Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change

This special issue in English and Arabic of Participatory Learning and Action focuses on recent approaches to climate change adaptation which are both participatory and community-based adaptation (CBA) approaches , building on the priorities, knowledge, and capacities of local people. It discusses how community-based approaches to climate change have emerged, and the similarities and differences between CBA and other participatory development and disaster risk reduction (DRR) approaches.

The document highlights "innovative participatory methods which are developing to help communities analyse the causes and effects of climate change, integrate scientific and community knowledge of climate change, and plan adaptation measures. Whilst CBA is a relatively new field, some lessons and challenges are beginning to emerge, including how to integrate disaster risk reduction, livelihoods and climate change adaptation work, climate change knowledge gaps, issues around the type and quality of participation, and the need for policies and institutions that support CBA."

The issue has 3 sections:

1. Reflections on participatory processes and practice in community-based adaptation to climate change
2. Participatory tool-based case studies
   
3. Participatory tools, step-by-step.
   

In addition there are "Tips for Trainers" on communication maps, a participatory tool to understand communication patterns and relationships from Nepal, and "Rivers of Life", a tool for personal reflection. Resource and news sections are included also.

The overview defines community-based adaptation as "community-led process, based on communities’ priorities, needs, knowledge, and capacities, which should empower people to plan for and cope with the impacts of climate change." The field draws on participatory DRR approaches, incorporating the effects or potential effects of climate change. For example: "Christian Aid...has developed a climate risk cycle management approach to development planning which builds on the expertise and experience of existing DRR and livelihoods programmes, using existing tools wherever possible. In the model, predictable risks are anticipated, long- and short-term risk reduction activities are integrated into livelihood development, and the time spent in emergency or rehabilitation is minimised." (Diagram on page 16)

Participatory methods for CBA include such tools as: mental models; seasonal calendars; timelines; community mapping and modelling; transect walks; ranking; dream maps and drawings; theatre, poems, and songs; participatory video; stakeholder analysis; and key informant discussions. The tools are applied as:

• Co-learning about climate change, drawing on both local and external scientific knowledge
• Scientific climate change data put into use by making it accessible to communities, e.g. weather forecasts for farmers
  
• Local knowledge about climate change - drawing on generating and accessing local knowledge, e.g. rain calendars in Malawi to analyse changes in rainfall over the past 5 years or accessing the memories of older community members as a source of information on climate trends
  
• Integration of local and external knowledge and planning adaptation activities, e.g. farmer-to-farmer visits or participatory video to record and spread adaptation methods or children developing theatre, songs, and dances on hazards and risk reduction, such as tree planting on riverbanks. Other projects include making paper relief map models to identify important areas for livelihoods and what protections are available in risk-prone areas, as well as which vulnerable groups live there and what resources for evacuation planning are available. "The information from these models can also be input into GIS [geographic information system] ... for use by local government or scientists (subject to the communities’ permission), and can easily be updated."
  

Lessons cited here include the following:

• Knowledge is not always available, accessible, or credible but is vital to adaptation.
  
• Better climate change models for prediction are needed, as are resources for weather stations, for example, so accurate information can get to local areas where it is needed.
  
• Farmer analysis, for example, of weather, needs to be taken seriously and traditional systems of forecasting analysed for effectiveness in the face of climate change.
  
• "Often the priorities and interests of outsiders override those of communities, and there is still a lot of ‘doing to’ communities, rather than communities taking charge." (Table 2 on page 26 is a typology of participation)
  
• Difficulties with the concept of ‘community’ include the segmentation and varying capacity of segments of communities, as well as varying vulnerability.
  
• Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of CBA activities will also be a challenge.
  
• Policies and institutions for CBA affect its application and available support at local, district, national, and international levels.
  

The editors conclude that: "To be successful, community-based adaptation programmes will need to ensure that communities are able to participate in identifying priorities, both local and regional, and in planning, implementing, monitoring, and reviewing adaptation....They will also need to build the capacity of local organisations and local governments to enable them to effectively take part in decision-making processes.