Adapting to Climate Change: A Community Focus.

What does climate change adaptation mean at the community level? What practical tools are available today for communities to use in adaptation? For practitioners who wish to begin working now at the community level to successfully adapt to the challenges that face us.

We have seen in our online courses very interesting climate adaptation projects that students have developed. For example, there are student projects in Yemen, Morocco, Tanzania and Cameroon where communities that had water 10 years ago suddenly have none since the community’s spring dried up.

They have discovered pastoralists  faced with extended drought in sub-Saharan Africa, their cattle dying and husbands and sons migrating in search of new livelihoods. Mongolian pastoralists are suffering from a Zud: multiple natural disasters illustrated this year by the parching of pastures in summer followed by bitter cold and deep snow in winter.

So how do we determine if these terrible situations are truely linked to climate change, and if so, how do we begin improving our projects so that communities can adapt?

For many field staffers it may feel overwhelming to start an adaptation project. It might the lack of know-how: where do you begin, where is information available, what practical tools are working, how do you convey this concept to the community?

It seems that much of what we read about adaptation is academic or focused on impacting policy at the governmental level. These are necessary and important, but what does one do for information for projects on the ground?

Three principle questions keep recurring:
1. How do I know if my community project is linked to climate change?
2. If so, what practical, community-centered adaptation tools, solutions and activities are available today that I can actually include in my project?
3. How can I make the project sustainable and have long-term impact?

Be sure to visit our Adaptation to Climate Change Working Group