The Climate Change Project

This is what we discussed: Sharing your knowledge on how indigenous and rural communities are coping with climate change through adaptation measures involving agro-biodiversity, and how they are increasing the resilience of agro-ecosystems? What knowledge gaps exist, which if identified, would help indigenous people and rural communities to better adapt to climate change? After two weeks of a very interesting interactive discussion we had few but valuable and nourishing contributions. A summary of the points made are presented below. I. Impacts of climate change on livelihoods -hunger and poverty -reduced crop yields -loss of traditional varieties and landraces partially due to the introduction of modern varieties II. Adaptation measures adopted Water issues – Inadequate rainfall, reduced water quantity and quality – Rainwater harvesting – Water rationing e.g. the use of drip irrigation , water sprinkling – Traditional norms, forbidden days, taboos, by-laws, etc – Construction of wells and boreholes – Tree planting programmes and water protection awareness campaigns – Purchasing sachet water for drinking Reduced crop yields and loss of income – dry seeding – planting a diversity of varieties in one field – consuming wild fruit – investing in assets such as livestock which can generate money when crops fail – organic farming techniques such as on-site manuring – conservation farming practices eg zai – Participatory plant breeding to generate new crops that meet new climatic and social economic needs – improved farm management practices – use of early maturing and moisture stress tolerant varieties of crops – experimenting using wild relatives for example using wild rooibos tea as a monitoring species for the effects & impacts of climate change on the cultivated variety – Increased livelihood diversification –honey, handicraft, gathering and marketing of medicinal plants and seeds – petty trading Land degradation – planting of windbreaks – Changes in soil preparation - earlier preparation or deeper ploughing – Rehabilitation of gullies – reforestation Livestock – stock reduction – switching to small animals e.g. from cattle to goats – Shifting stock to camps with higher carrying capacity – Supplemental feeding – Water provision – Introduction of more productive breeds Institutional measures – mobilization of revolving funds for funds, leasing of public school land to the poor households – capacity building of farmers III. Knowledge sharing amongst communities-community seed banks – experimentation through Participatory Action Research – formation of community based research teams (CIALS) – sharing of expertise between youths and more experienced farmers – community seed fairs, school arboretums – farmer exchange visits Recommendations Maintenance of existing traditional social structures to ensure that indigenous knowledge is preserved, and valued by members of the indigenous community and the rest of the society. Indigenous and scientific knowledge have complementary sets of data which can be combined for example scientific models and records of precipitation mainly focus on changing amounts of precipitation with climate change, whilst that of indigenous people emphasizes changes in the regularity, length, intensity, and timing of precipitation. An integration of the two would bring out a more comprehensive set of parameters to use for climate change prediction Maybe we missed something? We think that a great amount of knowledge exists, some has been collected and made available over the internet and a lot of it resides within the communities. We would like to know how we can learn from them and eventually enhance sharing of lessons and best practices across communities. This leads us to the second thread of the discussion dealing with raising awareness issues; please feel free to make postings under the section dedicated to this matter

Dear Paul Bordini, Greetings from Kenya. I am sorry I am unable to upload my contribution on the discussion which I paste below and request that you ijnclude in the wrap up:- Samuel Muhunyu AGRI-BIODIVERSITY IS INSURANCE FOR SMALL SCALE PRODUCERS IN KENYA Kenyan people, just like others on the African continent, have gone through several dehumanizing experiences (e.g. Slavery, colonialism, post independence mismanagement and even conflicts) that greatly eroded their social-economic security and their food cultures. 16 out of 18 most undernourished countries are found in Sub-Saharan region in which per capita food production continues to worsen every year. Policies on land and food enacted by governments are in favour of industrial and commercial agriculture than on attainment of sustainable food security. Food-aid agencies on their part have tended to create more dependence on food aid than empowering the communities attain sustainable food security. Some unfortunate consequences of all the above (and more) include “shrinking” of the food resource base to just a few types. In Kenya for example, shortage of maize is significant to food shortage or even famine. “Modernity” and poor perception of “civilization” plus food aid have resulted in change in people’s eating habits in favour of exotic and refined food. Attempts have been made to grow the more “popular” exotic food even in climatically inappropriate areas whose results have been crop failures and shortages. Most of Kenya is ecologically very fragile (about 75% is arid and semi-arid) and the effects of climate change make it even worse. Agriculture is very significant in Kenya with about 80% of the population depending on it for livelihood and contributing over 50% to GDP directly and indirectly. With support from civil society organizations, the communities have come up with strategies aimed at mitigating against climate change and restoring their confidence, dignity and pride. They are working hard to tap on the indigenous knowledge in the hands of the few remaining elderly people (especially women) particularly on indigenous seed selection and saving. Community members work in social groups (self help groups, women and youth groups) in which they support each other. They share seeds and other planting materials and knowledge/information. Several of these groups have established nurseries from which members source planting materials for vegetables, trees and fodder. As insurance against the not very predictable weather, the smallholder farmers practice mixed farming that includes crops (both perennial and annual) and livestock (big and small). They grow draught tolerant indigenous crops that include vegetables, leguminous plants and energy (starch) rich foods. The mixture with livestock ensures availability of manure for soil fertility while residue from crops becomes animal feed. The farmers also grow a collection of herbs and weeds that are utilized in integrated pest management and woodlots for fuel. Besides enhancing household food and nutrition security, the activities also enhance biodiversity and ensure availability of fuel. To reduce post harvest losses the farmers are gaining basic skills on food preservation and adding value. They have acquired these skills plus others on recipes and cuisines of local foods from local chapter of Slow Food Movement, which is also conducting participatory research on biodiversity, and indigenous food in some districts of Kenya. A good number of medical practitioners have recognized importance of quality food in managing many ailments. They are prescribing for patients diets whose source is as natural as possible. Non-wood forest products especially vegetables, herbs, honey, etc best fit this description and the farmers are sourcing them from forests in their neighbourhood. This is translating into incentive for better management and conservation of forests by the communities. Most African communities had traditional systems for knowledge and skills transfer from the old to the youth. In today’s set up there is no sufficient contact time between the young and the old since children spend most of their time in school. Network for Ecofarming in Africa (NECOFA) and the Slow Food Movement in Kenya have initiated school garden projects in a number of schools and do also invite the old men and women to contribute in molding the young minds into responsible future farmers and food consumers. The aim of this initiative is to inculcate positive values on foods agriculture and environment in the growing youth.