AdaptEA: Adaptation of people to climate change in East Africa: Ecosystem services, risk reduction and human well-being (Policy Team)

Climate change will challenge the resilience of both agriculture-based livelihoods and natural resource management regimes in East Africa in myriad ways. A major challenge is to reduce the vulnerability of people and climate-sensitive sectors, including water, agriculture, and energy, to today?s climate variability and to ensure that future development activities are appropriate to future climate contexts. Through an Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) research approach this project will help to inform rural stakeholders and national policy makers in East Africa regarding the sustainability of different local and national adaptation strategies. The research approaches will integrate a review of the climate change adaptation policy contexts with local level analyses of stakeholder vulnerability, and roles of forest and tree-based ecosystem services in promoting resilience of agriculture production. Based on these research outputs a participatory approach will be used to develop effective adaptation strategies targeted at different local and national stakeholder groups. This research project will target select communities on the Kenyan and Ugandan slopes of Mt. Elgon, known as one of the five water towers of Kenya. This project will be led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). The research team conducting this project comprises two international centers of scientific excellence focussed specifically on forestry and agroforestry-science (CIFOR and the World Agroforestry Center), with one institution in Uganda (Makerere University) and one in Kenya (KEFRI) and that have led the development of long-term studies on forest based governance and livelihoods in their respective countries. Together, this group of institutions assembles leading scientists in their respective fields, providing this project with expertise in climate and ecosystem modelling, analysis of vulnerability and governance institutions, understandings of national and sub-national policy debates around climate change adaptation, and both the knowledge of research contexts and stakeholder rapport at sub-/national levels needed to ensure successful research and policy maker engagement. This project represents a continuation of the Rockefeller Foundation?s commitment to facilitating the development of East African excellence in research around climate change issues. This collaboration between CIFOR and the World Agroforestry Center is also consistent with the new realignment of Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) research efforts, specifically through the development of the CGIAR Research Program 6 (CRP6) entitled: Forests, Trees and Agroforestry: Livelihoods, Landscapes and Governance.