Issue 32: May-June 2010 - Adaptation to climate change

In this issue

Climate change poses an increasing threat to the sustainability of agricultural production and livelihood strategies of poor rural people worldwide. The threat of and vulnerability to climate change are special challenges in marginal areas, which are the focus of IFAD’s work.

IFAD recognizes that climate-related risks, and opportunities that they bring, can be addressed more systematically within the projects and programmes it supports. As such, this year IFAD launched a Climate Change Strategy to guide its operations. It was approved by the Executive Board in April 2010.

The strategy aims to make IFAD climate-smart and to maximize IFAD’s impact on rural poverty in the context of changing climate. This will be done by supporting innovative approaches to help smallholder producers build their resilience to climate change; helping smallholder farmers take advantage of available mitigation incentives and funding; and informing a more coherent dialogue on climate change, rural development, agriculture and food security.

In Asia and the Pacific, IFAD is active when it comes to increasing the capacity of smallholder farmers, both men and women, to adapt to changing climate. While we recognize that there is still more to be done, this newsletter presents some examples of IFAD’s work on adaptation in the region.

In Bangladesh, IFAD is working with the Netherlands on the development of 30,000 hectares of newly accreted land on the seaward margins of the Jamuna-Padma-Maghna river delta. Edward Mallorie, Development Specialist, shares how project activities are expected to help extremely poor people adapt to rising sea level and more frequent and severe cyclones and storms. The article also talks about testing floating vegetable gardens, which can survive sudden floods and allow vegetables to be grown in villages that are crowded onto small islands in a virtual inland sea. 

Cecilia Aipira, Project Management Technical Advisor in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Cambodia, presents a new project that will be implemented jointly by IFAD and UNDP to promote climate-resilient water management and agricultural practices in rural areas of Cambodia.

 

IFAD Climate Change Strategy

The main strategy output is a more ‘climate-smart’ IFAD, where climate change – alongside other risks, opportunities and themes – is systematically integrated into core programmes, policies and activities:

  • On operations, climate change can be – and in many cases already is – factored into IFAD’s operating model. This means incorporating it into its toolkit for the early stages of country programme and project design and for implementation.
  • On knowledge, innovation and advocacy, IFAD: explores new arrangements for sourcing climate-related expertise; shares ground-level experiences to ensure their application throughout IFAD-supported programmes; and continues its work to shape the global dialogue on climate change for smallholders.
  • On resource mobilization, the primary focus is to make IFAD’s expanding portfolio climate-smart. Increased supplementary climate funds continue to be sought to deepen the integration of climate change into IFAD’s core programmes and to cover the increased cost this implies. IFAD seeks to mobilize additional Global Environment Facility (GEF) resources for global environment and climate change activities.
  • On internal organization, IFAD: makes greater use of existing in-house skills and people, and is implementing a new organizational structure that brings together and increases its staff capacity on climate and the environment. It will also continue to demonstrate the values of environmental awareness internally.

Source: IFAD Climate Change Strategy
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In India, IFAD is supporting communities to adapt to changing climate and adopt mitigating measures through increased knowledge-sharing and collaboration with grant partners and government agencies. Vincent Darlong, Country Programme Officer, India Country Office, and others from three-IFAD-funded projects implemented in tribal areas of India share some examples of such initiatives.

The livestock sector in Mongolia is threatened by increased pressure on pastures, degradation of natural resources, and worsening climatic conditions. IFAD’s J. Quintana, S. Donato, and R. van Asch, talk about how IFAD and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) plan to address these challenges together. Quintana and Donato also describe another joint IFAD/GEF project in Pakistan that aims to reduce the vulnerability of production systems to climate change by combining traditional and technology-based solutions. The project will focus on water resources as a critical factor to sustain agricultural production in the context of increased climate variability.

The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and IFAD are working together in Tra Vinh Province of Viet Nam. Anja Weber, GTZ Expert in Viet Nam, describes the joint initiative called Climate-proofing of local development planning in Tra Vinh Province in the Mekong-Delta, Viet Nam. It supports the integration of information on the risks that climate change poses on local development planning.

In Bhutan, India and Nepal, IFAD works with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on enhancing the adaptation capacity and resilience of poor people to climate and socioeconomic changes. Dhrupad Choudhury, Coordinator of IFAD grants in ICIMOD, and Anmol Jain, consultant, illustrate the importance of local knowledge as a basis for formulating effective adaptation strategies.

Rewarding Upland Poor for Environmental Services in Asia (RUPES) Phase II and Pro-poor Environmental Services in Africa (PRESA) are IFAD-funded projects coordinated by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).  Beria Leimona, Project Coordinator for RUPES, Meine van Noordwijk, ICRAF and Thomas Yatich, Project Coordinator for PRESA, share their work on establishing a series of action research sites to test rewards for environmental services schemes that can benefit rural livelihoods, reduce poverty and improve the environment.

The Rural Poverty-Reduction Programme financed by IFAD in Mongolia was selected as winner of the Silk Road Award 2009 of the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Ariunaa Byambasuren, Office Manager in the programme, provides some highlights of the award ceremony.

Martina Spisiakova, Newsletter Coordinator, Asia and the Pacific Division, IFAD

Enabling poor people to cope with climate change in low-lying areas of Bangladesh

 

  
Family at the edge of the sea on the Caring Char. Source: Edward Mallorie    

Bangladesh is one of the countries that will be most affected by climate change. The National Adaptation Programme of Action of the Government of Bangladesh estimated a 30 cm rise in sea level by 2050, with the potential to affect over 35 million people in the low-elevation coastal zone. The low-lying and densely populated area of the Jamuna-Padma-Maghna river delta will also be affected. In response, IFAD is to join with the Netherlands in supporting the development of 30,000 hectares of newly accreted land on the seaward margins of this delta. 

 

Jamuna-Padma-Maghna river delta

The Jamuna River (also called the Brahmaputra) first merges with the Padma River (also called the Ganges). The combined river is known as the Padma. This then merges with the Meghna River and the final estuary takes the name of Meghna
 

The Jamuna-Padma-Maghna river delta is the world’s largest river delta, covering an area of 105,000 km2. One-third of the delta is in India and two-thirds are in Bangladesh. It is also one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, with over 1,500 people per km2.

The delta has been identified as one of the areas at greatest risk from climate change, in particular rising sea levels and increased extreme weather events. The 2007 Water Sector Track Record of Bangladesh conducted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands estimated that up to 20,000-30,000 households lose their homes, land and livelihood each year as a result of erosion.

IFAD is to join with the Netherlands in supporting the development of 30,000 hectares of newly accreted land on the seaward margins of this delta in Bangladesh. Such land, known as ‘chars’, is settled when it is still barely above sea level, mostly by extremely poor people who have been displaced by erosion of land elsewhere in the delta. The land is totally unprotected from cyclones and storms. It also is subject to tidal flooding twice a day.

 

In a study for the Padma Bridge design, the Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services has estimated that, of the total sediment supply of 6.1 billion m3 per year, 4.6 per cent is deposited on river beds, riverine chars and levees, 24 per cent on flood plains and tidal plains, and 21 per cent in the estuary and coastal shelf (including formation of coastal chars). 

This leaves a “surplus” of 51 per cent of the total sediment supply that is not yet utilized silt deposition either inland or in coastal areas, and which will be deposited in the sea at greater depths.  

 

The proposed project, the Char Development and Settlement Project phase IV (CDSP IV) will build flood protection embankments and drains to protect chars from salt water intrusion. It will establish cyclone shelters, livestock refuges and protective belts of trees to mitigate extreme weather events. Through non-governmental organizations (NGOs), it will also support roads, water supplies and other infrastructure, along with support for agriculture, livelihoods and social development initiatives. The six-year project is expected to start in early 2011.  

In these activities, the project will follow the pattern set by three earlier phases of char development that were supported by the Netherlands. But in this fourth phase, special attention will be paid to the likely impacts of climate change.

The most obvious possible impact in these coastal areas is that of sea-level rise. Will newly emerged land be submerged and thus only provide a temporary home for settlers?  Investigations show that this is not likely to happen. Despite rising sea level, the process of accretion and the formation of new land will continue. The rate of accretion now far exceeds the forecasted sea-level rise. The latter ranges from 1 mm to 20 mm per year, while land accretion rates in areas close to the project area have been measured at 40 to 450 mm per year (according to the Feasibility Study of Muhuri Accreted Area). 

In fact, globally most coastal land accretion has taken place at times of sea-level rise, as the lower stages of rivers flow less quickly and deposit more silt in their deltas rather than carrying silt out to sea. What is critical is the balance between accretion and erosion. Professor S. B. Kroonenberg and others of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the University of Colorado in the USA use the term “resilient deltas” to refer to areas where the supply of silt exceeds the rate of sea-level rise.  For the Jamuna-Padma-Maghna delta, the supply of silt far exceeds that which is now accounted for by land accretion and other deposition (see box).  

 

 
  Growing red amaranth on a floating bed. Source: SCBRMP  

However plans for CDSP IV still need to take into account a number of direct impacts of climate change:

The engineering designs for embankments, drains and sluice gates take account of future rises in sea levels. Embankments have been designed to withstand cyclonic storm surges without being breached.  

In addition it will be important to avoid enclosing new charland in embankments before the land has risen sufficiently to allow for adequate drainage. For this reason, two of the five chars in CDSP IV will not be protected with embankments until their land levels rise further.   Instead, the population will be protected with cyclone shelters (also used as schools), livestock refuges and roads, along with other infrastructure such as water supplies and sanitation.

 

Floating vegetable gardens withstand rising water levels

Sunamganj district is particularly vulnerable to climate change. This district forms part of the Sylhet basin of northeastern Bangladesh, which floods extensively every year. Not only do rising sea levels mean this basin will drain more slowly after the monsoon season, but it is also tectonically sinking. Moreover climate change may result in more extreme weather events, and Sunamganj is already vulnerable to sudden flash floods coming down from the hills across border in India.

The Sunamganj Community-Based Resource Management Project (SCBRMP) is being implemented in the district by the Local Government Engineering Department. The project has been testing the idea of floating vegetable gardens, which can survive sudden floods and provide somewhere to grow vegetables in villages that are crowded onto small islands in a virtual inland sea. 

Each floating bed measures approximately 5 m x 1 m and is made of water hyacinth. The beds are mostly used to grow leafy vegetables: red amaranth, mustard (as vegetable), batti shak and kangkong. This system is being tested in four upazilas (sub-districts). Initial feedback from farmers suggests that one bed can produce vegetables worth approximately BDT 2,000 (US$29) in one season. Typically one farmer would have three to five beds.

Edward Mallorie, Development Specialist, and Nowsher Sadar, Agricultural Advisor, SCBRMP
     
 

 
  Floating bed in South Sunamganj. Source: SCBRMP  

Apart from protective infrastructure, the project will have an agricultural development sub-component that will promote saline-tolerant crops and cropping systems. To support this, IFAD has already provided a grant to the International Rice Research Institute to work with local partners on a research programme, Support to Agricultural Research for Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh, which will seek to enable poor farm households in coastal areas to adapt to the effects of climate change.   

CDSP IV will also include a pilot programme, implemented through NGOs, to raise homestead platforms and strengthen house structures against storms. This will take place in chars that are not ready for embankment protection and will focus on the poorest households headed by women. The NGO programme will also promote (though microfinance and training) household livelihoods and provide support for health and human rights. 

CDSP IV will be supported by a technical assistance team to be funded by the Netherlands.  This team will closely monitor project implementation and the resulting impacts – both physical in terms of protection and improvement of land, and socio-economic in terms of reducing the poverty and vulnerability of the population, which now numbers around 155,000 people on the five chars. As a result, useful lessons will be learned on how to protect poor people living in the most vulnerable coastal areas from the impacts of climate change.   

Edward Mallorie, Development Specialist, IFAD Bangladesh

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Reducing climate vulnerability in Cambodian agriculture

 

 
  Mr In Hak walking his bicycle along the rice paddy fields. Svay Rieng, February 2010. Source: UNDP/Arantxa Cedillo  

More than 80 per cent of Cambodia’s 13.4 million people live in rural areas, and a vast majority of them depend on rainfed agriculture. As efforts are being made to help Cambodia diversify its economic base, the agriculture sector is facing a new challenge – the impacts of climate change. IFAD will work with the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Cambodia – through the project Promoting Climate-Resilient Water Management and Agricultural Practices in Rural Cambodia – to help the rural population adapt to climate change.

Challenges

The Cambodian economy is narrowly based on four sectors: garments, tourism, construction and agriculture. Of these four sectors, agriculture accounts for 30 per cent of the gross national product and more than 60 per cent of the country’s total employment. The Cambodian government has identified the agricultural sector as a strategic priority to help drive future growth. Nevertheless, the sector remains underdeveloped, with only 7 per cent of the crop area being irrigated.

The combination of high poverty levels and dependence on rainfed agriculture means that Cambodia is highly vulnerable to changing rainfall patterns and climatic events. There is already emerging evidence that agriculture-based livelihoods in Cambodia are being affected by increased frequency and severity of floods, dry spells and drought events.

Although Cambodia has limited exposure to climate hazards, it is considered to have a low adaptive capacity due to higher levels of poverty. Poor rural people, who have the least resources to cope, will bear the full brunt of climate change impacts.

The new project

In response to these challenges, in September 2009 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Cambodia signed a US$3 million project – Promoting Climate-Resilient Water Management and Agricultural Practices in Rural Cambodia. The four-year project will pilot approaches to reduce the vulnerability of Cambodia’s agricultural sector and water resources management to climate-induced changes. It will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).

IFAD has been identified as a key strategic partner in the implementation of the project, due to its prominence and expertise in agricultural development in Cambodia. As such, the new climate resilience project will be jointly implemented with an on-going IFAD/UNDP-supported project – Livelihood Improvement Project – from which the new project will benefit from IFAD’s technical expertise in agriculture. UNDP will bring climate change mainstreaming technical know-how to the project and MAFF agricultural programmes.

Two provinces – Kratie and Preah Vihear in northeastern and northern Cambodia – have been selected to pilot approaches to promote climate change resilience in the management of water resources for agriculture under both drought and flood conditions. Farmers in Kratie report frequent crop losses due to inundation from the overflow of the Mekong River during the monsoon season.

On the other hand, farmers in Preah Vihear report frequent crop losses due to dry spells and droughts. The project will work with farmers to develop appropriate new rice varieties and farming methods that can withstand changing climate. The project will also demonstrate climate resilience in the management of irrigation systems, which will enable farmers to irrigate their crops during the dry spells and also control the amount of water in their fields during floods.

From post-disaster relief management to anticipatory planning

The dynamic climate trends mentioned above are not appropriately reflected in the Government’s planning and decision-making processes. Climate-change challenges in Cambodia are predominantly addressed through post-disaster relief operations after extreme weather events have occurred. A major constraint in moving from a focus on post-disaster relief management to anticipatory agricultural and water resources planning is that government agencies and community organizations have limited capacity to internalize and develop appropriate longer-term resilience mechanisms to respond to climate change threats and impacts. In this regard, the project will assist local development planners in mainstreaming climate change into commune, district and provincial development plans.

Lessons from the project can be replicated and applied on a larger scale; they will also inform development practitioners and the government on how to prepare the agricultural sector to changes emerging from climate change.

Cecilia Aipira, UNDP Project Management Technical Advisor, Promoting Climate Resilient Water Managementand Agricultural Practices in Rural Cambodia

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Adapting to changing climate variability in tribal fields in India

 

 
  A farmer showing a groundnut crop which is suitable for soil conditions in dry land farming  

“Climate variability is not new to us. Since my childhood I have seen the rain playing hide and seek with us. I have seen some years with heavy rain and other years with very little rain. Because of that we have always tried planting different crops in different fields”, said Mr Sunil Ho, a 50-year-old tribal farmer from Chaibasa district in Jharkhand state of India. IFAD-supported projects and programmes in India are supporting village communities in adapting to changing climate and in adopting mitigating measures through increased knowledge sharing and collaboration with grant fund partners and government agencies.  

 “The problem of rain has become increasingly uncertain over the last five to six years. We are now experiencing longer dry periods and more erratic rainfall. Thanks to the IFAD project we have been able to earn some income from ground nut and pigeon pea cultivation,” said Mr Ho.

Like Mr Ho, a growing number of smallholder farmers in Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh states have been experiencing changing climate variability in recent time. To help farmers adapt to changing climatic variability, the IFAD-supported tribal development projects in the three states have promoted ‘dry land crops’ such as pigeon pea, chick pea, black gram and ground nut in partnership with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).Through the project interventions, cultivable wastelands and underutilized lands have been developed and reclaimed for cultivation of  legumes and oil seed crops.

In the Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme (OTELP) the adoption of these crops is gradually changing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers under changing climatic conditions. In 2009, the farmers of Koraput and Gajapati districts in Orissa earned on average INR 12,200 (US$272) per year from groundnut cultivation alone. Before the programme, they were not earning anything.

 

Little water, lots of hope
The story of Mr Basudev Mandinga, a tribal farmer living in Pongapalur village, is a story of hope. His family cultivates traditional ragi crop (a kind of millet), but continuous erratic rainfall over the last few years left the family losing all hope of cultivating enough for their livelihood.

In early 2009, he and his wife attended a training programme conducted by OTELP on integrated farming of ragi and groundnut that was developed with ICRISAT. Reluctantly, he volunteered to take the groundnut seeds that OTELP made available and planted them along with his ragi crop as demonstrated in the training programme.

At the end of the season, Basudev earned INR. 8,500 (US$189) from the sale of groundnut and also harvested twice the quantity of ragi as compared to previous years. “I never expected that a small change in practice could result in so much. It was a turnaround for me. Now I am learning how to cultivate with less water and low inputs to maximize my income,” said Basudev encouragingly.

The project in Orissa collaborates with MART, a non-governmental organization that specializes in marketing and business development for marketing of the groundnut, pigeon pea and other commodities.


 

Cultivating Niger oil brings more money to the family

Taking advantage of the land development programme of CTDP, Mr Parchhito Yadav from Talasili village in Manora block of Jashpur district in Chhattisgarh has developed his upland wasteland for Niger cultivation.

In 2009, he earned INR 36,000 (US$800) from two acres of Niger cultivation. Along with Niger cultivation, and with the help of CTDP, Mr. Yadav introduced apiculture and he earned an additional INR 3,000 (US$67) from the sale of honey.

At least 4,500 smallholder households in Jashpur and Surguja Districts have reported average annual earnings of INR 20,000 (US$445) Niger cultivation through CTDP interventions.

In Chhattisgarh, the IFAD-supported Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programme (CTDP) has scaled up traditionally produced Niger oil seed, which grows well in areas that are dry or have little rain.

Changing climate variability has also brought beneficial conditions for the high-altitude villages in Uttarakhand under the IFAD-supported Uttarakhand Livelihood Improvement Project. More and more farmers in these villages are taking advantage of increasing warmer periods to cultivate off-season vegetables.

 

Cultivating off-season vegetables

In the village of Kurn  in Tehri district situated 2,500 metres above sea level, off-season vegetable cultivation was not carried out until 2008 due to lack of technical know-how and difficult market linkages. The village is ten kilometres away from the nearest motorable road. The ULIP project helped the village form nine self-help groups covering all 105 households.

As part of the social mobilization process, the project motivated the households of the village to grow two crops of off-season vegetables each year to provide nutritional security and income from the sale of the surplus. The project introduced off-season vegetables such as tomatoes, green chill, eggplant and capsicum, which were demonstrated in 30 sites. Road connections to the village were established by repairing the existing road.

Sixty households replicated the demonstrations, and during 2008-2009 three tons of off-season vegetables were produced and each of the 60 households earned an average of INR 3,000 (US$ 67).

The cultivation of off-season vegetable is picking up in several other high-altitude villages in Uttarakhand. The project is also addressing the challenges of introducing off-season vegetables, such as maintaining soil fertility and controlling diseases and pests, by introducing capacity building programmes and technical support linkages with the line departments.

IFAD-supported projects in India have also been adopting climate change mitigation measures. Activities include:

Recently, many of the projects and programmes have started converging with ongoing government programmes to strengthen the processes of adaptation and mitigation to changing climate. Many of the programme villages in Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya are taking advantage of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaranteed Scheme for creating water harvesting structures and carrying out plantation activities. The Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programme in both Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh has successfully promoted solar energy by linking with the non-conventional energy resource agencies of the respective states. In Uttarakhand, Another IFAD project has linked with the State Organic Board for promoting organic farming. Similarly, the Meghalaya Livelihoods Improvement Project is working very closely with State Horticulture Department to promote organic and nutritional farming under the National Horticulture Mission.

 Anupam Trivedi, Deputy Programme Director, CTDP, Pawan Kumar, Manager (M&E), ULIP, Pravanjan Mohapatra, Programme Officer (M&E), OTELP, Vincent Darlong, Country Programme Officer, India Country Office

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Alliances to help herders in Mongolia adapt to climate change

 

 
  Norjmaa, age 30, milks horses in Tsenkher Soum, Mongolia, part of the project area. Source: Susan Beccio, IFAD  

The livestock sector in Mongolia is threatened by increased pressure on pastures, degradation of natural resources, and worsening climatic conditions. Responding to these challenges, IFAD has prepared a proposal to contribute to rural poverty reduction through improved pasture management and market access. With additional funding from the Special Climate Change Fund managed by the Global Environment Facility, the project will also increase resilience to changing climatic conditions – strengthening the adaptive capacity of the livestock system as well as the capacity of herders' groups to address climate-induced changes.

Livelihoods threatened by mismanagement of natural resources and climate change

Livestock is the basis of Mongolia’s rural economy, contributing about 90 per cent of agricultural gross domestic product. Livestock production in the country is mainly carried out by small households living at a subsistence level. The number of small herders has increased significantly since the transition to a market economy in the early 1990s, when livestock became the last-resort source of income for many people.

For centuries, Mongolia's herders were nomadic, but many have abandoned their traditional practices as a consequence of the transition to the free-market economy. The result has been overgrazing and degradation of pastures, permanent occupation of reserve pastures and areas close to water supply, and destruction of the overall ecological balance on which herding in Mongolia has relied for centuries.

During the past decade, grazing pressure has increased in the central and western aimags. (The aimag is the administrative seat of local government, home to legal bodies, theatres, hospitals, businesses, schools and industry.) Increased drought in the country has resulted in the decrease of palatable pasture plants and grass, and reduced availability of water and supplementary feed for animals.

Climate change is worsening the situation. In the past 60 years Mongolia has experienced an increase of 1.8ºC in annual mean temperatures, changes in the duration of heat and cold waves, and changes in the patterns and predictability of rainfall.

Melting of high mountain glaciers has increased, and permafrost is degrading intensively. The ground water table is decreasing in arid regions, and degradation and desertification of the land have also been intensive due to shortage of water and precipitation.

Climate change has also increased the frequency and intensity of extreme events such as drought and dzud (harsh winter). These changes have had and will continue to have significant negative impacts on the livestock sector and overall economic development in Mongolia.

Another ‘tragedy of the commons’ story

Under the current open-access conditions there are few incentives for herders to apply sustainable pastureland management practices or to control the number of their livestock. This results in a cycle of increasing livestock numbers, degradation of pastures and declining livestock health – a cycle that could easily lead to a collapse of the livestock production system in the face of climate-induced shocks such as drought and dzud. A high level of livestock deaths is followed by a recovery of pasture productivity when grazing pressure is reduced and weather conditions improve; and leads again to a build-up in livestock numbers as the cycle resumes.

In the absence of a return to sustainable pasture land management it seems inevitable that livestock growth and worsening pasture degradation will lead to increasing fodder deficiencies and declining livestock productivity. This in turn will increase the susceptibility of animals to climatic shocks and decrease the ability of herders to undertake preparedness activities and respond to shocks when they occur.

Helping to adapt to climatic change and improving pasture management

IFAD will assist the Government of Mongolia in tackling these problems through the Project for Market and Pasture Management Development. The four-year project, which will begin at the end of 2010, will contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable livelihood improvement of poor herders and households in the aimags of Huskhul, Arhangai, Bulgan, Henti and Gobi-Altai. In particular, the project will provide support in the following areas:

Additionally, the project will support training programmes for adult vocational education that can provide skills and qualifications to enable participants (herder groups and households) to seek non-herding employment, increasing their job and income opportunities.  

Finally, awareness-raising activities for climate change will be promoted, applying the Livestock Early Warning System, which provides drought and winter disaster warning for herders in the project area.

The financial resources to support the project activities will be provided by the Special Climate Change Fund managed by the Global Environment Facility, to cover climate change adaptation costs that are additional to “business as usual” rural development. The project will be fully aligned to the recommendations of the IFAD Climate Change Strategy approved during the Executive Board meeting of April 2010, especially those regarding leveraging of additional resources to cover adaptation costs.

J. Quintana, Programme Manager, and S. Donato, Project Officer, Environment and Climate Division, IFAD and R. van Asch, [email protected], International Consultant

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Technology-based solutions help smallholders adapt to climate change in Pakistan

 

 
  A water retention basin in the Fatehjang sub-district. Source: Giuseppe Bizzarri, IFAD  

In Pakistan, increasing temperatures coupled with changes in rainfall patterns are reducing water availability and increasing the vulnerability of crops. Adaptation in the water sector is therefore critical for both irrigated and rainfed agriculture. In partnership with the Global Environment Facility, IFAD is developing a project funded through the Special Climate Change Fund that aims to reduce the vulnerability of production systems to climate change, by combining traditional and technology-based solutions.

Some statistics

Agriculture is still the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy. It accounts for 23 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, employs 43 per cent of its labour force, and contributes 60 per cent of export earnings. Over 65 per cent of the population lives in rural areas. There are over 4 million family farms, with an average farm size of 4.7 hectares. Arable crops provide 65 per cent of agricultural gross domestic product, livestock 31 per cent, and fishing and forestry 4 per cent.

The challenges of increased water scarcity

Water for irrigation is critical for agriculture in most of the country. Nearly 80 per cent of the cropped area is irrigated, and agriculture is by far the largest user of water, consuming on average about 95 per cent of Pakistan’s available water resources.Irrigated land produces 90 per cent of total farm output. Water scarcity is already a problem in Pakistan, but in recent years the country has been experiencing decreasing trends in annual precipitation.

Rising temperatures coupled with changes in rainfall patterns are expected to increase the net irrigation water requirements of crops. Furthermore, climatic changes are likely to exacerbate current environmental problems, increasing land degradation and shortfalls in food production. In turn, farmers will be forced to make changes in the existing cropping patterns and will be more prone to other socio-economic vulnerabilities such as increased poverty and migration.

The Government of Pakistan recognizes that water is a critical sector of intervention for climate change adaptation. Adaptation measures in this sector are needed to ensure that the Pakistani agricultural production system is more resilient to climate change and rural livelihoods are less vulnerable to climate impacts.

IFAD’s response

In response to this challenge, IFAD is developing the Rural Livelihoods Climate Change Adaptation Support Programme, funded through the Special Climate Change Fund managed by the Global Environment Facility. The programme will aim to reduce the additional stresses and associated costs that climate change poses to the Pakistani agricultural production system. The programme will focus on water resources as a critical factor to sustain agricultural production in a context of increased climate variability.

The programme will support an adaptation strategy in the agricultural sector that combines traditional and technological measures. The latter will entail the adoption of innovative irrigation technologies, including those making use of renewable energies. Examples include solar-powered drip irrigation systems and hydroponic systems, which have proven to be effective in contexts of drought and limited water supply, and suitable for “micro” application at the community level. The use of renewable energy-based solutions also contributes to emission reductions and provides a model for low-carbon development.

Furthermore, the introduction of improved and more drought-resistant crop varieties combined with the promotion of intercropping production systems will reduce farmers’ exposure to crop failure. It will also reduce their economic vulnerability to climate change by increasing yields for consumption or for sale.

 

Rutkoi means spate irrigation.

Karez is a traditional method of irrigation in which groundwater is tapped by a tunnel. It is a community enterprise managed by tribal tradition and run by social control.  

 

Traditional water management practices and techniques such as rutkoi irrigation systems and karaze will be strengthened and/or re-introduced in the project area. These measures will enable farmers to better manage water resources in a context of increased drought as a consequence of climate change.

They will also help maintain agricultural production even in the presence of deteriorated environmental conditions (higher temperatures and increased drought) in irrigated areas, but also in some semi-arid areas.

Possible approaches to transfer technologies include the FAO-developed farmer field school, based on “learning by doing”, which enables communities to take ownership of actions. It also provides a platform for farming communities to share experiences and knowledge, and consequently improve their agricultural practices with new techniques that are more responsive to climate change threats.

The programme will also support the creation of an enabling environment for sustainable management of land and water resources. It will promote local understanding of climate change impacts on land and water management. In addition, information related to traditional practices for sustainable land management and water conservation will be documented and disseminated; and farmers and their organizations will be trained on adaptation to drought and use of irrigation technologies. At the government level the programme will promote mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into agricultural sector-related policy and planning. Training activities will be carried out for national and local officials, and targeted studies will be conducted on climate change impacts and adaptation measures.

Expected benefits from adaptation

Adaptation benefits are expected to materialize in the short-term – by helping farmers to cope with current rainfall variability – and in the long term – by helping farmers better adapt their farming systems to future climate change impacts. The use of renewable energies also offers the possibility to promote a carbon-neutral rural development path through the use of clean and resource-efficient technologies.

The programme will also contribute to increasing integration between agricultural and environmental policy and operations by mainstreaming climate change adaptation into medium- and long-term sectoral planning, as well as by raising awareness of the impacts of climate change on local agricultural. It is also expected to help create green job opportunities, thus contributing to economic diversification and poverty alleviation by boosting the local economy and reducing migration.

Lessons learned from this project will be disseminated through IFAD’s regional knowledge network and other knowledge vehicles. In this way, successful experiences will be able to be replicated or scaled-up in other areas.

J. Quintana, Programme Manager, and S. Donato, Climate Change Programme Officer, Environment and Climate Division, IFAD

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Climate-proofing of local development planning in Tra Vinh Province in the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam

 

 
  Presentation by participants of the Climate Proofing results during the pilot-test in Ngu Lac commune. Source: GTZ  

The Poverty Alleviation in Rural Areas (PARA) project of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in cooperation with the IFAD-supported Programme for Improving Market Participation of the Poor (IMPP) supports the Government of Viet Nam in implementing its poverty alleviation strategy in Ha Tinh and Tra Vinh provinces. To respond to the area’s vulnerability to global climate change, a sub-project was integrated in PARA: “Climate-proofing of local development planning in Tra Vinh Province in the Mekong-Delta, Vietnam”. The sub-project supports the integration of information on the risks that climate change poses on local development planning. The results will be used in the policy dialogue on climate in Viet Nam.

Tra Vinh province is situated in the Mekong Delta. It is a very low-lying province: approximately half of its land area is less than 1 metre above sea level. In addition, the province is located between the two largest arms of the Mekong River. According to the Third Status Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is predicted that the Mekong Delta, including Tra Vinh province, will be among the regions that will be affected earliest and most severely by sea level rise and saltwater intrusion as well as by the increasing number of extreme weather events, such as flooding after heavy rains. The consequences that are to be expected from global climate change not only endanger efforts to alleviate poverty, but are likely to exacerbate poverty. The likely consequences of global climate change are not yet reflected in public planning.

The goal of the sub-project, which has been operating for one year, is to increase the adaptive capacity in the region by integrating global climate change issues in poverty reduction and community planning. It is financed by the GTZ-Climate Protection Programme for Developing Countries.

To improve the knowledge base on global climate change and develop a model for integrating climate change risks in local development planning and in the promotion of value chains, the sub-project is conducting the following activities:

Based on these activities, the sub-project will pilot Climate Proofing in five of the IMPP-Tra Vinh project-communes (see map below) to identify and document local measures being taken to adapt to existing impacts of global climate change within the framework of value chain promotion. In addition, lessons learned will be disseminated, and networking will be promoted among other climate projects and with national institutions in the Mekong Delta, thereby fostering regional and national knowledge transfer.

 

GTZ Climate-Proofing Tool

The aim of the systematic approach of the GTZ Climate-Proofing Tool is to increase the chance of success of planned and implemented activities in view of climate change. The tool enables its users to : identify activities at risk of being threatened by climate change; and to analyse if and what additional measures are necessary to implement activities successfully.

The tool consists of three steps: (1) analysis of adaptation needs; (2) selection of feasible adaptation options; and (3) integration of the selected adaptation options into the planning process.

The pilot communes of the sub-project are Dai Phuoc, Hiep Hoa, Hiep Thanh, My Chanh, Ngu Lac.

Climate change risk maps are being developed thanks to support by the DRAGON Institute of Can Tho University, a research centre for climate change in the Mekong Delta. The institute has developed a meta-database over the last months for Tra Vinh Province. Based on this information, the climate change risk maps are being developed for use during local development planning and climate proofing.

In addition, the DRAGON Institute conducted qualitative interviews with farmers, seed centres, rice millers and engineers (irrigation and infrastructure constructors) in November 2009 in the five pilot communes. The aim was to receive a preliminary overview of the problems caused by climatic/environmental impacts, as perceived by different members of the province.

The key changes perceived and influencing peoples’ lives and work were higher temperature, more storms, rainfall patterns (perceived as being less but more extreme compared to previous years), more droughts, a shorter rainy season, and longer dry season. Dry season saline water intrusion still appears to be a change of minor importance, although it is growing in some parts of Tra Vinh Province.

Based on local and scientific knowledge, the GTZ Climate Proofing Tool has been adapted to the local context and pilot-tested. A first training for local moderators and facilitators on the tool and Climate Proofing workshops in the five pilot communes will being taking place until the end May 2010. With support from GTZ, the most important adaptation measures identified will then be implemented from June to August 2010 in each of the five pilot communes.

Anja Weber, Associate Expert, GTZ, Viet Nam

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Documenting community perceptions of and responses to climate change in the Himalayas: preliminary results

 

 
  Participants presenting the results of their PRA field exercises during the Training of Trainers Workshop  

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) based in Kathmandu, Nepal entered into an agreement in late 2009 with IFAD’s Asia and the Pacific Division for a technical assistance grant – Livelihoods and Ecosystem Services in the Himalayas: Enhancing Adaptation Capacity and Resilience of the Poor to Climate and Socioeconomic Changes” – to be implemented in Bhutan, India and Nepal. A unanimous recommendation from consultations conducted in the three countries was the need to document community perceptions on climate change and its impacts on livelihood activities, and communities’ responses. There was agreement that building upon local knowledge is the foundation for formulating effective adaptation strategies.

Documentation: who, where and how

Documenting community perceptions demands a participatory approach, and in this particular case the diverse range of issues centring on climate change implied a level of complexity that would require a robust and incisive process. To incorporate these demands, ICIMOD developed a Participatory Toolkit based on common participatory rapid appraisal (PRA) tools to document community perceptions.

 

Projects being documented

  • Agriculture Marketing and Enterprise Promotion Project (AMEPP), Bhutan;
  • Aajeevika(ULIP), Meghalaya
  • Livelihood Improvement Project (MLIP), North Eastern Region
  • Community Resource Management Project – II (NERCORMP II) , India;
  • Western Uplands Poverty Alleviation Project (WUPAP), Nepal
  •  Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Promotion Project (LFLP), Nepal

The documentations are being conducted in six IFAD projects in Bhutan, India and Nepal. Each project has selected two districts with six villages per district for the documentations. The selection of the villages is based on three variables: elevation, accessibility (or remoteness) and marginality (cultural or socio-political). Thus, 72 villages will be covered. In addition, NERCORMP and WUPAP have each selected an additional district, bringing an additional 12 villages into the process. 

Preliminary results of perceptions

Communities across the Himalayas perceive a variety of changes in weather events and the local climate. In the western Himalayas, villagers in western Nepal report warmer winters and reduced snowfall over the last few years. In Uttarakhand, India, villagers report a lack of snowfall over the last ten years. In the eastern Himalayas, villagers perceive delayed and erratic rainfall, longer dry periods and increased dry spells between rainfall events; they also report heavier rainfall when the rains do come. In addition, villagers in Meghalaya, India report increased incidences of severe thunderstorms during the monsoons. Across the Himalayas, communities perceive delayed rainfall and longer periods of drought.

Community responses to change

Communities across the Himalayas are responding by devising a variety of short-term coping mechanisms or adopting long-term adaptive strategies. Responses are still evolving but nonetheless reflect the resilient capacity of rural mountain communities.  

Conclusion

It is clear from the preliminary results of the PRA exercises that communities are perceiving climate change and its impacts on their livelihood activities. The impacts of delayed rainfall and snowfall, prolonged dry periods and erratic rainfall patterns are matters of serious and immediate concern for the mountain communities. Communities are also aware that some of these impacts may not be attributable directly to climate change, but may be exacerbated by weather events.

For example, communities in Garo Hills attribute increased water scarcity in recent years to the expansion of cashewnut plantations, which have reduced the secondary fallow forests and depleted the undergrowth, thereby resulting in increased surface runoff and decreased soil water retention. However, they also realize that the drying up of water sources in such areas in recent years has been exacerbated by prolonged dry periods and reduced rainfall. The incidence of water scarcity in Tehri Garhwal and other parts of Uttarakhand may similarly be caused by changes in land use patterns and then rendered more acute due to climate variations.

Responses of communities to climate change and its impacts vary from short-term coping responses to evolving long-term adaptive strategies. In some cases, the stress levels have forced them to shift occupations or, in extremely drastic situations, to migrate. However, one lesson that is emerging clearly is that despite changes, communities are showing their capacity for resilience and innovation.

Dhrupad Choudhury, Coordinator IFAD Grants, SLPR ICIMOD and Anmol Jain, ICIMOD Consultant

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Increasing farmers’ capacity in climate change mitigation and adaptation: lessons from environmental service reward schemes in Asia and Africa

 

 
  Jungle rubber agroforestry to support people's livelihoods and environmental service provision: a typical landscape in Bungo, Jambi. Source: Endri Martini  

IFAD is working with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Asia and Africa on testing rewards for environmental services schemes that can benefit rural livelihoods and increase provision of these services. Providing environmental services motivates farmers to increase tree cover and use a variety of species on agricultural lands. Diversity – especially of livelihood incomes – can reduce vulnerability: Farmers who have a number of income options from tree products may have a better ability to cope with climate stress compared to farmers who depend on a single crop for their living.

Climate change exacerbates the ability of the global community to reach its sustainable development objectives and is considered to have significant – and mostly negative – impacts on food production, water supply and disease growth in many parts of the world.

To overcome the climate change problems, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) introduced two possible actions: climate mitigation – actions to permanently eliminate or reduce the long-term risk and hazard of climate change – and climate adaptation –ability of a system to adjust to climate change. Human mitigating and adaptive capacity to climate change depends on many factors, such as the stability of livelihoods and institutions, the likelihood of violent conflict, and the soundness of landscape mosaics and environmental services they provide.

The IFAD-funded projects – Rewarding Upland Poor for Environmental Services in Asia (RUPES) Phase II and Pro-poor Environmental Services in Africa (PRESA) – coordinated by the ICRAF are working with environmental services (ES) issues by establishing a series of action research sites to test rewards for environmental services schemes that can benefit rural livelihoods and increase ES provision. Four types of environmental services are recognized globally: biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, landscape beauty and watershed function.

As shown by the case studies below, rewards for environmental services (RES) bridges environmental service provision and people’s livelihoods by motivating farmers to increase tree cover with a variety of species on agricultural lands. Diversity – especially of livelihood incomes – can reduce vulnerability. Farmers who have a  number of income options from tree products may have a better ability to cope with climate stress compared to farmers who depend on a single crop for their living. In addition, agroforestry systems provide better environmental services compared to monoculture systems.

From the RUPES and PRESA experiences, the ICRAF scientists observe a clear trade-off between farmers’ short-term productivity and ES provision. For example, farmers who practice monoculture farming systems intensively, or only cultivate a single economically valuable type of plantation, might have a higher financial benefit because they can harvest a larger amount in one period. However, a monoculture system mostly starts with land clearance that destroys native vegetation and forest and tends to reduce flora and fauna diversity and carbon absorbed within the agro-ecosystem. In other words, it decreases the capacity of the agricultural system to contribute to climate change mitigation – biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration.

In Asia, the RUPES pilot site in Bungo, Jambi, Indonesia presents an example of how jungle rubber or rubber agroforest can provide a compromise between farmers’ need to earn income and the need to conserve biodiversity. In Bungo, rubber farms consist of small, intensively managed rubber plots and small extensively managed plots of jungle rubber. Farmers regard rubber agroforest as a second-best management system, after the more intensive monoculture plantations they would plant if they had the resources to do so.

A comparative survey of rubber agroforest’s biodiversity indicated that out of a total of 850 plants, 60 per cent of the species were found in both jungle rubber and natural forest. Farmers might gain relatively higher income by planting more intensive rubber or oil palm plantations, but it will reduce the biodiversity conservation services provided by the richness of jungle rubber species. Therefore, the RUPES team is exploring potential reward options to motivate farmers to providing biodiversity services. So far, progress is influencing government policy through two forms of government recognition for RUPES’ efforts: a prestigious environmental award at the national level; and a village forest title awarding security for forest management by the village.

In Africa, the PRESA pilot site in Western Uganda is helping farmers to plant and care for trees on their farmlands and is exploring opportunities for them to earn carbon credit funds. This dual action serves to address the rising demand for agriculture production, including timber, and the subsequent increase of deforestation and threats to plant and animal species in the area.

Researchers working closely with PRESA are assessing the socioeconomic impact of community carbon projects. Further research is geared towards analysing the potential for agroforestry systems – such as coffee and fruit trees – to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and increase farmers’ income. ICRAF scientists proved that agroforestry systems can sequester much greater quantities of carbon compared to agricultural systems without trees or monocultures. Read more in ‘Trees on farms’ by clicking on the link below.

Another analysis of ICRAF shows that agroforestry systems can help protect soil and maintain water quality and quantity – in short, increase watershed services – while simultaneously generating livelihood options for larger populations that could be supported by natural forests.

ICRAF scientists through the RUPES and PRESA projects indicated that increased productivity of farm land coupled with increased environmental service provision needs farmers’ awareness of the value of plant diversification, and the right choice of species and its location. The challenge is to provide growers with quality planting material and markets they need to maximize livelihood returns while realizing environmental goods and services.

These actions also need to be combined with integrated land use management and supported by an enabling policy environment. Monetary rewards from outsiders might not be enough to alter farmers’ land-practice decisions for better ES provision. However, if farmers included other benefits they receive from agroforestry, such as timber, fruit, medicine and other higher-value products, this could alter their decision calculations. An RES scheme can motivate this process.  Within the RES framework, farmers enhancing and maintaining tree cover at critical ecosystem bottlenecks should receive higher rewards than others.

As the next steps, RUPES and PRESA will continue to build awareness and capacity of relevant stakeholders on the issues of climate change mitigation and adaptation by introducing mechanisms and instruments for supporting multi-purpose trees on farmlands – or agrodiversity. RES schemes will more highly value trees located where they will have greater benefit for ecosystem services than those in locations where they will have less impact.

Beria Leimona, Project Coordinator for RUPES, Meine van Noordwijk, Chief Science Advisor, ICRAF, Thomas Yatich, Project Coordinator for PRESA

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IFAD-supported project in Mongolia wins the ‘Silk Road Award 2009’ as the best poverty reduction project

The Rural Poverty-Reduction Programme (RPRP) financed by IFAD in Mongolia was selected as winner of the Silk Road Award 2009 of the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI). The award ceremony took place on 10 February 2010 and was organized jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Affairs. Before the ceremony, S. Batbold, Minister of Foreign Trade, and S. Demberel, Chairman of the MNCCI, presented an overview of foreign trade in Mongolia and the main activities of the MNCCI for 2009.

More than 150 people attended the ceremony. Over 30 projects from eight sectors, such as geology, mining, industrial, education and health etc, were nominated for the award.  Among the candidates nominated were World Vision (an international NGO), Grassroot Fund (of the Japanese Embassy), a dairy project (funded by the Japanese Government and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations), and a potato project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. 

Many foreign and international agencies, such as foreign investors, joint venture companies, diplomatic missions, international organizations and donor projects, play an important role in fulfilling the MNCCI’s aspirations for an economic and socially prosperous Mongolia.

To recognize international efforts made towards this goal, the MNCCI has held the Silk Road Award Ceremony since 2007. The award recognizes the significant contributions that these organizations make toward economic development. The award also helps to raise awareness about various efforts made by international and bilateral organizations and to encourage more bilateral and multilateral collaboration towards Mongolia’s economic development and sustainability.

In presenting the award to IFAD, the speaker noted that the objective of the RPRP, which started in 2003, was to achieve a sustainable increase in productive capacity and income for poor herders, cultivators and other poor rural households and to offer increased access to economic and social resources, including education and health in four aimags.

Results have been continuously monitored during project implementation and show the following impacts:

Ariunaa Byambasuren, Office Manager, Rural Poverty-Reduction Programme

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