Terminal evaluation of “Strengthening capacity for climate change adaptation through support to integrated watershed management in Lesotho”

Terminal evaluation of “Strengthening capacity for climate change adaptation through support to integrated watershed management in Lesotho”
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2021-10-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 925135037X

Climate change variability has impacts on Lesotho’s wetlands, which are host to a significant portion of the country’s predominately agricultural economy. Intervening in this sector could potentially increase food security and reduce poverty. FAO was called upon to implement sustainable land and water management practices and resource conservation in an effort to reduce the affected communities’ vulnerability while increasing their capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change. The evaluation found the project to be effective in improving the livelihoods and quality of life of the affected communities. It has been particularly relevant to Lesotho’s national priorities focusing on sustainable land management and drought management. Future projects should place more attention on gender issues, particularly showcasing how women’s livelihoods have been improved by FAO intervention.

Synthesis of evaluations of FAO’s contributions in the Africa Region (2019–2021)

Synthesis of evaluations of FAO’s contributions in the Africa Region (2019–2021)
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 62
Release: 2022-05-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9251362521

This report is a synthesis of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Office of Evaluation (OED) on evaluations completed from 2019 to 2021 on FAO’s work in the Africa region. It documents FAO’s contribution to results, identifies gaps and emerging issues and lessons learned. The synthesis is organized around the themes of sustainable production and value chain development, food security and nutrition, climate change and natural resources, resilience to threats and crises, and gender equality and empowerment of women. The synthesis used the Programme Priority Areas of the Strategic Framework 2022–2031 to analyse FAO’s contribution to results, finding many positive examples in the Africa region. However, the sustainability of results is a challenge for the region, due to several factors, including capacity constraints of government partners and limitations of FAO project designs. Gaps and emerging issues include the need for guidance on ‘accelerators’ of results, addressing youth as a key priority and new approaches to partnerships with civil society and the private sector. Lessons learned include the importance of good project design, suitably capacitated decentralized offices, effective knowledge management and strategic and inclusive partnerships to achieve results.

Adapting to Climate Change Through Land and Water Management in Eastern Africa

Adapting to Climate Change Through Land and Water Management in Eastern Africa
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Africa, East
ISBN: 9789251083543

Presents the results and lessons learned from the pilot project FAO Sida supported "Strengthening capacity for climate change adaptation in land and water management" in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The Proposed project on integrated package of Approaches did Addressed the drivers of vulnerability and climate change impacts targeted. This publication presents the results and lessons learned from the pilot project FAO Sida supported "Strengthening capacity for climate change adaptation in land and water management" in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The Proposed project on integrated package of Approaches did Addressed the drivers of vulnerability and climate change impacts targeted. It focused on technologies did improve soil health and Facilitate water conservation, the diversification of the sources of livelihood and income, and the Strengthening of local institutions. The publication Describes a series of pilot activities did successfully Contributed to enhanced resilience of farming communities and offer substantial opportunities for scaling up. This experience shows did a boost in investment is needed to Ensure a more sustainable and resilient management of on already declining resource base, and did Adapting to climate change in the region will require renewed efforts in Improving agricultural and water management through supportive policies, capacity development and targeted investments --

Adaptation to Climate Change in Southern Africa

Adaptation to Climate Change in Southern Africa
Author: Steffen Bauer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2015-02-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136542019

Adverse climate impacts are already evident across Southern Africa and pose a serious threat to the development prospects of the region's societies. Sustainable development in this region will depend on the rapid development and implementation of effective adaptation measures. This volume identifies the new socioeconomic and political boundaries to development that result from ongoing climate change in Southern Africa. The collected papers explore the region's potential for a transition to development strategies that combine meaningful socioeconomic investment and adaptation measures while also improving livelihoods in the region. The chapters are backed up by detailed case studies which underscore the urgent need for national governments and multilateral agencies to develop strategies to support Southern Africa's societies in adapting to climate change.

Lesotho Water Security and Climate Change Assessment

Lesotho Water Security and Climate Change Assessment
Author: Weltbankgruppe
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

The analysis looks specifically at the need to ensure continued development of water resources within Lesotho and aims to empower stakeholders to act with more confidence by demonstrating that the implementation strategies can provide benefits to water resources management over a broad range of possible future scenarios. The analysis quantifies a range of possible future conditions to demonstrate the benefits that can be realized over a broad range of possible future outcomes. This quantification is based on a water resource decision support model developed specifically for Lesotho, using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model which couples climate, hydrologic, and water management systems to facilitate an evaluation of the uncertainties and strategies of impacts on specified management metrics. The WEAP model was used to simulate the historic climate based on data from the national government archives and global datasets available in the public domain. These included 121 downscaled Global Climate Model (GCM) projections of future climate over two possible water demand future scenarios, for a total of 244 scenarios up to the year 2050.

Compendium of community and indigenous strategies for climate change adaptation

Compendium of community and indigenous strategies for climate change adaptation
Author: Mwenge Kahinda, J., Bahal’okwibale, P. M., Budaza, N., Mavundla, S., Nohayi, N.N., Nortje, K., Boroto, R.J.
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2021-10-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9251316716

Climate change is a major challenge for life on Earth. It is mainly manifested through modifications of average temperature, rainfall intensity and patterns, winds and solar radiation. These modifications significantly affect basic resources, such as land and water resources. Populations at disproportionately higher risk of adverse consequences with global warming of 1.5°C and beyond include disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, some indigenous peoples, and local communities dependent on agricultural or coastal livelihoods (IPCC, 2018). Therefore, adaptation measures are recommended in order to cope with climate change. Indigenous peoples have developed practices for climate change adaptation, based on their long-term experience with adverse climatic effects. There was thus a need to identify such practices as they could be effectively mainstreamed in community-based adaptation programmes. This report makes an inventory of indigenous and community adaptation practices across the world. The inventory was mainly done through literature review, field work and meetings with selected organisations. The case studies documented are categorized in five technologies and practices themes, including: (1) Weather forecasting and early warning systems; (2) Grazing and Livestock management; (3) Soil and Water Management (including cross slope barriers); (4) Water harvesting (and storage practices); (5) Forest Management (as a coping strategy to water scarcity), and; (6) Integrated wetlands and fisheries management. These were then related to the corresponding main agro-ecological zones (AEZ), namely arid, semi-arid, sub-humid, humid, highlands and coastal and wetlands. The AEZ approach was considered as an entry-point to adopting or adapting an existing indigenous strategy to similar areas. Challenges that threaten the effectiveness of indigenous and community adaption strategies were identified. These challenges include climate change itself (which is affecting the indicators and resources used by communities), human and livestock population growth (which is increasing pressure on natural resources beyond their resilience thresholds), current institutional and political settings (which limit migrants’ movements and delimits pieces of usable land per household), cultural considerations of communities (such as taboos and spiritual beliefs), and the lack of knowledge transfer to younger communities. Indigenous knowledge provides a crucial foundation for community-based adaptation strategies that sustain the resilience of social-ecological systems at the interconnected local, regional and global scales. In spite of challenges and knowledge gaps, these strategies have the potential of being strengthened through the adoption and adaptation of introduced technology from other communities or modern science. Attention to these strategies is already being paid by several donor-funded organisations, although in an uncoordinated manner.

Lesotho Highlands Water Project

Lesotho Highlands Water Project
Author: Lawrence J.M. Haas
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 60
Release: 2010-07-30
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 082138435X

This paper considers the multi-faceted lessons of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and how the project can serve as a model of mutually beneficial development, though demonstrating the benefits of a bilateral governmental cooperative approach in the development of an international river. These benefits include exceeding the impact of individual national approaches and strengthening political cooperation among all participants. This model is particularly relevant since approximately 40 percent of the world s population lives in transboundary river basins and more than 90 percent of the world s population lives within countries that share these basins.