farmers, most adaptation actions were found to have corresponding positive mitigation, food security and livelihood co-benefits. At the community level, climate-smart interventions are highly location-specific, technically rigorous, involve knowledge-intensive processes, and are influenced by the finance and capacities of local farming communities and implementing partners. Furthermore, of relevance at the global level, this research finds that there is a growing divide between how developed and developing countries frame solutions to the impacts of climate change on agriculture despite agriculture featuring prominently in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations. Such a divide is limiting the recognition of solutions that integrate mitigation and adaptation opportunities. The insights from the Philippines and Timor-Leste make a compelling case for joint adaptation and mitigation actions in the agriculture sector across three broad policy frontiers. First, implementation of climate-smart agriculture will require participatory platforms that have a focus on livelihood and income opportunities for smallholder farmers. Second, policies and institutions on agriculture, agrarian reform, land use and climate change should mainstream both adaptation and mitigation outcomes using local plans and community level programs. Third, partnerships with community-based organisations and local governments are pivotal to coordinating services with farmers, providing an array of agriculture and climate services generating new knowledge and implementing climate-smart farming solutions.

This book is a compendium of studies on climate change challenges and adaptations at the farm level, capturing research carried out across the continents of Asia and Africa. Chapter 1 is on the introduction to climate change vulnerability and adaptation strategies with rural farm-level perspective. Chapter 2 discusses the analytical framework and methodologies for analysing farm level vulnerability in the region. Chapter 3 examines the trends of climate and extreme events in the region and expounds on the critical question of what is the extent of changing climate. Chapter 4 gives the results of farmers' perception on climate and socioeconomic trends with respect to climate change. Chapter 5 gives a meso- or macrolevel perspective of climate change on food security in Asia and Africa. Chapter 6 evaluates crop-level adaptation options to current and future climatic trends using crop simulation experiments and Chapter 7 assesses the impact of climate change adaptation strategies for small farmers in Kenya, Africa. Chapter 8 gives the results of farm-level analysis of climate change adaptation from Niger and Burkina Faso. Chapter 9 gives details of importance of sociological studies in understanding climate change resilience among communities and their coping strategies. Chapter 10 describes the results of the analysis in identifying policy options towards climate resilience in Ghana, Africa. Chapter 11 is a synthesis of key messages from the micro-level analysis and identifies constraints and opportunities in adaptation, and the final chapter, Chapter 12, gives the key recommendations for enhanced options for adaptation against climate change and furthermore in strengthening the path towards climate resilience in the region. The book reiterates that climate change adaptation and mitigation are a practical necessity, as well as a moral imperative at the grassroots level: farm, household and community, as they significantly affect agriculture. This book will definitely serve as a valuable reference for development practitioners, academics, researchers, agricultural scientists, etc. who are interested in the topic of climate change and its consequences.

Assessing the institutional capacity to adapt to climate change: a case study in the Cambodian health and water sectors

Mapping Climate in the 21st Century

PurposeThe Philippines is among the countries vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. However, many local government units (LGUs) and the people themselves are not aware of the climate change phenomenon and do not have the capacity to undertake appropriate climate change adaptation measures. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the climate change adaptation strategies of communities and LGUs and the barriers and recommendations to enhance their adaptive capacity.Design/methodology/approachThe study covered five communities vulnerable to climate change impacts. Information on extreme climatic events and their impacts and adaptation strategies undertaken were gathered through focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews. LGU staff members were assisted in the preparation of their climate change adaptation plan (CCAP).FindingsThe LGUs and communities have low adaptive capacity and employed temporary adaptation strategies. Strong social cohesion and spontaneous collective action are factors that could enhance the communities' adaptive capacity. The pursuit of awareness raising and capacity building activities on climate change phenomena, alternative livelihood, preparedness and adaptation possibilities, technology and infrastructure development and collective action, which are critical adaptive capacity enhancement factors were laid‐out in the CCAP.Originality/valueThe paper presents the barriers that constrain the adaptive capacity of communities and LGUs, the recommended adaptive capacity enhancement measures to overcome these barriers and the highlights of the CCAP jointly prepared by the partner LGUs and scientists.

The shift towards designing more dense urban social housing neighbourhoods has started with the embracing of urban sustainability principles by the UAE government since the beginning of the 21st century. The assessment of the recent neighbourhoods designs still lacks concrete evidence about their expected performance especially for pedestrian mobility networks. This concern is gaining further significance with the noticeable tendency of most of the recent urban designs towards developing organic and curvilinear networks instead of the conventional orthogonal grids of the mobility networks that distinguished the traditionally designed neighbourhoods in the country. To bridge this gap, the research comparatively and quantitively analysed the accessibility performance indicators of both of the traditional and the modern urban network designs. The research adopted the Case Study method with quantitative investigation tools that are fundamental to Urban Network Analysis, especially in relation to Accessibility. The simulation of the urban networks of two selected urban social housing neighbourhood forms, representing the networks of both the traditional urban orthogonal sprawl and the recent curvilinear dense one, were utilized employing the UNA toolbox. Three complementary Accessibility Indices were analysed including: Reach, Gravity and Straightness. Through this analysis, the aspects that affected the accessibility performance of the two urban form paradigms and the problems that have been associated with the designs of the urban networks of the new social housing projects, have been revealed. It became evident that the denser urban form was not sufficient in enabling more accessible facilities in the recent neighbourhoods designs. The orthogonal grid, even with its very low Floor Area Ratio showed better performance of in the three accessibility indices especially the Straightness index, if compared with the much denser curvilinear grid with it ‘naturally longer’ pattern. The inefficient number and the inappropriate distribution locally provided facilities in relation to the pedestrian mobility networks have contributed to these disappointing results. So, it is essential to include this and/or similar urban network quantitative simulation tools to help develop genuinely sustainable urban forms for this significant type of urban development in the UAE cities.