What Other Issues Require Attention?

Climate change, poverty reduction, and resilience to shocks and stresses are very closely related. Developing countries face both the need to adapt to climate change and the need to develop, but "addressing many of the obstacles to development...will become much harder and more costly [with climate change]"⁷. It is therefore important to not lose focus on development but to "see the issues of economic development and of climate change as parts of a whole"⁸. This also allows for the financing of climate change adaptation through development projects.

Resilience is an important concept in this discussion, being seen as both contributing to sustainability and reducing vulnerability. Resilience is often taken to mean the ability to respond to shocks and stresses and to return to a pre-existing state. But it is important to view resilience in a wider context, which also addresses the myriad challenges that constrain lives and livelihoods. It, therefore, needs to take into account a wide range of economic, social, psychological, physical and environmental factors that are necessary for humans to survive and thrive.⁹ Resilience to climate change requires human systems which do not exceed the capabilities of the natural system and natural systems that are not threatened by human systems. Resilience is also dependent on people's access to rights, resources and assets which in turn relies on good governance. Being truly resilient to a changing climate involves not just changing crops according to previous weather conditions, but being able to recognise indicators which help predict the beginning and end of the rains by observing changes in temperature and behaviour of animals and plants, therefore increasing community capacity and independence.

Strengthening the capacity of local communities to engage in policy debates and shape governance decisions is an important component of adaptation, as many developing countries have political structures that have limited or no accountability to their citizens - especially the lower-income groups who are most vulnerable to external stressors. Many have governments that actually increase the vulnerability of most of their lower-income citizens. In the case of a weak government with little resources there is a need for strong support for local private providers and community provision within a longterm goal of supporting more competent, accountable and transparent local governments. Where there is an accountable government with poor resources, the focus should be on capacity building and support for its partnerships with civil society.¹⁰ It is important not only to fund adaptation projects at a community level but also to assist communities in engaging in policy debates and power relationships. Therefore, there is a need for countryled processes in which communities themselves are able to promote their own agendas and their capacity to act is strengthened.

There are times when adaptation methods that are designed to reduce vulnerability to climate change instead end up aggravating the situation, sometimes resulting in effects as serious as those they were designed to avoid. This situation of maladaptation needs to be avoided. The extent of maladaptation can range from simply shifting the vulnerability from one group to another, to shifting the vulnerability between generations. It is necessary to consider non-climate related side-effects of systems put in place, such as issues of equity and social acceptability. These issues should be addressed before new methods of adaptation are implemented.

We can learn a lot from the stories of these people, which represent a huge range of problems and solutions occurring across the African continent. We must understand that these cases do not exist in isolation, but that climate change is having serious impacts on human lives, particularly across Africa, and often the people worst affected are also in the worst place to be able to cope. Enhanced action is needed on adaptation. These men, women and children are willing and often able to do all they can to adapt their homes and livelihoods to the increasing effects of a changing climate, and we must pay serious attention to local knowledge and experience in everything that is done in this area. Of course, financial input is crucial, and with a renewed commitment in this area and an understanding of the link between adaptation and the existing poverty reduction efforts it is possible to protect people from the worst of the effects.