In semi-arid regions, a global temperature rise of 1.5℃ (and each interval of 0.5℃ thereafter) will have progressively severe local impacts. In this video we describe how average local temperatures increasing faster than the global average (and rising more with each interval of global increase), and intensifying climate extremes and changing rainfall patterns, mean that semi-arid regions will experience declining crop yields, shifts in water availability, compromised health of people and livestock, and additional pressures to livelihoods. Affected countries have growing evidence available to argue for emissions reductions in line with a 1.5℃ warming target, as proposed in the Paris Agreement, and at the same time push for adopting climate-resilient development pathways that acknowledge the threats of increasing temperatures and their associated impacts.
With a strong focus on understanding the factors that enhance or diminish people's vulnerability and wellbeing, and the responses they take to deal with both climatic and non-climatic stressors, ASSAR focused on the most marginalised. In particular, we sought to shift the adaptation narrative from centering mainly on infrastructural, technical solutions to forefronting and addressing some of the barriers posed by power structures, patriarchal norms and governance disconnects.
Gender inequality is a key factor making adaptation efforts ineffective, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Researchers and practitioners involved in ASSAR provided ample evidence to show that commonly-held beliefs about women being the most vulnerable and needing to be the target of interventions should be challenged as local realities show much more complexity and variance.
Alemayehu Zewdie, ASSAR's Research-into-Use coordinator in East Africa, describes the ASSAR's efforts to develop strategic partnerships to boost research impact in Kenya and Ethiopia.
ASSAR's Kenya team investigated barriers and enablers for effective adaptation to climate change among agro-pastoralist and pastoralist communities in the semi-arid region of Isiolo, Meru, and Samburu counties of central Kenya.
ASSAR has been examining the conditioning factors surrounding adaptation action in four of the world’s semi-arid regions, with a specific focus on barriers and enablers to the uptake and success of adaptation. Here is what we found.
The role of aspirations in shaping adaptation choices is seldom discussed in climate change studies, but understanding aspirations can give insights into why people are adapting or not.
Mark Tebboth, at the University of East Anglia, looks at how 'developmentspeak' can hamper communication in communities not used to international development jargon.
Research being undertaken by ASSAR's East Africa team is underlining the interconnected nature of environmental and social dynamics in semi-arid regions. Read more about it in this detailed report.
The semi-arid regions of East Africa are among the most food-insecure regions in the world. This flyer looks at how Ethiopia and Kenya are studying adaptation methods to climate change using three research areas.