CBA7: Highlights from day three

Missed our live blog and webcast? Here are some highlights from the third day of the 7th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation.

Blog by

Suzanne Fisher

24 April 2013

Highlights from day three

View the story "CBA7: Day 3" on StorifyCBA7: Day 3Missed our live blog and web cast? Here are some highlights from the third day of the 7th Community-based adaptation conference. Storified by Suzanne FisherMurray· Wed, Apr 24 2013 06:19:13

Media coverage of CBA7

CBA7-related coverage includes a Reuters AlertNet blog by Suzanne Fisher published at CBA7 on how challenging inequality is at the heart of climate change adaptation, and a SciDev.net blog by Daniel Nelson on thinking about climage change adaptation as preparing for an alien invasion.
Boosting women's rights is essential for #climate change #adaptation ow.ly/kmWAc #CBA7 @IIED #womenAlertNetClimate change adaptation: think of it as preparing for an alien invasion bit.ly/XQRsLM #CBA7 #climate #sci4devSciDev.Net

Human rights, equity and the legal aspects of climate change adaptation

The Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, introduced the session. She said that the rule of law needed to be brought into the climate change process at the local, national and international levels in order to protect rights, reduce risk, build resilience and empower people. Robinson also discussed the Climate Justice Dialogue, which the Mary Robinson Foundation has established with the World Resources Institute. She said the dialogue was an innovative project that would mobilise political will and creative thinking to shape an equitable and ambitious international climate agreement in 2015.Mary Robinson's now speaking at #CBA7 on human rights equity & legal aspects of CBA. Watch live web cast: iied.org/cba7IIEDMrs Robinson #CBA7: "we need an intl. climate agreement because there is a certain point beyond which people will not be able to adapt"Mary Robinson MRFCJ“Narratives focusing on fairness and justice are needed to build the political will on #climate change” – says Mary Robinson at #cba7Suzanne FisherMurrayNo need to re-invent the wheel! Tried & tested: key lessons from @IIED's work with#climate change #adaptation bit.ly/11Duohl #CBA7cccomdevWe need to mobilise political will and creative thinking to achieve climate justice @MRFCJ #CBA7Plan EmergenciesMary Robinson 'equity and human rights aspects of #climatechange adaptation need more focus' @MRFCJ #cba7paul mitchellRT @IIED “I hope you’ll continue to work with us to help us mobilise CBA community/ constituency around justice and equity” M Robinson #cba7Mary Robinson MRFCJRT @ptmitchell Mary Robinson speaking on #climate #justice at #cba7 instagram.com/p/YevzQ8noWo/Mary Robinson MRFCJ@MRFCJ Mary Robinson hosting climate justice dialogue in Bangladesh to build 2015 climate change agreement #cba7 pic.twitter.com/7KKIZkcxVULisa HookNew climate agreement needs to recognise the impacts of climate change on poor and vulnerable populations says Mary Robinson @MRFCJ #CBA7ACCCRNTo read more about teh session currently taking place #CBA7, go to mrfcj.org/news/2013/mary…Mary Robinson MRFCJ“I hope you’ll continue to work with us to help us mobilise the CBA community / constituency around justice and equity” Mary Robinson #cba7IIED"we're in a learning curve, we don't know all the answers - we need you" - MR at #CBA7Mary Robinson MRFCJWhat does #climate #justice and #equity mean? mrfcj.org/about/our_work… #cba7 @MRFCJpaul mitchellIs migration to manage changes in rainfall variability a good thing or a bad thing – and is it part of climate change adaptation or not? Koko Warner from the United Nations University said it depends on the household. In Thailand the government has invested in diversified livelihoods. So people there migrate to build their resilience to changing weather patterns, says Warner, who presented case studies. But in Vietnam people migrated and became worse off, with farmers competing for work. In brief, says Warner, migration is one way to manage risk, but mobility needs to be a choice made by households, and not something they have to do to survive.
Kevin Henry of CARE and Koko Warner, UN University, discussing new research into migration and climate change. #CBA7Mary Robinson MRFCJMigration is a form of resilience to climate change but important that its a choice #cba7Lisa HookThis comment was made by a virtual participant Keshab from Nepal, who actively commented on the live blog throughout the day: "In Nepal, temporary migration of youths to foreign countries for low profile jobs has increased work load of women members of the community. However, it has let females take part in social events, programs, and saving groups that has contributed to build their capacity to deal with various situation. The sad part is that productivity in the farm land has decreased due to labor shortage, use of environment unfriendly technologies, and climatic variability. But foreign remittance has played vital role to sustain their livelihoods in food crisis. If there are obstacles in the food supply system from low land to high land in Nepalese context, they will have nothing to do even with foreign remittance. In our experience, promotion of integrated home gardens has become beneficial for disadvantaged families to get their family nutrition and dietary diversity and is found resilient to the temporary migration of male members of the community." Thanks for taking part Keshab!
"We can't understand #climatechange #adaptation until we understand people and systems" UN University's Koko Warner at #cba7paul mitchell.@Koko_Warner: 'How does rainfall variability affect food security and migration?' Findings from the 'Where the Rain Falls' project. #CBA7Steve Roddick“There are over 1000 agreements on environmental law – they are most agreements at the international level, but people aren’t aware of that” says Professor Cosmin Corendea, United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human security. Corendea said there were benefits to using what he referred to as "international hybrid laws".

So what can law bring to climate change? Environmental laws have a stronger resonance in international law compared to human rights law, he said. Corendea said people should be asserting their rights and that a bottom up approach is important. For example, under international law, climate change refugees don't exist. His advice: “Don’t wait for an international convention. We need a progressive interpretation of the law – don’t wait for the international arena to react.”
"We need a better understanding of what the law can bring to #climatechange and community adaptation. Cosmin Corendea UN University at #cba7paul mitchellUnder international law #climatechange refugees don't exist. The poor beg to differ #cba7paul mitchellKevin Henry from CARE said they found many examples of failed or weak governance. For example, while the Indian government has put in many safety net programmes, CARE found that the most vulnerable households they interviewed in an area in India weren’t getting their entitlements and the benefits were going to better off households. Henry also talked about the gender implications of migration. In one area 97% of the migrants were male. The workloads of girls and women dramatically increased. Younger women were also subjected to sexual harassment because the male head of household wasn’t there to protect them.

In Vietnam landlessness was a major factor in the vulnerability of households. 31% of people interviewed in their research villages were landless. Those households were having to migrate to maintain the status quo, said Henry.Billions of people can't realise basic human rights because of #climatechange impacts - Kevin Henry at #CBA7ACCCRNKevin Henry on climate justice: When 97% of those migrating are men, we obviously have to deal with gender implications #cba7 #cba7genderCARE Climate Change"#climatechange is absolutely a social justice issue" @CAREClimate 's Kevin Henry at #cba7paul mitchell

Out-of-the-box session on population dyanics and climate change

A terrific group at our "out-of-the-box session" at #CBA7: pop dynamics, FP/RH & climate! @popact @EminenceBD @HumanitywatchA Scozzaro

Out-of-the-box session on Monitoring and Evaluation of CBA sharing the results of the International Centre on Climate Change and Development (ICCAD)

#CBA7 sharing lessons on M&E of CBA from training course @icccad, dhaka, an acccrn partnerACCCRNWho measures the effectiveness of #adaptation actions? Surely it should be those doing the adaptation. Terry Cannon at #cba7paul mitchell#adaptation isn't doing something new. Need to learn from development and utilise existing tools & resources says Terry Cannon @IDS_UK #cba7paul mitchellI think effectively addressing #climatechange does mean doing things differently but agree need build on existing tools and processes #cba7paul mitchell

Climate-resilient drylands development

Drylands, said IIED's Ced Hesse, are variable environments with different soil types and topographies – rangelands are very complex and dynamic environments. Pastoralists exploit this diversity by moving their animals around to where the most nutritious grasses can be found.

He said that there is an increasing recognition that pastoralists are adapting to climate change and can cope with variability. But globally people (including many research institutions) still see variability as a constraint that people can only “cope” with. Cesse says that pastoral systems exploit variability as an “asset”. This is counter-intuitive and turns the global narrative on its head, he said.
Victor Orindi from the National Drought management Authority Kenya is now introducing the session on the #drylands at #CBA7IIEDCed Hesse from @IIED presenting on the global narratives of #drylands which often drive policy at the national level #CBA7IIEDHesse says many of the narratives from leading global climate change institutions could undermine the resilience of the #drylands. #cba7IIED#Pastoralists face many obstacles says @IIED 's Ced Hesse & have experienced 50 – 60 years of govts “dismantling... pastoral systems” #CBA7IIEDMichael Ochieng Odhiabmo from the Resources Conflict Institute in Kenya said 80% of the land mass of Kenya is drylands – yet “drylands have not been part of the national development discussion.” How can we shift the discourse, he asked. We need to start with the way governance is organised - we need recognition that the drylands have been historically marginalised. One positive step that the Kenyan government has taken: in 2008 a Ministry for Northen Kenya and other Arid lands was formed to address the marginalisation of the drylands.

Next Gongbuzeren from Peking University said the Chinese rangeland government policy narratives refer to rangeland degradation caused by a “tragedy of the commons.” The Chinese policy aims to bring livestock numbers into balance with the carrying capacity of the land, with pen-raising systems. 52% of the total grassland area is now under this policy (called the Grassland Household contract system).

The Chinese government also has a herder settlement policy that aims to provide pastoralists with improved living conditions, reduce grazing pressures and diversify livelihoods – 40.5% of pastoral households are now settled he said.
Gongbuzeren from Peking University – #drylands cover 41% of China. Rainfall varies from place to place. #cba7IIEDRT @vorindi: "Session went well. Main message - dominant but inaccurate narratives on drylands must be challenged." #cba7IIEDA changing climate demands change in narratives - @shanahanmike @IIED 's press officer on #drylands narratives bit.ly/14OplSO #cba7IIEDSrijit Mishra, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research said in many areas in India agricultural production is stagnating – production has plateaued. He set out two options: a transfer of technology approach, or what he calls a “knowledge-centric approach”. The first technology or green revolution approach is input intensive, focuses on mono-cropping and on increasing production. All of this requires subsidies and it affects local food production. Mishra said the “knowledge-centric” approach embraces complex systems that are diverse and location-specific. It includes and embraces marginal lands such as drylands.
#savethechildren 's work with dry lands pastoralists in Ethiopia highlighted at #cba7 poster sessionpaul mitchell“The people who talk about drylands are not pastoralists themselves,” says Michael Ochieng Odhiambo in response to a question. The drylands have been heavily researched but how can we ensure that the research translates into practise? “That cannot happen unless pastoralists become part of the discussion” he says.

Improving weather forecasts in Uganda

Michael Nkalubo, from the Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda, gave a presentation on how translating weather forecasts into local languages and disseminating them quickly can help rural farmers make better plans and decisions. Evidence shows that rural farmers haven't benefited from the forecasts provided by the Uganda Meteorology Department for decades because the information was delivered too late and because of the complexity of terminology.
Day3 at #cba7 starts w/ making weather and climate information accessible to communities, here's a case from Can Tho bit.ly/11MvVleACCCRN#cba7 day 3 kicking off: Climate info services! How this can work? - See our Participatory Scenario Planning brief careclimatechange.org/files/adaptati…CARE Climate Change#cba7 day3 starts with presentation on #uganda showing coordination across departments #accra @Oxfam @CARE @SavetheChildren @WorldVisionSrijit Mishra

Learning from gender mainstreaming

Participants were asked to answer the question: one thing that CBA mainstreaming can learn from gender mainstreaming. See the latest posts on twitter at: #cba7gender or look at the full gallery on flickr
#cba7 learning from gender mainstreaming: A whole list of points for inspiration from ALP careclimatechange.org/files/adaptati… #cba7genderCARE Climate ChangeMai Nga from UN Women #cba7gender : Bring women's voices into decision-making #cba7Agnes Otzelberger#cba7gender @WEDO_worldwide 's Andrea Quesada: Change paradigms - act now! #cba7 @GGCA_gender pic.twitter.com/k4Ep5NorD9Agnes OtzelbergerNeed to preserve multiplicity of communities: IDRC,ROSSA's Michele Leone #cba7 on flic.kr/p/edqUezSimon CarterGender equality = justice. Do we (the men) accept the challenge? - Mirko Gaimez, Care Timor Leste #cba7 #cba7gender flic.kr/p/edsnUvpaul mitchellWatch interviews with speakers and participants - we have 13 interviews already and are adding more all the time.

We look forward to hearing from all of you tomorrow on the last day of CBA7.