Knowledge about adapting to climate change lies at an international level and is failing to reach those in the developing world who need it most, according to the international Commission on Climate Change and Development.

Bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) need to start distributing new science on adaptation to the places where it can have the greatest effect, says the commission, whose final report was published on 14 May 2009.

The 13-strong commission, established by the Swedish Government in December 2007, includes such figures as Nobel peace prize-winner Wangari Maathai; Sun Honglie, director of the China Climate Change Expert Committee; and Youba Sokona of the Sahara and Sahel Observatory.

Read the full article from: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/adaptation-science-not-trickling-down-says-commiss.html

Abstract of the recently published paper by “Cinner, J., M. M. P. B. Fuentes, and H. Randriamahazo. 2009. Exploring social resilience in Madagascar’s marine protected areas. Ecology and Society 14(1): 41. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss1/art41/”

We examined and compared aspects of local-level resilience in 13 coastal communities within and adjacent to all of Madagascar’s national marine protected areas. Our examination of social resilience focused on indicators of the flexibility of household livelihood portfolios and both formal and informal governance institutions, the capacity of communities to organize, their capacity to learn, and access to household assets and community infrastructure. In general, we found high levels of flexibility in formal institutions and livelihood portfolios and high levels of participation in decision-making and community groups. Together, these indicators suggest some latent capacity to adaptively manage resources, but this capacity may be offset by poor levels of trust between communities and resource managers, a poor understanding of the ways in which humans affect marine resources, inadequate feedback of ecological monitoring to communities, inflexibility in informal governance institutions, and a lack of assets to draw upon. We suggest that building desirable resilience in Madagascar’s marine protected areas will require the following: investments in community-level infrastructure, projects to generate household income, and enhanced agricultural production to improve the well-being of communities; improvements in the capacity to learn through investments in formal and informal education; enhanced trust between park staff and local communities; empowerment of communities to govern and enforce natural resources; the increased accountability of leaders and transparency of governance processes; adequate cross-scale interaction with local, provincial, and national institutions; and the pursuit of these activities in ways that capitalize on community-specific strengths, such as high flexibility and the presence of sociocultural institutions such as taboos that regulate resource use.

Did you know the examples of past human civilizations collapsing or surviving based on how they tackled governance, resilience, and water seem to be the same as those most of the ecosystems are currently facing? For details, please read a book edited by Robert Costanza, Lisa J. Graumlich and Will Steffen entitled ‘Sustainability or collapse:  An Integrated History and Future of People on Earth”.  For preview of the book, please visit: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11105  

Several large African cities are at risk from rising sea levels and intense storms, experts warn.

Poor neighbourhoods and slums in Bugama and Okrika in Nigeria, Freetown in Sierra Leone, Bathurst in the Gambia and Tanga in Tanzania, are especially vulnerable. In such low-income urban centres, infrastructure is often non-existent or ill-maintained while storm-water drainage infrastructure is often outdated and inadequate, according to a World Bank report titled Sea level Rise and Storm Surges.

Read the full article from http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1066/601930/-/13a2r4gz/-/index.html

As part of a process to encourage engagement in climate change policy by the fisheries/aquaculture sector, you are urged to apply for a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) fellowship, for between 3-6 months, in Bonn.  You must be a national of a Small Island Developing State or of one of the Least Developed Countries. 

UNFCCC - the process that will decide what follows the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.  It formulates global agreements on issues such as emissions targets, convenes the science assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and agrees on funding mechanisms to enable developing countries to meet mitigation targets and to fund adaptation.  WorldFish Centre and its partners are working to ensure that some adaptation funding will be directed towards the most climate-vulnerable fishing and aquaculture-dependent communities.  This isn’t happening so far because the issue of fishery/aquaculture vulnerability has not had sufficient profile in the UNFCCC process.

WorldFish Centre is urging good fishery/aquaculture experts with a strong CV and clear policy-relevant idea to apply. For more details, please visit:

http://unfccc.int/secretariat/fellowship_programme/items/4429.php

There is a need for a proposal for a programme or theme of work, and to deliver a report, in English, at the end of the fellowship.  No deadlines are given, but ideally we would get this application in before the end of June 2009, to ensure possibility of a start before the end of 2009, so the person could attend the December 09 UNFCCC summit in Copenhagen.

The Secretariat for the Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern and Southern Africa Region (Nairobi Convention)  is organizing two meetings; (1) the final negotiations meeting on the Draft Protocol for the Protection of the Coastal and Marine Environment from Land-based Sources and Activities in Eastern and Southern Africa Region (LBSA Protocol) including the Revision to the Nairobi Convention and (2) the final Regional Stakeholders workshop on the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) focused on Land-based Sources and Activities in Eastern and Southern Africa Region.

The two meetings will run concurrently from 9th to 12th June 2009, in Mombasa, Kenya, at the kind invitation of the Government of Kenya.

The negotiations meeting for the LBSA Protocol is being organized in response to the decision CP 5/4 that was adopted by the Fifth Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Nairobi Convention (COP5) held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 2007. The Contracting Parties agreed “to convene a conference of plenipotentiaries to negotiate and adopt the LBSA Protocol by the end of December 2009.” Similarly, the SAP is developed on the basis of decision CP 5/1 related to the SAP, which calls for the expedited negotiation and finalization of the SAP, as an important mechanism for implementation of the LBSA Protocol. The draft texts of the LBSA protocol, revisions to the Convention as well as the Strategic Action Programme have been developed through a thorough consultative process by UNEP, under the WIO-LaB Project.

The documents that will be tabled for discussion are:  

• Fourth Draft Protocol, additional to the Nairobi Convention, concerning Land Based Sources and Activities (LBSA) in the Eastern Africa [and Southern] African Region
• Draft Text of Nairobi Convention
• The draft Strategic Action Programme (SAP) focused on Land-based Sources and Activities in the Western Indian Ocean.

For more information on the Negotiations Meeting, please visit our website at http://www.unep.org/NairobiConvention/

The April 2009 Nairobi Convention Clearinghouse newsletter is out. In this issue you will find information on activities of the Clearinghouse mechanism on:

• Nairobi Convention Clearinghouse GSDI small grant
• Nairobi Convention Clearinghouse national portal training
• Nomination of lead agency and node in South Africa
• Brief updates – mission reports and data sharing policy for the Clearinghouse
• Progress in the implementation of National Clearinghouses activities
• Improvements on the Regional Clearinghouse mechanism, and
• Upcoming events

For more information visit  http://gridnairobi.unep.org/CHMPortal/jsp/informationandpublications.jsp

Since 2006, The French Global Environment Facility (FFEM) has been financing a Small Initiatives Programme (PPI), destined to reinforce civil society in Central and West Africa acting in favour of conservation and biodiversity and the struggle against climate change.

Recently, the FFEM decided to finance a second phase of the PPI, for a duration of two years (2009-2011), allowing the financing of some 50 new projects for a total of 2 million Euros. These projects must be presented by civil society organizations from Eastern and Central Africa, along with Madagascar and Mozambique with priority given to French speaking countries. The call for projects will be open from the 10th of May and the 15th of July 2009.

For more in-depth information on PPI, please visit the FFEM site: www.ffem.fr

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Le Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM) finance, depuis 2006, un Programme de Petites Initiatives (PPI), destiné au renforcement de la société civile des pays d’Afrique Occidentale et Centrale agissant en faveur de la conservation de la biodiversité et la lutte contre le changement climatique.

Récemment, le FFEM a décidé de financer une deuxième phase du PPI, d’une durée de deux ans (2009-2011), permettant de financer environ 50 nouveaux projets pour un total de 2 millions d’euros. Ces projets doivent être présentés par des organisations de la société civile des pays d’Afrique Centrale et Occidentale, ainsi que de Madagascar et du Mozambique, avec une priorité pour celles issues des pays francophones. L’appel à projets se déroulera du 10 mai 2009 au 15 juillet 2009.

Vous trouverez des plus amples informations sur le PPI sur le site du FFEM : www.ffem.fr

Alimentation, santé et adaptation aux changements climatiques en Afrique australe et orientale

Le programme Écosystèmes et santé humaine (ÉCOSANTÉ http://www.idrc.ca/écosanté) du Centre de recherches pour le développement international (CRDI) du Canada annonce le lancement d’un appel à notes conceptuelles sur l’alimentation, la santé et l’adaptation aux changements climatiques. Lesdites notes conceptuelles devraient favoriser la création d’activités de recherche et de renforcement des capacités qui s’appuient sur des approches écosystémiques pour la santé humaine, pour aider à comprendre et à cerner les vulnérabilités en matière de santé qui sont attribuables aux changements et à la variabilité climatiques en Afrique australe et orientale, quant à la nutrition et à la sécurité et à la salubrité alimentaires.

Le programme ÉCOSANTÉ du CRDI appuie la recherche sur les liens entre les divers éléments d’un écosystème afin de circonscrire et d’évaluer les problèmes prioritaires qui compromettent la santé des collectivités et la qualité des écosystèmes dans lesquels celles-ci évoluent. Visant à améliorer la santé et le bien-être des êtres humains tout en favorisant des écosystèmes sains, le Programme préconise une approche qui nécessite un cadre holistique axé sur les liens entre la santé et l’environnement. Dans cette optique, les divers aspects des écosystèmes et de la santé humaine, ainsi que les questions de parité des sexes et d’équité sociale, sont examinés par des experts issus de différentes disciplines et des connaissances non-académiques, qui travaillent de concert selon une démarche transdisciplinaire. La participation des différents acteurs est encouragée, en particulier ceux  issus de la communauté ainsi que les utilisateurs finaux de la recherche, y compris des responsables politiques et/ou les décideurs. En permettant de recueillir et d’analyser des données pertinentes, de créer une capacité de recherche locale et de mettre à l’essai des réseaux de recherche régionaux et intersectoriels, le programme ÉCOSANTÉ contribue à anticiper et à prévenir les problèmes de santé émergents et à intervenir au besoin, voire à améliorer la gestion et la santé des écosystèmes, les rendant plus adaptables.

Cet appel à propositions répond au besoin de faire avancer les connaissances et les capacités de rechercher sur les incidences des changements climatiques, surtout dans le domaine de l’alimentation, la santé et l’adaptation aux changements climatiques en Afrique australe et orientale. Cet appel est en accord avec la résolution de l’Assemblée mondiale pour la santé de mieux protéger la santé des incidences des changements climatiques, ainsi que les résultats d’une consultation mondiale d’experts et de praticiens en matière de santé publique, de représentants d’agences internationales, et de bailleurs de fonds organisée par l’Organisme mondial pour la santé (www.who.int/phe).

À la lumière de ces faits, le programme ÉCOSANTÉ du CRDI voudrait avancer les connaissances et les capacités de recherche pour mieux répondre aux défis liés à l’alimentation, la santé et l’adaptation aux changements climatiques en Afrique australe et orientale.

La date limite de soumission des notes conceptuelles (jusqu’à 10 pages) est le 30 juin 2009.

Le texte complet de cet appel est disponible au site:www.idrc.ca/fr/ev-5733-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html. Pour de plus amples renseignements, communiquer FS-Africa@idrc.or.ke

Food, health and adaptation to climate change in East and Southern Africa

 The Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health Program (Ecohealth www.idrc.ca/ecohealth) of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC-Canada) is pleased to announce a call for concept notes on food, health and adaptation to climate change. Concept notes should entail research and capacity building activities that use ecosystem approaches to human health to help understand and address health vulnerabilities related to food and nutritional security or food safety arising from climate change and climate variability in eastern and southern Africa.

The Ecohealth Program supports policy-relevant research on the relationships between all components of an ecosystem to define and assess priority problems that affect the health of people and the sustainability of the ecosystems they depend upon. In seeking to improve human health and well-being while simultaneously maintaining a healthy ecosystem, the Program puts forward an approach that requires a holistic framing of a health-environment issue. In doing so, ecosystem and human dimensions along with gender and social equity issues are considered through different disciplines and non-academic knowledge, working together in a trans-disciplinary fashion. Multi-stakeholder participation is encouraged, particularly those from the community and research end-users, including policy-makers. By collecting and analyzing evidence, building up local research capacity and experimenting with regional, inter-sectoral knowledge networks, the Ecohealth Program contributes to anticipating, preventing, and responding to emerging health problems, at the same time contributing to better and more adaptable ecosystem management and healthier ecosystems.

This Call responds to the need to advance knowledge and capacity on climate change impacts, in particular in the area of food, health and adaptation to climate change in eastern and southern Africa. This is in accordance of the resolution of the World Health Assembly (WHA) to protect health from climate change and the findings of the WHO-convened global consultation of public health researchers, practitioners, representatives of UN and other agencies, and donors (www.who.int/phe).

Deadline for submission of 10 page concept notes is 30 June 2009.

The full Call can be found at http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-5733-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html. All inquiries related to the call should be directed to FS-Africa@idrc.or.ke