Monthly Archives: November 2011

AlertNet publishes story on Women and Climate Change

Posted by on November 22, 2011 Comments Off

Alertnet has just published an article by Katie Murray that was written following an interview with Dr Katharine Vincent. The article, in the Climate Conversations series, entitled “Tune climate policy to women for real change“, highlights the gender differences in climate change impacts and abilities to adapt.  Women tend to rely on natural resources – such as farming, and collecting water and firewood – more than men, which means that climate change affects them more directly. The article highlights the capacity for women to be agents of change, provided they are given a voice in decision-making (both in the household and within government).

Adaptation Perspectives published with paper from Kulima

Posted by on November 18, 2011 Comments Off

UNEP Risoe Centre has just released “Technologies for Adaptation: Perspectives and Practical Experiences” as part of its Technology Transfer Perspectives Series.  Dr Katharine Vincent, Ms Tracy Cull and Dr Alec Joubert contributed a paper entitled “Technology needs for adaptation in southern Africa: Does operationalisation of the UNFCCC and associated finance mechanisms prioritise hardware over software and orgware?”  This draws on Kulima’s experience in South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland, and argues that the UNFCCC and adaptation finance mechanisms inadvertently favour hardware (concrete infrastructure) over software (“soft skills” required to make behavioural and socio-cultural changes) and orgware (the institutional set-up and coordination mechanisms required to support the implementation of hardware and software).

SADC Climate Risk and Vulnerability Handbook launched by CSIR, Kulima and CSAG

Posted by on November 16, 2011 Comments Off

The Climate Risk and Vulnerability Handbook for Southern Africa is now available for download. Hard copy versions will be available for purchase from www.kalahari.com.  The handbook, produced by CSIR, Kulima and the Climate Systems Analysis Group as part of the USAID-funded SADC Climate Risk Capacity Building project, will be used in forthcoming training courses across the region.  It is structured according to four key questions dealing with observations of past, current and future climate, the likely impacts of such climate changes in key sectors and how countries in the SADC region might begin to deal with these risks and potential adverse impacts.  Case studies profile a range of activities by a variety of organisations to manage climate risks in southern Africa.

Kulima and Oxfam release new report “Overcoming the barriers: How to ensure future food production under climate change in southern Africa”

Posted by on November 9, 2011 Comments Off

Kulima and Oxfam have today released “Overcoming the barriers: How to ensure future food production under climate change in southern Africa“.  The report is based on interviews with farmers in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, whose experiences with a changing climate are largely borne out by meteorological data, particularly on rising temperatures and changes to precipitation patterns.  In response to these changes, farmers are already actively experimenting with changing agricultural practices, and looking for ways to diversify their livelihoods in response climate and other stresses, within their resource constraints. But where large-scale farmers, in the main, can access the resources needed to adapt, small-scale farmers face major obstacles. Policy makers need to identify the barriers for farmers, particularly smallholder farmers, as they attempt to adapt to the new climate and other environmental, economic and political pressures.