Authors: Maureen Kabasa, Jackson Wachira and Joel Onyango

In this blog, we  explore the relationship between the climate change agenda and development in Africa, problematizing the capacity development gaps associated with climate change awareness and response programs. We argue that  if done right,  capacity building programs offer an opportunity for contributing to both climate change mitigation and adaptation.

We highlight some of the opportunities and challenges  associated with capacity building  concluding that there is need to contextualise and engender the delivery models for climate change capacity building initiatives.

 

Climate change and Africa development

Climate change (CC)  is an evolving problem globally with the causes attributed to anthropogenic factors since the industrial revolution in the 1800s. African countries continues to be hardest hit by adverse impacts of climate change due  to their  higher vulnerability and weaker capacity compared to their developed counterparts.  According to the World Bank, the agricultural sector has particularly been affected especially in the sub-Saharan Africa as most thethe bulk of the population in this region depend on rain-fed agriculture as the main source of  livelihood.  Yet, researchers such as Fankhauser et al, 2005 [1] argue that the models to quantify climate change effects on the economy and GDP may be underestimating the losses associated with climate change.  This is so as the climate change impacts on the economy are often measured by the extent to which the social welfare of a given period is affected by the climate variability of the that period. The dynamic effects through which climate change may affect economic growth and subsequently future welfare is ignored by this static approach. Notwithstanding, conscious efforts to address climate challenges have been made at the global, regional, and local scale to contribute to climate action. The fight against climate change is increasingly being viewed as a collective responsibility that requires countries (both developing and developed) to reduce their carbon foot print. If parties to the Paris Agreement comply with the ambition to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and no more than 2.0°C relative to pre-industrial era, the global economic gains will be approximately US$ 17,489 billion per year by the year 2100[2]

The UNFCCC emphasizes capacity building as one of the ways to build resilience and promote climate awareness through training, education, and research [3]. However, many developing countries lack proper institutional capacity-building arrangements including climate change courses that create awareness and address the emerging challenges posed by the same at the national and the local level [4]. To be better equipped to offer optimal capacity support among institutions, the needs of the institutions have to be assessed for a clear picture of the demand, institutional and individual gaps in terms of capacity building. The assessment will inform better curriculum development and delivery, dissemination, engagement and policies that are sustainable across geographies and over time.

 

Climate Change Awareness

Discussions on climate change have taken place on a global and regional stage to address climate change at different levels. The UNFCCC has been on the forefront of championing agreements and ensuring access to scientific research related to climate change. These achievements have contributed to policies that govern mitigation and adaptation strategies as well as climate financing. The Paris agreement is one of the global climate achievements that sought to ensure collective action from both the developing and developing countries. To reduce green-house gases (GHGs), the agreement addressed climate financing, encouraging the developed countries to fund climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in developing countries.  [5][6].

The IPCC has been at the center stage of assessing scientific researches on the drivers of climate change, the impacts, future risks and options for adaptation and mitigation as the scientific arm of the UNFCCC. The climate reports provide the scientific community as well as governments with the most up to date scientific data to inform further scientific inquiries and  development of climate policies at all levels [7]. The Kyoto protocol extends the UNFCCC with the recognition that the developed countries contribute to the highest GHGs emissions therefore binds these industrialized countries and economies to limit the emissions in accordance to the agreed individual emission targets. The protocol emphasizes that these countries adopt policies on mitigation measures and periodically report on the progress. The most important element of the Kyoto protocol is the establishment of flexible market trade mechanisms based on trade permits. Through these mechanisms countries primarily meet targets nationally but additional means to reduce emissions are provided through the market-based mechanisms i.e., International Emissions Trading (IET); Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM); and Joint implementation (JI) [5] .

The global climate management policies have informed plans at the continental and national levels. In Africa, development communities have played a huge role in climate mitigation and adaptation. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are some of the communities that have actively implemented initiatives on climate mitigation and adaptation. These communities are embedded under a Tripartite arrangement in which the climate change mitigation and adaptation programme was initiated in 2010 to achieve social and economic resilience sustainably. Specifically, these communities aim to: apply climate change solutions; enhance adoption of climate smart agriculture; develop climate change mitigation strategies and avail them to the member states; strengthen capacity for national research and training institutions; and implement research programmes [8] .

The COMESA, EAC and SADC have different roles to achieving climate mitigation and adaptation in the continent. In summary, COMESAs initiative on climate change aims at “achieving economic prosperity and climate protection” by addressing CC impacts to build social and economic resilience for present and future generations. The focus of COMESA in the continent is to support Africa to adapt to CC safeguarding natural ecosystems that play an important role in carbon sequestration [8][9]. The EAC has contributed to climate action by developing a protocol on Environment and Natural resource management, The East African Community Climate strategy, Policy and Master Plan and East African Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Strategy. Additionally, SADC has a CC adaptation strategy on the water sector ranging from water governance and governance to infrastructure development as well as a protocol on forestry that focuses on environmental protection through sustainable forest management practices, forest policy implementation. The global discussions having created more attention on the challenges of climate change progress in terms of strategies and initiatives have been made at different levels [8].

 

Response to Climate change

Climate change is a complex and dynamic challenge that requires planning and preparations for the uncertainties from both the known (on environment, health, economy and society) and unknown / future risks. Hence, building resilience awareness on the strategies and plans that contribute to climate change is crucial. Research has been done by ecologists, geologists, environmentalists, economists, sociologist, conservationists and policy makers on many disciplines of climate change on the risks associated with climate change, mitigation and adaptation strategies and climate related policies. These researches have contributed to capacity building by educating different stakeholders to implement climate change actions. Importantly they have been a baseline for innovation of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies by analyzing the gaps.

Climate adaptation and mitigation plans, and strategies go hand in hand to ensure climate resilience through disaster risk management, improved health, and social protection. These strategies have been adopted in the region with the support of the national, regional, and global spaces. Although there have been other impacts of climate change agriculture has been affected most especially in the sub-Saharan Africa where the economy and livelihoods depend on agriculture necessitating activities that promote green agriculture to ensure food security. According to FAO [10], Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an integrative approach that aims to address challenges of climate change through a set of three core principles including sustainably increasing agricultural production and incomes, adapting and building resilience to climate change and reducing GHGs from agriculture as much as possible. Practices that promote conservation agriculture, soil and water conservation, and irrigation and drainage are prioritized within communities in the region as mitigation and adaptation strategies. Agroforestry, afforestation, and reforestation practices have also been implemented at the community level giving the people the power to take charge of climate change.

Efforts from COMESA, EAC, and SADC have been realized through adoption of these practices with support from different institutions governed at different policy domains. These policy responses are made at the national level to find a balance between investment in development and promulgation of new technologies and investment in encouraging and enabling societal behavioral change or adoption of new technology. For instance, every country has a National Adaptation Plan for climate change mainly under the Ministry of Environment that has the primary mandate for climate action. Within the national plan guidelines and policies governing climate change are outlined but the implementation should be an intersectoral responsibility. Therefore, suitable institutional arrangements and the involvement of different sectors is crucial for the success of climate stakeholder engagement. The positive responses in research, capacity building and policy have been boosted by the capacity building initiatives implemented mainly in the developing and least developing countries

 

Role of Capacity Building Initiatives

To enhance knowledge sharing and coordination, capacity building initiatives have been implemented globally and regionally. These initiatives which are as a result of global agreements have been implemented in the regional scale creating the partnership between the developed and the developing countries in the fight against climate change threats. The Paris agreement having made its contribution in the direction to better climate action in terms of mitigation, adaptation and financing. It encourages that each party decides its own contribution as stipulated in the agreement. Transparency being the foundation of the Paris agreement is a prerequisite to building trust and accountability and ultimately raising climate ambition[11].

To operationalize a capacity building initiative that ensures transparency, the Paris Agreement requested the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support the establishment and operation of the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBTI). The main aim of the CBTI is to: strengthen national institutions for transparency-related activities in-line with the national goals; provide tools, training and assistance in article 13 of the agreement[12]; and assist in the improvement of transparency over time. The key considerations in the implementation of this initiative incorporate: alignment with article 13 of the Paris agreement and COP outcomes; alignment with the Nationally Determined Contributions; address the assessed climate needs; inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral coordination; feedback of data and information into policy development; and linkage with global coordination platform. As at November, 2019 this initiative begun the implementation of 29 projects, of which 4 were global projects that aimed to improve knowledge sharing, coordination and facilitate additional capacity building in 18 least developed countries and Small Islands developing states[11].

The World Health Organization (WHO) has made technical and institutional capacity building the foundation in its implementing countries. In all the countries it supports, it ensures national ownership and building of community practice in climate change and health at all levels. WHO endeavors to provide and disseminate information on threats of climate change to human health while reducing carbon emission[13]. Detailed guidance, tools and training manuals on a wide range of topics on climate change and health are available under the WHO toolkit of climate change and health resources allowing modular capacity building [13][14]. Trainings and educational materials on relevant topics on climate change and health are organized globally, regionally and locally as part of the overall initiatives on climate change and health. Pertaining to institutional capacity building, WHO promotes multi-sectoral approach to dealing with climate related health impacts [13][15].

The sustainable development goals are the guiding principles towards a viable environment, satisfied society and equitable economy that every country aims to achieve. The goal target 17.9 of agenda 2030 for sustainable goals recognizes the importance of capacity building aiming “to enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all sustainable development goals including north – south, south-south and triangular cooperation” Target 17.8 also makes reference to capacity building in the context of ensuring maximum implementation of the “technology and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017”. The SDGs have been fundamental in climate mitigation and adaptation by directing the mitigation strategies towards achieving sustainability [16],[17]

 

Opportunities and Challenges for Capacity Building Initiatives

The key institutions: - academia/research, regulatory/governments, indigenous/local communities and financing have come together for a common goal on the fight against climate change negative impacts. The government has played a role in the implementation of climate plans and initiatives that communities have adopted with the help of climate experts and advocates. Researchers have dedicated their time on scientific outputs on the drivers of climate change, the impacts, the future risks and the possible mitigation and adaptation strategies which have informed policy makers, governments and extension officers to work towards climate action. The local communities endure the impacts of climate change most and for an improved climate action climate education should start from them as some researchers and practitioners argue. Placing them as the major stakeholders by employing the bottom-up approach through recognizing their traditional knowledge would be more beneficial as opposed to tackling it from the governments, top-down approach [18].

Though collaborative efforts have been made by the researchers, government and local communities  to deal with climate change impacts, the challenge lies in the lack of proper institutional capacity in terms of the availability of modules and manuals on emerging issues on climate change [8][19]. The different institutional levels involved in climate change are contextual and the message of climate change towards climate action needs to be passed differently using different tools. The availability and easy access through new technological methods will improve climate education and awareness for strong climate action and responses. A research done on 13 countries both developed and developing, shows that policies have been standardized from the global context in-terms of adoption of mitigation and adaptation strategies forgetting needs may vary and an exclusive focus on the national adaptation policies are necessary[5].

There exist opportunities presented for climate change mitigation and adaptation that can be operationalized by the national climate programmes to the grass root level. In the developing countries specifically the COMESA region they include: Financial opportunities from the funding institutions (Multilateral and bilateral banks) for climate change initiatives; carrying out needs' assessment for various actors in governance, leadership, knowledge, accountability, institutional arrangements and public and private collaborations; training in various areas i.e., climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, institutional arrangements, value addition, carbon assessment and marketing; policy opportunities to facilitate formulation of policies that improve climate change mitigation and adaptation and encourage multi-sectoral partnerships; development and delivery of curriculums that take into consideration emerging issues and understand that every student is an individual as they are not the same; and enhance capacity building from the grassroots to the top levels.

With the numerous opportunities there are still challenges retrogressing the climate action initiatives. The gaps revolve around institutional arrangements, finance, capacity building and knowledge sharing, technology and infrastructure and integrated planning and data management. Specifically: lack of sustainable funding especially from the national governments; misuse of the existing funds from the developed worlds and local agencies through corruption; capacity limitations in terms of lack of proper institutional arrangements to tackle climate change; weak inter-sectoral collaborations from the public sector, private sector to local communities; poor involvement of the local communities who are more vulnerable to climate change; and gender inequality in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation and capacity building are some of the setbacks.

 

Conclusion

It is a fact that climate change has presented challenges globally, regionally and locally. With efforts being made to deal with these challenges, collaborative and inclusive efforts from different stakeholders from the environmentalists, sociologists, communities, financing organization to governing bodies is necessary to realize climate goals. Proper institutional arrangements with respect to governance, support structures and administration play an important role in adapting new technologies and incorporating emerging issues into modules and manuals for better awareness in this dynamic times. Climate capacity building on education research and training need to be improved as a base for information sharing on climate change matters from the risks to mitigation and adaptation strategies. Assessing the institutional needs towards proper development and delivery of curriculum is a progressive means to ensuring education, training and research is human centered and learner friendly for dissemination to a wider audience. It is within this background that the African Center for Technology Studies (ACTS) in collaboration with Institute of Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA) and Tetralink Taylor & Associates (TTA) have launched the Capacity Building of Technical Institutions Involved in Climate Change Education, Training and Research Services (CapCET) programme. With funding from the COMESA secretariat, the CapCET project aims to bridge the capacity gaps taking into considerations the underlying issues like gender actions, developing strategic modules and developing case studies from current relevant initiatives. Specifically, the will (a) assess institution's needs; (b) develop a human-centered curriculum; (c) deliver the curriculum through a learner-focused approach (d) ensure the modules are running for the long-term; and (e) disseminate the modules through online libraries, webinars, and conferences.

 

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Further Reading

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2. T. Kompas, V. H. Pham, and T. N. Che, “The Effects of Climate Change on GDP by Country and the Global Economic Gains From Complying With the Paris Climate Accord,” Earth’s Futur., vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 1153–1173, Aug. 2018, doi: 10.1029/2018EF000922.
3. “Capacity-building to Boost Climate Action | UNFCCC.” https://unfccc.int/news/capacity-building-to-boost-climate-action (accessed Mar. 05, 2021).
4. F. Mugabe, “Building Adaptive Capacity to Cope With Increasing Vulnerability Due to Climatic Change,” Epidemiology, vol. 19, no. 1. p. S229, 2008, doi: 10.1097/01.ede.0000291941.47172.4c.
5. F. Alves et al., “Climate change policies and agendas: Facing implementation challenges and guiding responses,” Environ. Sci. Policy, vol. 104, no. November 2019, pp. 190–198, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2019.12.001.
6. L. Gomez-Echeverri, “Climate and development: Enhancing impact through stronger linkages in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci., vol. 376, no. 2119, 2018, doi: 10.1098/rsta.2016.0444.
7. S. Beck and M. Mahony, “The IPCC and the new map of science and politics,” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, vol. 9, no. 6. 2018, doi: 10.1002/wcc.547.
8. B. E. Isabirye and G. Diversity, “Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in ECA / SADC / COMESA region : Opportunities and Challenges Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in ECA / SADC / COMESA region : Opportunities and Challenges Didas N . Kimaro , Alfred N . Gichu , Hezron Mogaka,” no. December, 2020.
9. E. Human Rights Law in Africa, “Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa),” Hum. Rights Law Africa Online, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 623–631, 2012, doi: 10.1163/221160604x00396.
10.  “Climate-Smart Agriculture | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.” http://www.fao.org/climate-smart-agriculture/en/ (accessed Mar. 05, 2021).
11. “Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) Update on CBIT Support and Early Findings Transparency Day at the Capacity-building Hub,” 2019.
12. Unfccc, “ADOPTION OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT - Paris Agreement text English.”
13. “Building capacity on climate change and human health.” https://www.who.int/activities/building-capacity-on-climate-change-human-health (accessed Mar. 11, 2021).
14.  “Toolkit on climate change and health.” https://www.who.int/activities/building-capacity-on-climate-change-human-health/toolkit (accessed Mar. 13, 2021).
15. “Trainings and educational material.” https://www.who.int/activities/building-capacity-on-climate-change-human-health/toolkit/trainings (accessed Mar. 13, 2021).
16. “Capacity-building .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.” https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/capacity-building (accessed Mar. 11, 2021).
17. “Goal 17 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs.” https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal17 (accessed Mar. 13, 2021).
18. D. Conway et al., “The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions,” Nat. Clim. Chang., vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 503–511, Jul. 2019, doi: 10.1038/s41558-019-0502-0.
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