Environmental Strategies for Increasing Human Resilience in Sudan: Lessons for Climate Change Adaptation in North and East African
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Environmental Strategies for Increasing Human Resilience in Sudan: Lessons for Climate Change Adaptation in North and East African A joint proposal of the Sudan Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources and SEI-Boston Table of Contents: 1. PROJECT SUMMARY........................................................................................................ 2 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................. 3 2.1 OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTED OUTPUTS............................................................................. 3 2.2 PARTICIPATING RESEARCHERS AND INSTITUTIONS .......................................................... 4 2.3 TECHNICAL APPROACH.................................................................................................... 5 2.3.1 Background and Rationale: .................................................................................... 5 2.3.2 Methodology: .......................................................................................................... 9 2.4 CAPACITY BUILDING...................................................................................................... 13 2.5 RELEVANCE TO DECISION MAKING................................................................................ 14 2.6 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 14 3. WORKPLAN....................................................................................................................... 15 4. TRAINING AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT NEEDS ..................................................... 18 5. PROJECT BUDGET .......................................................................................................... 19 5.1 BUDGET NARRATIVE...................................................................................................... 19 5.2 BUDGET OVERVIEW....................................................................................................... 21 APPENDIX 1: PROJECT TEAM BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES...................................... 23 APPENDIX 2: PROJECT PARTNER INSTITUTIONS........................................................ 25 APPENDIX 3: CURRICULUM VITAE OF SEI-BOSTON PROJECT STAFF ................. 27 APPENDIX 4: CURRENT AND PENDING INVESTIGATOR SUPPORT........................ 33 November 28, 2001 (Updated Version) 1. PROJECT SUMMARY Title: Environmental Strategies for Increasing Human Resilience in Sudan: Lessons for Climate Change Adaptation in North and East Africa Project Coordinators: Nagmeldin Goutbi, Balgis M. Osman and Erika Spanger-Siegfried Project Description: Measures that enhance both ecological and human resilience in the most vulnerable settings are crucial for mitigating the growing risk of climate-related disasters - particularly for the poor. In growing recognition of this, the disaster management community has been increasingly employing targeted environmental management measures in high-risk settings as a means of reducing human vulnerability. Integrated with climate change adaptation strategies, and applied as an adaptation tool, certain of these measures can serve as cost-effective means of increasing the resilience and adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities in drought-prone countries such as Sudan. The work proposed here seeks to advance this emerging understanding by exploring the relative resilience of communities and the productive systems on which they depend (specifically agriculture, including food crop production, silviculture and animal husbandry) in disaster-struck regions of Sudan, drawing out the interplay between vulnerability and prevailing environmental conditions, and synthesizing practical lessons for increasing adaptive capacity. In doing so, the project would explore the following operating premise: that targeted environmental management measures, employed as climate change adaptation options, can offer a cost-effective means of increasing community resilience and adaptive capacity both for today’s climate-related threats, and in preparation for future climate change. This project recognizes the critical knowledge gap between the environmental risk mitigation and climate change adaptation communities, and would respond by building a research framework and resource base for researchers and decision-makers alike. Specifically, we aim to: - identify, through a series of four case studies conducted in Sudan, cost effective environmental management activities that can contribute most to the resilience of agricultural systems and the communities dependent upon them - and thus, to food security and broader human security in North and East Africa. - enhance the role of these resilience-building options in adaptation and other planning processes by offering contextually specific lessons to relevant actors in policy-making, research, advocacy, environmental management and beyond. - promote dialogue among key stakeholders through project training and network building. - develop and strengthen national and regional capacity, by (a) involving national and regional researchers in case studies, (b) producing training material and (c) holding training workshops for those in the national and regional climate change communities. Countries and Sectors: Sudan is the focal point of the project from which major activities will be planned, undertaken, and managed. Agriculture is the key sector, including crop production, livestock, and silviculture. Estimated Budget: $200,000 Amount requested from AIACC = $150,000 Amount requested from UNDP-Khartoum = $50,000 Project Duration: 2 years; January, 2002 through December, 2003. HCENR/SEI-Boston 2 November 28, 2001 (Updated Version) 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION 2.1 Objectives and Expected Outputs The work outlined here is intended to: (a) strengthen the capacity of actors (decision-makers, researchers, community-based groups, intergovernmental agencies, etc.) in Sudan and surrounding countries to respond to climate change vulnerability with affordable adaptation options; (b) provide decision-makers with the most current information on environmental management strategies that can meaningfully increase the resilience of the most vulnerable groups; (c) contribute to national adaptation strategies (both National Communications and National Adaptation Programmes of Action) under the UNFCCC, (d) enhance and expand regional collaboration between institutions and agencies (e.g., HCENR) in the areas of environmental management, disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation; and ultimately (e) lead to real reductions in human vulnerability to both current climate extremes and climate change. Through this research, the project may also succeed in bringing to light those environmental management measures that can provide a ‘triple dividend’ - decreased climate-related disaster vulnerability, reduced demand for international humanitarian assistance in disaster response and recovery, and achievement of national and global sustainable development objectives.1 Specific outputs (described in greater depth in section 2.3) will include: (a) a series of four case study reports; (b) a series of three project synthesis reports; (c) peer-reviewed publication of one or more synthesis documents; (d) a series of four training modules; (e) three regional training workshops; (f) a dedicated web page; (g) a new regional network of actors engaged in one or more aspects of this work; and (h) increased technical, managerial and analytical capacity of local project researchers and participants. This project, though based in Sudan, is intended to extend and apply to the surrounding region in the following ways: In the first place, the task force will be charged with selecting case studies based on a small set of criteria. Key among these will be the extent to which the potential case study represents the experience of other countries in the region. For example, cases studies might include drought-related incidents in Central and Northern Sudan that are highly applicable to countries such as Ethiopia, Egypt and Chad. In many cases, droughts are regional in scope. Secondly, the training material to be developed will be geared specifically for use throughout the North and East Africa regions. And finally, training workshops, geared at national climate change research teams, policy-makers, and actors from the complimentary fields of environmental management, disaster management, etc., will be held in three locations within the region (e.g., Egypt, Sudan and Kenya). 2.2 Participating Researchers and Institutions This project would engage two partner organizations - one southern and one northern - that share a several-year history of fruitful collaboration on climate change issues. The Higher Council for 1 Though the inclusion of carbon “sinks” in the Clean Development Mechanism has yet to be fully negotiated, the possibility exists of a fourth dividend from adaptation through improved environmental management – that of carbon emissions credits. HCENR/SEI-Boston 3 November 28, 2001 (Updated Version) Environment and Natural Resources has led Sudan’s climate change studies, development of its First National Communications under the UNFCCC, and now plans to undertake development of Sudan’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). The Stockholm Environment Institute - Boston Center has, since 1997, served as a backstop consulting organization to HCENR (as well as other North African countries),