Tag Archives: climate change

Kulima begins project to develop plan of action on climate change for Mozambique’s Ministry of Health

Posted by on April 20, 2013 Comments Off

MaputoFollowing on from the completion of the CDKN-funded project on climate change, health, disasters and agriculture in Mozambique, Kulima and partners (CSIR and the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane) will continue to support the Ministry of Health (MISAU). The project extension will develop a plan of action and a prioritised and costed policy research agenda on climate change, using a stakeholder consultation that builds on the findings of the first project. The plan of action will build upon the implications of the first study for the forthcoming Health Sector Strategic Plan, whilst the prioritised and costed research agenda should facilitate MISAU and MICOA to better elaborate the health action plan section of the recently-announced National Climate Change Strategy.   

 

 

Dr Katharine Vincent presents at workshop on climate change and disaster reduction education

Posted by on April 5, 2013 Comments Off

WitsDr Katharine Vincent made a presentation on "Climate change education: progress and next steps" (by skype!) at a workshop entitled "Higher education and climate change: Awareness, access and knowledge sharing across EU and non-EU programs" held at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.  The workshop was hosted by the Global Change Sustainability Research Institute and forms part of the Erasmus Mundus program LEAN-CC: Linking European, African and Asian Academic Networks on Climate Change, which involves 5 European and 5 non-European universities on climate change education. 

Kulima directors participate in Cities at Risk Workshop in Durban

Posted by on March 25, 2013 Comments Off

STARTDr Katharine Vincent and Ms Tracy Cull are currently in Durban for the Cities at Risk workshop, convened by START, ICSU and the new Future Earth research programme and hosted by the City of Durban/eThekwini Municipality.  Attended by scientists, policy-makers and practitioners from across the African continent, the workshop intends to build on the experiences of START and its partners on urban vulnerability and adaptation in Asia and Africa to co-design a plan for short-, medium- and long-term research and capacity building in urban vulnerability and resilience on the African continent.  Katharine will make a presentation on "Current and potential ramifications of climate variability and change in African cities", whilst Tracy will speak on "Gender aspects of urban vulnerability and resilience".

 

Kulima quoted in article “Gender relations are changing along with climate”

Posted by on March 25, 2013 Comments Off

Venda woman farmerAn article written by Jaspreet Kindra and published today by IRIN cites Kulima and its involvement in the project on engendering disaster risk reduction with CARE in Mozambique.  The article, entitled "Gender relations are changing along with climate", highlights how socio-cultural construction of gender roles (what is approrpiate behaviour for women and men) determines how disasters affect men and women, and how understanding the reasons for differential vulnerability is essential to design responses that enable both men and women to reduce their disaster risk.

Kulima directors author paper on writeshops in Environmental Development

Posted by on February 1, 2013 Comments Off

Environmental DevelopmentDr Katharine Vincent and Ms Tracy Cull, in conjunction with co-authors Emma Archer van Garderen and Alex O. Awiti, have published a paper on writeshops in the latest issue of Environmental Development.  The paper argues that writeshops, in which experienced published researchers provide mentorship and support to African academics to produce papers of suitable quality to succeed in the peer-review process, are essential to improve the outputs of African scholarship.  The paper builds on Kulima's experience as mentors in the SEI-UNISDR series of writeshops in 2011.

Kulima and UNIQUE awarded GIZ contract on agricultural adaptation to climate change

Posted by on November 27, 2012 Comments Off

Kulima Integrated Development Solutions and UNIQUE Forestry and Land Use have been awarded a GIZ contract on agricultural adaptation to climate change.  Forming part of GIZ’s programme of support to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), this project will develop 6 “best practices” on adaptation to climate change for smallholder farmers.  These will be elicited through collaboration with regional and national farmer organisations from across the African continent, combined with 3 regional thematic workshops.  This collaboration will build on links forged through the Africa Forum, organised by NEPAD to enable knowledge transfer through a variety of continental and regional platforms since 2009.  The ultimate aim is to use these best practices to inform national policy and raise the profile of agricultural adaptation on the international agenda.

Dr Katharine Vincent attends workshop in Mozambique as part of Leeds University CDKN project

Posted by on November 17, 2012 Comments Off

Dr Katharine Vincent was invited to participate in a workshop in Mozambique for a CDKN-funded project implemented by Dr Lindsay Stringer, Professor Andy Dougill, and Dr Jen Dyer from the School of Earth and Environment at Leeds University.  The purpose of the workshop was to share emerging findings from the project on assessing institutional and governance partnerships for climate-compatible development in sub-Saharan Africa.  Representatives from the four project countries – Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe were present.  Kulima’s attendance was to identify synergies with our CDKN-funded project on the impacts of climate change on the health sector in Mozambique.

Coverage of Kulima director at CIF panel on engendering climate finance

Posted by on November 8, 2012 Comments Off

Following yesterday’s panel on engendering climate finance at the CIF Partnership Forum, at which Ms Tracy Cull was an invited speaker, media coverage of the event is now available through the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin.  The 6th November event summary cites Tracy as “urging improving outreach to community groups; incorporating indigenous knowledge; and gender-sensitive training and workshops. She said adaptation can be as innovative and entrepreneurial as mitigation.”  Other issues discussed included the possibility for small grants, using qualitative data, and showing that adaptation can be profitable.

(c) ENB

Kulima director publishes book review in “Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change”

Posted by on October 29, 2012 Comments Off

Dr Katharine Vincent has had a book review published in the peer-reviewed journal Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change.  The review is of Mike Robbins’ book “Crops and Carbon: Paying Farmers to Combat Climate Change.” The book examines options for carbon sequestration through the land (particularly the soil), as a complement to forests.  It is written in an accessible style and assumes no prior knowledge of either climate change or agricultural systems.  Robbins concludes that, despite significant uncertainties, payment for ecosystem services under REDD+ and the carbon market may indeed offer the opportunity to pay farmers to combat climate change, whilst simultaneously contributing to sustainable land management.

Dr Katharine Vincent in Buenos Aires for IPCC Lead Authors Meeting

Posted by on October 23, 2012 Comments Off

Dr Katharine Vincent is currently in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the 3rd Lead Authors Meeting of IPCC Working Group 2 on Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation.  Katharine is serving as a lead author on chapter 9 – rural areas, and a contributing author on chapter 22 – Africa.  Ms Tracy Cull is serving as a contributing author on chapter 9 – rural areas.  The Fifth Assessment Report will be forthcoming in 2014.