66562 v i l l a g e s u r v e y r e s u lt s : x x 1 the world bank februAry 2011 Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions Synthesis Report FEBRUARY 2011 S o C I A L D E v E L o p m E n t D E pA Rt m E n t | S o C I A L D I m E n S I o n S o F C L I m At E C h A n g E Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions: Synthesis Report © 2011 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank 1818 H St., NW Washington, DC 20433 U.S.A. Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org/sdcc E-mail: feedback@worldbank.org All rights reserved. February 2011 (date of publication) This synthesis report is based upon work that has been commissioned by the World Bank as part of the work program on the role of local institutions in climate change adaptation. The results reported in the paper are preliminary and subject to revision. 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For permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this work, please send a request with complete information to the Copyright Clearance Center Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA; telephone 978-750-4470; Internet: www.copyright.com iii Contents ACRonYmS AnD ABBREvIAtIonS vii ACknowLEDgEmEntS viii ExECUtIvE SUmmARY x Vulnerability x Adaptation Strategies xii Institutional Support xii Costing of Strategies xiv Key Findings and Recommendatioins xiv Household Characteristics Often are More Important Determinants of Vulnerability than Exposure xiv Target Interventions to Particular Groups and to their Characteristics xiv Strong Institutions are Necessary for Successful Implementation of New Strategies xv Better Institutional Coverage Leads to More and More Diverse Strategies xv Long-term Presence of Institutions Facilitates the Implementation of Communal Strategies xv Coordination and Cooperation between Institutions Makes it Easier to Reach More Households xvi Strengthening Institutions and Assisting Households Requires More than Monetary Costs xvi Despite its Importance, Many Institutions do Not Provide Training xvi 1. IntRoDUCtIon 1 General Context 1 CALI: Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions 1 the CALI Study Assesses Adaptation options Adopted in the past… 1 …and Investigates Country Differences 2 Background 2 the Structure of the Report 3 iv C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S 2. mEthoDoLogY AnD DAtA CoLLECtIon 4 Methodology 4 Focus on Climate-related Hazards without Neglecting Other Hazards 4 Adaptation Strategies can be Categorized into Four major Categories 4 vulnerability Depends on Exposure, Sensitivity and Coping Capacity 5 Institutions 6 Disentangle the Different Costing Elements 6 Data Collection 7 Country profiles 8 In Ethiopia Climate Differs between Low-, Mid- and Highlands 8 In mali Drought Risks are high but the presence of Rivers Enables Irrigation 9 Climate patterns and Agricultural opportunities in Yemen Show Large Differences 10 3. CompARIng ADAptAtIon In EthIopIA, mALI, AnD YEmEn 12 Vulnerability Profiles 12 Ethiopia 12 mali 13 Yemen 15 Differences between household types are Large 16 Synthesis 17 Adaptation strategies 19 Ethiopia 19 Mali 22 Yemen 23 Synthesis 23 Institutional Assistance 25 Ethiopia 25 mali 26 Yemen 27 Synthesis 29 Costing adaptation 31 Implementing Strategies Requires Cooperation 31 household Investment Capacities are Low 31 Adoption of Low-cost Strategies Depends on their Expected Benefits 32 Adoption of high-cost Strategies Requires Cash Income or Institutional Assistance 32 more Expensive Communal Strategies Face Financial and managerial Constraints 33 Assistance from Formal and Informal Institutions may Relieve Adoption Constraints 33 4. ConCLUSIonS AnD RECommEnDAtIonS 35 Household Characteristics often are More Important Determinants of Vulnerability than Exposure 35 target Interventions to particular groups and to their Characteristics 36 Strong Institutions are necessary for Successful Implementation of new Strategies 36 Better Institutional Coverage Leads to more and more Diverse Strategies 37 Long-term presence of Institutions Facilitates the Implementation of Communal Strategies 37 Coordination and Cooperation Among Institutions makes it Easier to Reach more households 37 Despite its Importance, many Institutions Do not provide training 38 Investments in Adaptation Strategies Require More than Monetary Investments 38 SYnthESIS REpoRt v REFEREnCES 40 AppEnDIx 1. CoStIng FRAmEwoRk 42 Boxes Box 1. Definitions Applied in the Report xi Box 2. temporary migration 22 figures Figure 1. percentage of households in the Country Sample Adopting Certain Adaptation Strategies xiii Figure 2. percentage of households in the Sample Receiving Assistance from Different Institutions xiii Figure 3. Agroecological Zones (Left), mean Annual Rainfall (Right) and Rainfall variability (Bottom Left) in Ethiopia 8 Figure 4. Agroecological and Rainfall Zones in mali 9 Figure 5. Annual Rainfall (mm) in Yemen 10 Figure 6. the main vulnerability Characteristics for Ethiopia 14 Figure 7. the main vulnerability Characteristics for mali 16 Figure 8. the main vulnerability Characteristics for Yemen 18 Figure 9. percentage of households Adopting a particular Strategy for Ethiopia, mali, and Yemen 20 Figure 10. percentage of households in the Sample Adopting Adaptation Strategies 21 Figure 11. percentage of households having Contacts with Institutions in Ethiopia 26 Figure 12. percentage of households having Contacts with Institutions in mali 27 Figure 13. percentage of households having Contacts with Institutions in Yemen 28 Figure 14. percentage of households having Contact with an Institution 29 taBLes table 1. Strategies to Reduce Sensitivity or Increase Coping Capacity 6 table 2. overview of Costs and Investments needed to Implement Adaptation Strategies 34 vii ACronyms And AbbreviAtions ABDCC Area-based Development and Climate Change Adaptation project CALI Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions CMDT Compagnie Malienne du Développement des Textiles DPPC Disaster Prevention & Preparedness Centre EACC Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change project. IDP Irrigation & drainage project IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute ICRISAT International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics PCDP Pastoral Community Development Program PPCR Pilot Program for Climate Resilience: Yemen PSNP Productive Safety Net Program RALP Rainfed Agriculture and Livestock project SLM Sustainable Land Management Program WFP World Food Program Note: Unless otherwise noted, all dollars are U.S. dollars, all tons are metric tons. viii ACknowledgements the Wageningen University and a local consultant Dr. Taha Taher, and the study team was led by Dr. Vincent Linderhof and Dr. Nico Polman from Wageningen The “Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions� University, Dr. Arjan Ruijs from Royal Haskoning and (CALI) study was a joint effort by the World Bank Dr. Taha Taher. Support in methodology, field survey Social Development Department (SDV), University of design, workshop organization as well as overall coordina- Michigan, Royal Haskoning and Wageningen tion was provided by Dr. Arjan Ruijs and Mark de Bel. University. The overall study, comprising three individual Technical support was provided by Sr. Environmental case study reports from Ethiopia, Mali and Yemen, as Specialist Kanta Rigaud (MNSEN). well as this synthesis report, was designed and imple- mented in close collaboration with regional colleagues We could not have completed this work without the from AFTAR, AFTEN, MNSEN and MNSAR. continuous logistical support provided by Mustafa Pajazetovic (SDV) and Carmen Martinel (SDV). The study was overseen by a core team led by Nicolas Perrin (ECSS4), Robin Mearns (SDV), Minna Kononen Additionally, participants in the workshops in three (SDV), Anne Kuriakose (SDV) and Arun Agrawal countries provided valuable technical knowledge and (University of Michigan). Financial support was provided insight both for the study design and implications of the by the Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program (BNPP). main results. These participants in Ethiopia included: D. Danano (MORAD), G. Jembere (NMA), B. Lanedri Research partners in Ethiopia were Royal Haskoning and (World Bank), W. Soer (World Bank), T. Alemu (AAU), Shebelle Consulting and the study team was led by Dr. T. Mekonnen (Shebelle Consult), D. Spielman (IFPRI), Arjan Ruijs and Gert Jan Prins from Royal Haskoning B. Adenew (EEA), M. Malo (FAO), S.Regassa (Oxfam and Dr. Kiddist Gebreselassi and Asfaw Mekonnen from USA), S. Tilahun (WFP), B.Mamo (PCDP-MoFa), Shebelle Consulting. Research partners in Mali were I. Campbell (World Bank), S.Bekele (IWMI), Royal Haskoning and GID Consultants and the study J. MacAskill (USAID-LIU), Z. Mekuria (LIU), team was led by Marjolein de Bruin and Harm Jan Raad M. McCartney (IWMI), S. Margulis (World Bank), from Royal Haskoning and L. Diabaté from GID E. Dwumfor (World Bank), K. Shemsu (WFP-VAM), Consultants. Support in methodology, field survey design, Fanaye (EEA) and E. Nigatu (World Bank). In Mali workshop organization as well as overall coordination was they included: T. Huvio (Embassy of Denmark), provided by Dr. Arjan Ruijs and Mark de Bel. Substantial I. Doumbia (GDT), K. Coulibaly (ET GDT), technical support was provided by Taoufiq Bennouna H. Ouologue (SECO ONG), A. Alkassoum Maiga (AFTEN) from the World Bank country office in Mali (BCAT), A.S. Cissé (World Bank), A. Dembélé (DNH, as well as by Florence Richard (AFTEN). Research part- region Djenné), A. Touré (GDT), O. Diallo Baha ners in Yemen were Agricultural Economics Institute at (DNAT), A. Kone (CRES, N’Tjilla), O. Traoré (DNA), SYnthESIS REpoRt ix A. Bagayoko (CNRST NAPA), L. Diabaté (GID), Greteb (Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation), Abdu A. Salam Bah (Université de Bamako, FLASH), A. Hahn Alaziz Alyousofi (RALP), Rafik Al-Sakkaf (TAMWE), (GTZ). In Yemen they were A.M. Bamatraf (Sana’a Omal h. Al-Sakaf (Sana’a University), Adel Al-Sakkaf University), Bilquis A. Sattar (RALP), Amin Al-Kirshi (WEC, Sana’a University), Mansour Haidera (WEC, (AREA-Dhamer), Derhim Ali Achmed (AREA-Taiz, Sana’a University), Jawid Al-Jailan (SFD), Wadia Ibb), Ahmed Albakri (Sana’a University), Abdul Hafed Al-Meklafi (SFD), and Job Klein (Dutch Embassy). x exeCutive summAry The methodology of the study draws on past adaptation experiences, particularly for vulnerable groups in differ- ent fragile ecological contexts. It uses participatory The Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions approaches to assess the costs of different adaptation (CALI) study aims to highlight how adaptation by strategies used by such groups. In this synthesis report, households to climate change and climate variability is the analytical results from the three country case studies shaped by institutions,1 and how governments, through are presented and compared. Among the adopted strate- local institutions, can support adaptation that addresses gies in the three cases, some were similar, while others the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable house- were country-specific. The report describes some of the holds. The main objective of the study is to provide institutional, socioeconomic, and political differences that recommendations regarding adaptation options for contributed to the individual or communal adaptation households in rural regions and facilitate the necessary strategies among the countries. These country compari- institutional support. The approach rests on three criti- sons make it possible to present a number of policy cal premises: recommendations that provide a better insight on how future interventions might be more effectively targeted. • Adaptation to climate change is unavoidable for rural areas in developing countries. However, miti- v u l n e rA b i l i t y gation policies can alter some of the effects from changes in climate variability that are already taking The three countries in the CALI study – Ethiopia, Mali, place. and Yemen – are semi-arid countries that are regularly • Development of future adaptation interventions threatened by drought. High exposure, however, does not and plans must take into account past experience necessarily cause high levels of vulnerability. Low sensitiv- and the costs of adaptation to climate variability ity to climate variability and high coping capacity can alter and change. the threats from high exposure. On the other hand, house- • Participatory approaches are necessary to identify holds in areas with low exposure can still be in a vulnera- adaptation costs and planning options at the local ble situation if their coping capacity is low. These villages level that are relevant to the lives and livelihoods of often have limited fallback options during periods of vulnerable and marginalized social groups. adverse climate conditions. Households receiving remit- tances from migrating household members, owning more assets, or having more diverse income sources often have 1 For the purposes of this study, institutions are defined as structured, better options to respond to income shocks. Furthermore, formal (or informal) organizations that are the means through which central governments and donors channel resources for local develop- inter-household differences between the Ethiopian and ment (Agrawal and Perrin 2009). Yemeni villages are much larger than between the Malian SYnthESIS REpoRt xi box 1. definitions Applied in the report Climate-related hazards are hazards related to changes in climate variability. These refer to (a) drought risk, such as changes in the pattern and timing of rainfall; (b) flood risk, such as changes in the intensity of rainfall; (c) average temperature changes; and (d) heat waves, including extreme temperature peaks. In addition to climate-related hazards associated with variability, this study also considered other hazards such as soil erosion, agricultural or livestock pests or diseases, human diseases, increasing population pressure, credit or market problems, rising food prices, and hazards related to access to land or other resources. Strategies include the strategies households currently adopt. They can be classified as follows: • Agricultural techniques to adapt to changes in rainfall regime, including changing seed selection, adapt- ing planting dates, adapting fertilizer application, adapting feed techniques, improving food storage facili- ties, or changing pastoral systems. • Water management techniques to adapt to changes in rainfall regime, including use of water harvesting techniques, rehabilitation of terraces, improved irrigation techniques, or improved watering sites in pasto- ral areas. • Diversification techniques in order to diversify income sources, including temporary or permanent migra- tion, using alternative sources for fuel wood, practicing home-garden agriculture, changing the consump- tion pattern, or drawing down livestock. • Communal pooling techniques, including reforestation, rangeland preservation, communal food storage facilities, or local water management rules. Costing of adaptation strategies refers to (a) the monetary costs households have to make to purchase required inputs, next to the usual expenses they make for their daily practices; (b) the time and effort house- holds invest in implementing a strategy and the time and effort households have to invest in training in order to obtain the necessary skills for implementing and managing the investment; and (c) the effort to create com- mitment among community members to jointly initiate and sustain communal investments. Vulnerability refers to the susceptibility to external stresses. It is composed of exposure to risk, sensitivity to that risk, and adaptive capacity (IPCC 2007). • Exposure refers to the external stress to people or communities, which is caused by factors such as changes in rainfall and temperature patterns due to climate change. • Sensitivity refers to the extent to which people or communities are susceptible to exposure to the stress. For example, farmers using irrigation are less susceptible to variations in rainfall than farmers applying rainfed farming. • Adaptive or coping capacity refers to the ability to cope with the external stress. Factors affecting coping capacity include level of education and access to resources. In general, high levels of exposure, high levels of sensitivity, and low levels of coping capacity result in high levels of vulnerability. High exposure, however, does not necessarily result in high vulnerability if, for example, coping capacity is high. Vulnerability profiles refer to the profile of characteristics of households showing their vulnerability. Household characteristics include the level of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, providing a mea- sure of household vulnerability. Describing the multiple facets of vulnerability shows the extent to which households are capable of successfully dealing with external stresses. The more characteristics are positive, the lower the level of vulnerability. If only a few characteristics are positive, or if only one characteristic is positive—for example, coping capacity is good, but sensitivity and exposure scores are bad—households will still be vulnerable. (continued next page) xii C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S box 1. (Continued) Institutions are defined as structured, formal, or informal organizations that are the means through which cen- tral governments and donors channel resources for local development (Agrawal and Perrin 2009). The focus is on groups of people, organized either formally or informally, who can be approached as a group. Occasionally, the study uses a broader definition of institutions (North 1990; Williamson 2000) that include the norms and rules that govern the behavior of households and organizations. In particular, it is important to include the role of kinship (clan, ethnical group), factors affecting commitment among community members, and factors affecting market functionality. villages. As a result, for Ethiopia and Yemen aid programs the color, the more households received assistance. As should be tailor-made, focusing on particular groups, was already observed, the level of assistance differs whereas in Mali interventions can be more general. greatly between the countries. Figure 2 clearly shows that in Ethiopia almost all households receive some sort Ad A ptAtion strAtegies of institutional support, while in Yemen this is almost negligible. The number of strategies adopted by Ethiopian, Malian, and Yemeni households differs considerably. In Ethiopia, The type of institutions most prevalent in each of the on average 8.5 strategies are adopted per household, countries is partly explained by government policy. compared to 3.5 in Mali and 1.7 in Yemen. In Yemen Extension services in Ethiopia have a strong and exten- 40 percent of the households do not adopt any strategy sive network of agencies covering a large part of the at all. In all three countries, female-dominated house- country. In Mali, extension services have a much weaker holds adopt fewer strategies and receive less assistance network. They cover fewer regions, seem to have fewer from institutions. In Figure 1, the selection of strategies resources, and reach fewer farmers. In Yemen, house- used by the households is presented by categorizing holds in the study villages hardly have contacts with these by individual vs. communal strategies and sensitiv- institutions. Households in Yemen seem to be much ity reducing vs. coping capacity increasing strategies. more on their own, supported by informal community The chart only lists strategies that are adopted by at institutions such as clans and neighbors, but without least 10 percent of the respondents. much help from any formal institution. There are some country-specific patterns. In Mali, the For many strategies, cooperation between households strategies are mostly individual strategies. In Ethiopia and institutions is essential for the successful implemen- and Yemen, there is a mix between individual and tation of the strategy. Even for low-cost and individual communal strategies, even though in Yemen very few strategies like seed selection or the adaptation of plant- innovations are used in the effort to reduce vulnerability. ing dates, implementation is expected to be more Moreover, the strategies used to reduce sensitivity are successful if back-up is provided by institutions in terms quite similar between the three countries, even though of training and knowledge transfer. Furthermore, for the there are differences in the percentage of households communal strategies that require a sense of ownership adopting the strategies. on the part of all stakeholders, training and knowledge transfer from institutions helps meet these requirements i nstitutionAl support and thus improves the likelihood of success in imple- menting these strategies. Figure 2 illustrates the percentage of households that actually received support from different institutions in Different institutions play different roles that depend on the implementation of adaptation strategies. The darker the level at which they aim their intervention. SYnthESIS REpoRt xiii figure 1. perCentAge of households in the Country sAmple Adopting CertAin AdAptAtion strAtegies Coping capacity increasing Ethiopia Ethiopia 7. Home-garden agriculture (47%) Mali Mali 4. Temporal migration to urban centers (24%) 5. Communal cereal bank (21%) 7. Reduce livestock/savings (16%) 9. Temporary migration to other rural areas (14%) Yemen Yemen 1. Temporary migration to other rural areas Individual strategy Communal strategy (15%) Ethiopia Ethiopia 1. Crop selection (78%) 2. Improve, construct, or rehabilitate terraces 5. Adapt planting dates (51%) (72%) 6. Adapt feed techniques (zero grazing) (48%) 3. Soil erosion prevention (69%) 8. Adapt cropping densities (43%) 4. Restore and preserve forests (69%) 10. Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application (41%) 9. Rangeland preservation / management (42%) Mali 1. Improved seeds (79%) Mali 2. Use of manure of family herd on the fields 8. Use irrigation (16%) (70%) 3. Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application (41%) 6. Change production practices (20%) Yemen Yemen 1. Use irrigation (26%) 3. Improve, construct or rehabilitate terraces (18%) 2. Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application (22%) 5. Communal irrigation (12%) Sensitivity reducing Notes: categorized by individual vs. communal strategies and sensitivity reducing vs. coping capacity increasing strategies. only strategies adopted by at least 10 percent of the households are shown. figure 2. perCentAge of households in the sAmple reCeiving AssistAnCe from different institutions Village Religious Micro Local Extension Coopera- communi- communi- Women’s finance authorities agency NGO tives tives tives groups institution Ethiopia Mali Yemen Legend 0%–10% 10%–30% 30%–50% 50%–70% 70%–90% 90%–100% Institutions should not operate independently, but func- well-functioning society, other institutions aim their tion as part of a mutually supportive network. Where the interventions at the household level. Households need central government has a role in realizing a better func- support in terms of training, financial support, tech- tioning social and market environment in order to niques, and inputs that give them the skills and means to provide the enabling environment required for a improve their situation themselves in a sustainable way. xiv C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S Costing of strAtegies key findings And r eCo m m e n dAt i o i n s Based on the surveys and interviews, the different cate- gories of cost incurred by the stakeholders for imple- Based on the above, the study makes the following key menting adaptation strategies were assessed.2 Costs for findings and recommendations: implementation of strategies are more than just mone- tary expenses. When choosing a strategy, households household Characteristics often are more may lack the knowledge, the skills, the labor, or the i m p o r t a n t d e t e r m i n a n t s o f vu l n e r a b i l i t y t han money to implement a strategy. This report presents an exposure overview of the different “costs� that are needed to select, and successfully implement, the identified strate- In the three study countries, drought is the major gies. As it was sometimes very difficult to determine climate-related hazard faced by the households. The the exact costs in terms of money, skills, or time majority of the households see droughts to be a larger required to implement a specific strategy, we indicated threat than flood hazards or extreme rainfall and whether low, medium, or high requirements were extreme temperatures. However, households that are needed for monetary inputs, labor inputs, training time, less exposed to hazards can still be in a vulnerable and commitment . This last factor is a measure of the situation if they are sensitive to climate variability or willingness of households to implement a communal have a low coping capacity. The study recommends strategy; that is, to bear the transaction costs of collec- focusing development programs both on measures to tive action. reduce sensitivity and enhance coping capacity. In particular, investments in education should remain an In general, many households choose low-cost strategies important priority in all three countries, as education for which they can expect immediate gains. The more levels are very important in the determination of expensive individual adaptation strategies, such as the vulnerability. Interventions to decrease household use of water harvesting techniques, which are vulnerability should carefully consider household constrained by knowledge and credit constraints, are differences and the major constraints these less often selected. Many of these strategies have households face. positive expected net benefits, but face financing constraints and require higher skills. Furthermore, some ta r g e t i n t e r v e n t i o n s t o p a r t i c u l a r g r o u p s and strategies are constrained by imperfect market condi- to their Characteristics tions, lack of infrastructure, or they may coincide with periods of peak labor demand. Assistance from formal • When designing interventions, even within villages, and informal institutions may lessen some of these promote a diverse set of strategies that considers the constraints. These projects often have high costs that differences in characteristics among households. cannot be raised by the participating households them- • Involving women in decisions—especially regarding selves and can only be recovered in the longer run. home-garden agriculture, petty trade, charcoal sales, Next to that, these more demanding strategies require and handicrafts—improves adoption levels of these higher levels of commitment among households and strategies. institutions in order to reach sustainable program • More marginalized groups need special attention, as results. Reaching commitment, however, is not an easy they are more difficult to reach and have lower task and requires a different approach than simply less- adoption levels of the prevailing, low-cost adapta- ening the monetary, training, or technical constraints tion strategies—such as changes in seed selection, households often face. planting dates, and the use of fertilizers and pesticides. • Wealthier households can invest in more expensive 2 It turned out to be difficult to obtain reliable monetary information on the costs incurred for adopting the adaptation strategies. For that rea- strategies. As they are generally more capable of son, the adaptation costs have been assessed qualitatively. obtaining assistance, development programs should SYnthESIS REpoRt xv particularly focus on the less well-off groups, espe- needed for a well-functioning market environment cially those with low education levels, few income are currently missing, which can only be realized diversification opportunities, and living in remote through public investments. Aside from monetary areas. investments, these public investments should include investments in training and commitment to give strong instit u t i o n s a r e ne c e s s a r y f o r households the skills to take their lives into their s uccessful i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f ne w st r a t e g i e s own hands. To an important degree, the successful implementation From this, it follows that the objectives of sustainable of different adaptation strategies depends on the insti- development will not be reached if interventions focus tutional assistance provided during the adaptation only on one constraint. Integrated development process. programs, like those currently executed in Ethiopia and initiated in Yemen, seem to be promising ways of giving • In the three study countries, similar low-cost, sensi- households the opportunity to improve their livelihoods. tivity reducing agricultural strategies are adopted, like seed/crop selection, changes in the cropping cal- b e t t e r i n s t i t u t i o n a l C o v e r a g e le a d s t o m ore endar, and changed application of farming inputs. and more diverse strategies As these strategies have proven their value in all three countries, those households that have not yet The number of households adopting strategies and the adopted these practices should be urged to do so. number of strategies adopted per household varies • Low-cost strategies focusing on improving coping significantly among the countries, with 8.5 strategies capacities—like home-garden agriculture, charcoal adopted per household for Ethiopia compared to 3.5 for sales, and handicrafts meant for diversifying Mali and only 1.7 for Yemen. There are several country- income—are selected by many fewer households, specific differences that may explain this. Ethiopia, especially in Ethiopia and Yemen. The adoption of which benefits more from institutional support than strategies to improve coping capacity is often con- Mali or Yemen, has opted more for community-based strained by malfunctioning input and output mar- strategies, whereas in Mali and Yemen the role of kets, financing problems, overlapping labor formal institutions is much smaller and households rely calendars, and lack of knowledge. Some of these more on autonomous and “proven� strategies that can be constraints can be overcome with adequate institu- implemented with the resources that are readily avail- tional assistance. These constraints furthermore able from the household itself. Moreover, strategies in require national actions on improving market Ethiopia are more innovative than those adopted in situations. Mali and Yemen. Investments in coordinated networks • Due to low education levels and a poorly function- of extension agencies and NGOs pay off in the adop- ing market environment, only a few households are tion of more strategies and more encompassing adapta- capable of developing innovative strategies that are tion strategies, leading to lower levels of vulnerability. suitable for adaptation to more severe climate vari- ability without institutional assistance. l o n g - t e r m p r e s e n c e o f i n s t i t u t i o n s f a c i l i tates • All three countries lack an enabling environment for t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f C o m m u n a l s t r a t e g ies effective institutions and markets, which is an essen- tial requirement for the success of new initiatives. The household surveys show that a more diverse set of Initiating new income generating options or devel- strategies can be adopted if institutions can assist with oping more innovative adaptation strategies may be overcoming some of the managerial, knowledge, and hampered by poorly functioning markets (including technical requirements the households face when adopt- credit markets), the low quality of infrastructure ing more demanding communal strategies, such as (road, electricity, and telecommunications), and low communal irrigation schemes and larger scale reforesta- purchasing power. Some of the basic preconditions tion, soil erosion prevention, and terrace rehabilitation xvi C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S programs. From this, it follows that the adoption of markets or malfunctioning transport sectors), laws and communal strategies requires the long-term presence of rules (such as land ownership laws) may curb communal institutions to help facilitate the inter-household coop- initiatives, and weak social structures may prevent imple- eration and level of commitment required for employing mentation of community strategies (due, for example, to communal strategies. The role of institutions goes free-rider behavior). Initiating single-issue interventions beyond the tasks to alleviate technical and monetary that focus on one constraint only—for example, financ- constraints. Such constraints can be overcome through ing the construction of irrigation schemes—may lessen short-term interventions. Realizing commitment and short-term needs. To initiate projects that are sustainable sustainable, long-term management of project outcomes, over a longer term, however, more is needed. however, requires different types of interventions. These include strengthening (informal) institutional structures d e s p i t e i t s i m p o r t a n c e , m a n y i n s t i t u t i o n s do and revitalizing norms and rules that strengthen social n o t p r o v i d e tr a i n i n g capital, create commitment, and provide the households and the community the skills to jointly take their devel- Training and awareness raising are important ways to opment into their own hands. Such interventions, provide households with the skills to make their own however, are more difficult to monitor and plan. choices and to create a sense of ownership of the adopted strategies. Without a sense of ownership, house- Coordination a n d C o o p e r a t i o n b e t w e e n holds will remain dependent on institutional assistance, institutions m a k e s i t ea s i e r t o re a c h and realizing investments that remain productive in the m ore h ouse h o l d s long run will be more difficult. In Ethiopia, institutional assistance includes training, and some institutions—such Promoting adaptation strategies requires institutional as cooperatives—also provide inputs, or cash in the case cooperation on three levels. First, formal, governmental, of micro-credit institutions. In Mali, assistance is or nongovernmental institutions need to have sufficient predominantly in the form of inputs. Both in Yemen and coverage to include most villages and set the policy and in Mali, institutions provide hardly any training. This regulatory framework. Second, (informal) community difference between Ethiopia on the one hand, and Mali institutions play an important role in reaching households and Yemen on the other, is explained by the Ethiopian by facilitating training in good practices, maintaining network of extension agencies, which also invests in social networks of norms and rules of behavior, and creat- communal strategies—such as irrigation schemes or ing commitment among households. Third, national community reforestation—and public infrastructure such coordination of interventions can avoid duplication of as roads and electricity. work, as well as make it possible to learn from each other and raise the more macro-level constraints to the relevant The results of this study confirm the view that it is authorities. It depends on the country context whether it important to place greater emphasis on integrated is best to realize this through formal, government-related approaches to development. A focus on only a single extension agencies (as in Ethiopia) or through nongov- issue will most likely not have the envisaged results ernmental channels (as in Mali). and will in the end lead to higher costs. Several constraints—ranging from constraints on a household, strengthenin g in s t i t u t i o n s a n d A s s i s t i n g village, regional, or national level—prevent households h ouseholds r e q u i r e s mo r e t h a n from successfully improving their livelihoods and m onetary Co s t s preparing adequately for changing climate variability. Moreover, due to differences among households, there The study revealed that monetary constraints are only is no one overall strategy for solving the different one of the reasons why promising strategies are not problems. The study showed that in order to develop, adopted. Often monetary constraints are not the major jointly with households, appropriate and cost-effective constraint. Stakeholders may lack the technical or mana- strategies, it is important to maintain an institutional gerial skills, market environments may be counterpro- presence and institutional coordination and ductive (due, for example, to the absence of credit cooperation. 1 1. introduCtion recommendations to decision makers in development projects and government agencies regarding the options available to rural households to adapt to generA l Context increasing climate variability and the institutional support necessary to facilitate this adaptation process. CA li: Costin g A d a p t a t i o n t h r o u g h lo c a l This study is a reflection of a few fundamental insights, institutions namely that (a) poor, rural households face most of the hazards associated with climate variability; (b) adapta- Climate change is a global phenomenon. Even though tion is more than techniques, but also involves socio- local projections of climate change are uncertain, the economic factors; (c) understanding local adaptation envisaged increase in climate variability especially affects processes is important for informing macroeconomic the world’s most vulnerable populations (Adger and policies; and (d) in prioritizing future adaptation, it is Vincent 2005; IPCC 2007). These are also the people crucial to analyze past adaptation strategies. who in their daily lives have been struggling for decades with variability in rainfall patterns. To what extent does The objectives of the CALI study are threefold: increasing climate variability affect households in differ- ent regions of the world and regions with similar 1. To identify the main adaptation strategies currently climatic conditions? adopted by households; 2. To investigate which institutions support house- The Social Development Department of the World holds in adapting to climate variability, and how Bank commissioned this study on the costing of these institutions facilitate adaptation to climate climate change adaptation in Yemen, Mali, and variability; and Ethiopia. All three countries have a semi-arid climate, 3. To identify important adaptation cost elements face drought risks, and have experienced several periods (labor, material, and cash) borne by households and of extreme drought over the last decades. Due to institutions. cultural, historical, political, institutional, and geographical differences, however, agricultural systems t h e C Al i s t u d y A s s e s s e s A d a p t a t i o n op tions and development paths differ among the three coun- Adopted in the past… tries. As a result, strategies to deal with climate vari- ability vary as well. By comparing lessons learned from The study involves an assessment of the adaptation each of the three countries, more insight can be options rural households pursue. It investigates the obtained into the process of adapting to climate vari- differential access/adoption rates of various vulnerability ability. The aim of this study is thus to provide groups, as well as the drivers for adopting particular 2 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S strategies or constraints or considerations for not adopt- of the main results of the three country studies and only ing others. Households and institutional stakeholders briefly discusses the results and peculiarities of the indi- were interviewed in six villages in each of the study vidual countries. Assessments of the results for Ethiopia, countries, focus group discussions were organized, and Mali, and Yemen are contained in the country reports, experts were consulted. The study focused on the which contain a detailed description of the methodol- manner in which rural households have dealt with ogy, relevant literature, villages selected, and data. hazards related to climate variability in the past, irre- spective of whether these hazards might change in the b A Ck g r o u n d future. For decades, farmers have been facing severe climate-related hazards like extreme droughts, rainfall The CALI study is one of a number of initiatives from fluctuations, and temperature fluctuations. The focus of the World Bank Social Development Department on the project is not on how households will respond to an global climate change adaptation and the role of insti- intensification of these climate hazards, but on how they tutions (Agrawal, Kononen, and Perrin 2009). Two have responded in the past. As a result, the list of strate- other cross-country studies that are related to the CALI gies presented in this report should not be interpreted as study are the Economics of Adaptation to Climate being the best or most wanted strategies to cope with Change (EACC) project and the Area-Based climate variability. It reflects current practice in Yemen, Development and Climate Change (ABDCC) project. Mali, and Ethiopia and shows what households The EACC project, which covered six countries includ- currently do themselves or with institutional assistance ing Ethiopia, combines top-down estimates of the and how it affects their vulnerability. It also considers economic effects of climate change with bottom-up what households do not do, which factors constrain their insights on the effects of climate change on livelihoods set of feasible adaptation strategies, and what is needed (World Bank 2010a). The ABDCC study took place in to relieve these constraints. Moreover, information is a number of West African and Latin American coun- collected about the types of costs the different stake- tries and also analyzes institutional investments neces- holders have to make for implementing the strategies. A sary to facilitate cost-effective adaptation (World Bank costing framework was developed to define the costs of 2010b). The approach of the ABDCC study is similar adaptation strategies. The costing of interventions goes to the CALI methodology, but with a greater focus on beyond the monetary costs, but also captures the labor institutions and a reduced focus on factors explaining requirements, skill requirements, and need for commit- adoption of particular adaptation strategies, which is an ment among stakeholders to jointly initiate and main- important focus of the CALI study. tain initiatives. Because of the multitude of costing items, we made a qualitative assessment of the types of The CALI study is related to studies and projects in costs households and institutions have to make to each of the three study countries. In Yemen, the Rainfed implement adaptation strategies and the constraints that Agriculture and Livestock Project (RALP), which uses may prevent them from bearing those costs. studies conducted by the Social Fund for Development, invests resources in terrace rehabilitation and develop- …and invest i g a t e s C o u n t r y di ff e r e n c e s ment of the livestock sector. Two of the villages in which the CALI study was executed also participate in This synthesis report compares the results from the the RALP project. Recently, the Pilot Program for analysis in each of the three countries. The main strate- Climate Resilience (PPCR) was initiated with the gies adopted differ among the three countries. objective to prepare a strategic program for climate Institutional, socioeconomic, cultural, and political resilience and identify and prepare potential interven- differences explain the focus on individual or communal tions for making the Yemeni population less vulnerable strategies or the way in which vulnerability is reduced. to climate change. In Ethiopia, the CALI study is Policy recommendations are intended to relieve some of closely related to the multidonor Productive Safety Net the constraints that prevent households, communities, or Program (PSNP), Pastoral Community Development institutions from adequately dealing with hazards related Program (PCDP), and the Irrigation & Drainage proj- to climate variability. This report focuses on a synthesis ect. The villages selected for the CALI study are SYnthESIS REpoRt 3 situated in the regions where the PSNP and PCDP explain vulnerability. Second, this chapter discusses the programs are operating. Next to that, there are a number adaptation strategies, showing the differences between of initiatives from the International Food Policy countries and examining the characteristics that may Research Institute (IFPRI), the World Food Program explain disparities in strategies adopted. Third, it exam- (WFP), and the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness ines the types of assistance institutions provide to Centre (DPPC) focusing on vulnerability and climate households to assist them in reducing climate-related change adaptation in rural Ethiopia. Finally, in Mali, the hazards. Fourth, it evaluates the costing elements CALI study is related to the Sustainable Land involved in adopting the adaptation strategies for all Management program (SLM), a multidonor initiative to stakeholders. Finally, Chapter 4 presents conclusions support the government of Mali in adopting a program- and recommendations. matic approach to sustainable land management and to develop a strategic investment structure. Under the This study covers observations from six villages in each umbrella of this program, several studies are being country. The villages are selected in such a way that implemented by ICRISAT and IFPRI. they cover a diverse set of climatological, agroecologi- cal, and socioeconomic characteristics and cover the t he struCture of the report main agricultural systems present in the country. The differences within each country, however, are so large This report compares the results from the different that the results cannot be extrapolated to the national country surveys. Chapter 2 briefly summarizes the level to represent the entire country. This should be methodology and the type of data collected for the taken into consideration when interpreting the results. CALI study. Moreover, it briefly describes the study Many of the observations and recommendations made countries and villages selected. The core of this report is throughout this report, however, do apply to other Chapter 3, which first explains differences in vulnerabil- regions as well and therefore cover not just the study ity characteristics and then assesses the elements that villages. 4 2. methodology And early warning systems and improved weather prediction systems, may improve the efficiency with which some of dAtA ColleCtion the local-level adaptation options can be implemented. focus on Climate-related hazards without methodology neglecting other hazards As discussed above, the CALI study aims to answer the The focus of the study is on hazards related to changes following research questions: in climate variability. These refer to • Which adaptation strategies are used by people fac- • Drought risk: changes in the pattern and timing of ing hazards of climate variability in the selected rainfall locations? • Flood risk: changes in the intensity of rainfall • What motivates the selection of adaptation options, resulting in floods which constraints prevent households from adopting • Average temperature changes other options, and which factors explain differences • Heat waves: extreme temperature peaks leading to between groups of households? heat waves. • In what ways do institutions assist households in adopting appropriate adaptation strategies with the Next to these climate-related hazards, rural households objective to reduce their vulnerability to climate vari- also face numerous other hazards that may cause liveli- ability, and which constraints hinder their actions? hood strategies to change. These hazards include soil • What types of costs do households and institutions erosion, agricultural or livestock pests or diseases, human have to make to successfully implement adaptation diseases, increasing population pressure, credit or market strategies? problems, rising food prices, and hazards related to access to land or other resources (FAO 2006; Thomas et al. The section below explains which elements are covered 2007). Some of these hazards may indirectly result from by these research questions, how these elements are climate-related impacts (for example, food price increases defined, and what type of information is needed to due to bad harvests), but it is difficult to identify whether answer them. The methodology adopted in the study is they originate from environmental, climatological, or based on Agrawal and Perrin (2008). The focus of this economic drivers (Adger and Vincent 2005). study is on the local-level actions that can be taken by households themselves, sometimes with help from exter- A d a p t a t i o n s t r a t e g i e s c a n b e C a t e g o r i z e d into nal institutions or community members. We do not four major Categories consider the more macro-level strategies described in the National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPA) for the The focus of the analysis is on the strategies households three countries. These macro-level initiatives, especially currently choose in anticipation or in reaction to external SYnthESIS REpoRt 5 stresses, phenomena, or events that lead to changing agro- we refer to a widely adopted definition by IPCC accord- ecological and livelihood characteristics and therefore ing to which vulnerability is composed of exposure to risk, require behavioral changes (Nelson et al. 2007; Stringer sensitivity to that risk, and adaptive capacity (IPCC 2007; et al. 2009). Most of these strategies have been introduced see also Kok and Jäger 2009 and UNEP 2002). or promoted since the droughts in the 1970s. These droughts partly destroyed traditional farming systems, • Exposure refers to the external stress to people or which were in some cases more diversified than current communities, which is caused by factors such as systems. Combined with other reasons—such as increas- changes in rainfall and temperature patterns due to ing population pressures, civil unrest, and changing social climate change. and political structures—farming systems have changed • Sensitivity refers to the extent to which people or substantially since the 1970s, which in some cases made communities are susceptible to exposure to the stress. them more vulnerable. The strategies households currently For example, farmers using irrigation are less suscep- practice to adapt to changing levels of climate variability tible to variations in rainfall than farmers applying can be classified as follows (Agrawal and Perrin 2008): rainfed farming. • Adaptive or coping capacity refers to the ability to • Agricultural techniques to adapt to changes in rainfall cope with the external stress. Factors affecting cop- regime, which include adjusting seed selection, ing capacity include level of education and access to adapting planting dates, adapting fertilizer applica- other resources. tion, adapting feed techniques, improving food stor- age facilities, or changing the pastoral system. This definition supports the notion that vulnerability is • Water management techniques to adapt to changes in a socially constructed phenomenon shaped by a set of rainfall regime, which include the use of water har- institutional and economic dynamics (Adger 2003). In vesting techniques, rehabilitating terraces, improving general, high levels of exposure, high levels of sensitivity, irrigation techniques, or improve watering sites in and low levels of coping capacity result in high levels of pastoral areas. vulnerability. High exposure, however, does not necessarily • Diversification techniques to diversify income sources, result in high vulnerability if, for example, coping capacity which include temporary or permanent migration, is high. using alternative sources for fuelwood, practicing home-garden agriculture, changing the consumption In this report, households are classified according to pattern, or drawing down livestock. their vulnerability profile. This refers to the profile of • Communal pooling techniques, which include refores- household characteristics that show their level and type tation, rangeland preservation, communal food stor- of vulnerability. Household characteristics are identified age facilities, or local water management rules. in terms that describe their level of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, showing the extent to which This analysis particularly focused on the question of households are vulnerable. Describing the multiple whether adaptation is policy- or community-driven and facets of vulnerability shows the extent to which house- initiated with institutional assistance, or whether it is holds are capable of successfully dealing with external an autonomous choice made by the households them- stresses. The more characteristics are positive, the lower selves (Stringer et al. 2009). the level of vulnerability. If only a few characteristics are positive, or if especially one type of characteristic is vulnerability d e p e n d s o n ex p o s u r e , se n s i t i v i t y positive—for example, coping capacity is good, but and Coping C a p a c i t y sensitivity and exposure are poor—households will still be vulnerable. In order to explain differences in the adoption of strate- gies, we compared households with each other on the Individual households are not able to affect exposure to basis of their vulnerability profiles, and then assessed climate variability. Sensitivity and coping capacity can whether the adaption strategies and the institutional assis- be affected. Table 1 gives examples of strategies to tance differ between the different vulnerability classes. In reduce sensitivity or increase coping capacity. The capa- the literature several definitions of vulnerability exist. Here bility of households to change their level of sensitivity 6 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S tAble 1. strAtegies to reduCe sensitivity or inCreAse Coping CApACity Sensitivity reducing strategies Coping capacity increasing strategies Crop selection (e.g. switch to more drought resistant crops) temporary or permanent migration to urban centers Adapt planting dates migration to other rural areas Adapt feed techniques (zero grazing) home-garden agriculture Adapt cropping densities Reduce livestock/savings Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application Improved food storage facilities Improved seeds (use seeds that have been improved to be e.g. more handicrafts drought resistant) Increase market sales Use of manure of family herd on the fields Communal cereal bank Use water harvesting techniques Use irrigation Improve, construct, or rehabilitate terraces Soil erosion prevention Restore and preserve forests Rangeland preservation / management Communal water harvesting or their coping capacity depends on many different institutions also cover norms and rules that govern the factors. Examples are financial status, gender, level of behavior of households and organizations. In particular education, employment, and group affiliation. Financial the role of kinship (clan, ethnic group), factors affecting status is an important factor as it affects the financial commitment among community members, and factors capacity to make investments. It depends, for example, affecting market functioning are important in this respect. on the amount of land cultivated, agroecological and soil quality conditions, types of crops grown and marketed d i s e n t a n g l e t h e d i ff e r e n t C o s t i n g e l e m e nts (food vs. cash crops), amount of livestock owned, amount of assets owned, income earned from other We developed a costing framework in order to obtain activities, and remittances received from migrated more insight into the types of costs households, household members. communities, and institutions have to incur in imple- menting the coping strategies. Costing of adaptation In Chapter 3, the study assesses whether households strategies refers to several costing aspects: especially adopt measures to reduce sensitivity or increase coping capacity. Moreover, we assessed which • The monetary costs households and institutions characteristics explain the adoption (or nonadoption) of have to make to purchase additional inputs, next to particular strategies. the usual expenses they make for their daily practices. institutions • The time investments households and institutions make for implementing the strategy. For the purposes of this study, institutions are defined as • The training needed to obtain the necessary skills to structured, formal, or informal organizations that are the implement and manage the investment by the means through which central governments and donors households and institutions. channels resources for local development (Agrawal and • The investments in commitment among community Perrin 2009). The focus is on groups of people, who are members and institutions at several levels to jointly organized formally or informally and can be approached initiate and sustain investments. as a group. For understanding why particular strategies are not adopted or why assistance structures may differ The costing framework is shown in Appendix 1. The per country, we made use of a broader definition of design of the survey is based on this framework. The focus institutions (North 1990; Williamson 2000) in which is on a qualitative assessment of the costs of adaptation SYnthESIS REpoRt 7 and that these costs are more than just monetary costs. To interviewed, about 150 institutional stakeholders were elicit reliable quantitative information on the monetary consulted, and 18 focus group discussions were orga- requirements, a different methodology should be adopted. nized. National and international experts were consulted to discuss the set-up and results of the study. The data dAtA Colle Ction were analyzed using statistical methods (descriptive anal- ysis, cluster analysis, and factor analysis). The methodological underpinning of the CALI study is based on data collection and statistical analysis of field The household questionnaire contained three categories of survey results from the participating countries. There is questions. First, for creating a household profile, questions sufficient flexibility, however, to take into consideration were raised on household composition (gender, age), environmental, socioeconomic, and political differences education, occupation, migratory behavior, crops culti- between these countries. The questionnaires used are vated, livestock owned, and assets owned. We also similar for all three countries, but contain country- collected information about the types of hazards the specific categories and subquestions. As a result, common household was facing in order to find out whether climate analytical methods were applied across all three countries. variability-related hazards were perceived as important problems and whether these hazards had affected house- In each country, six villages were selected in consulta- hold behavior. Second, the questionnaire elicited informa- tion with ongoing development programs and national tion about the choice of adaptation strategies. Which and local authorities. They were selected on the basis of strategies had been adopted in the past, for reducing the following criteria: which hazard? What were the necessary investments (monetary, labor, time) for this and were the tasks gender- • Cover the main hazards related to climate variabil- specific? For this a participatory appraisal method was ity and choose villages with different levels of adopted. Finally, questions were raised about the assistance exposure (for example, low drought risk vs. high institutions provide when adopting adaptation strategies. drought risk). Which institutions did assist, what type of assistance did • Cover the main agricultural systems in the country. they provide, and was this assistance helpful? • Choose some villages that are participating in ongo- ing development programs (like the PSNP or PCDP The focus of the institutional stakeholder interviews was in Ethiopia, RALP in Yemen, or the SLM program especially on the types of services they provided, their in Mali).3 role in assisting households with adaptation, their link- • Choose villages situated a reasonable distance from ages with authorities, and the cost of performing their the capital for reasons of efficiency. tasks. In addition, the study discussed the main constraints limiting their activities and the effects of In consultation with local authorities, within each village, extreme climate events on their activities. 50 households were randomly selected and about 10 institutional stakeholders were identified. Moreover, In each village, a focus group discussion was organized people were selected for the focus group discussion in with a group of 15 to 20 people from the village. The such a way that different sexes, age classes, and wealth objective was to obtain hands-on and detailed informa- classes were present. In total, 901 households were tion on concepts, perceptions, and ideas of a group. The results from the discussion complement the results and 3 In Ethiopia, the PSNP (Productive Safety Net Program) and PCDP insights from the household questionnaires, institutional (Pastoral Community Development Project) are two of the large, multi-donor, integrated development projects. A third project, execut- stakeholder interviews, and expert interviews. The group ed in the north of the country, is the Irrigation and Drainage Project discussions gave additional information about the percep- (IDP). The distance to the IDP area was too far to be covered in the tions of the main (climate) hazards and their changes; CALI study as well. The RALP project (Rainfed Agriculture and Livelihood Project) is one of the large rural development projects in about the reasons for adoption or nonadoption of an Yemen, which is executed jointly with the Social Fund for adaptation option; about the advantages, disadvantages, Development. The SLM project (Sustainable Land Management) in Mali is a multi-donor initiative with the aim to promote sustainable bottlenecks, strong points, or weak points of the different land management. adaptation options; about the institutions facilitating the 8 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S adoption of certain adaptation options; and about differ- inadequate infrastructure, and lack of institutional ences in strategy adoption between socioeconomic groups. capacity) and heavy reliance on natural-resource-based activities. The north and southeastern parts of the Country profiles country experience lower rainfall and higher tempera- ture levels than the rest of the country (see Figure 3). The section below discusses the main characteristics of Climate variability is mainly manifested through the the study countries and the regions in which the field variability and decreasing trend in rainfall and increas- surveys took place. The country reports provide a more ing trend in temperature observed in the last decades. in-depth discussion of the study area and study villages. The major climate hazards observed in Ethiopia include drought, flood, and livestock and human in ethiopia C l i m a t e di ff e r s b e t w e e n l o w - , diseases (LIU/DMFSS 2009). Although floods are mid- and h ig h l a n d s more of a lowland phenomenon, floods in the lowlands are partly attributable to activities in the highlands. Ethiopia is vulnerable to climate variability due to its Generally, due to the varying rainfall and temperature low adaptive capacity (that is, low level of socioeco- patterns, the arid, semi-arid, and subhumid lowlands nomic development, high population growth, are more vulnerable than the highland areas (Admassie figure 3. AgroeCologiCAl zones (left), meAn AnnuAl rAinfAll (right) And rAinfAll vAriAbility (bottom left) in ethiopiA Hot lowlands < 500m Lowlands 500–1500m Highlands 1500–2300m Highlands 2300–3200m Highlands 3200–3700m Highlands > 3700m Kalu Woreda Addis Ababa Fentale Woreda Source: Atlas of the ethiopian rural economy, 2006. SYnthESIS REpoRt 9 et al. 2008; Deressa et al. 2008). If the trend of warm- midland areas (Choresa and Birko Debele) and two from ing and drying continues, vulnerability among the the highland areas (Keteteya and Hardibo). They differ agricultural farming and pastoral livelihoods is especially in the hazards faced and in accessibility. Fentale expected to increase. is predominantly a lowland area. Crop production is only a recent phenomenon in this predominantly pastoralist The field surveys were executed in four villages (kebelle) in region. The main hazards in the zone include drought due Kalu woreda and two villages in Fentale woreda (see the to erratic and delayed rainfall, crop pests, and floods. In upper right map in Figure 3). Kalu consists of highland, Fentale, two villages were selected. Haro Kersa is a midland, and lowland agroecological zones. In the lowland remotely located, predominantly pastoralist village, whereas area, rainfed crop production in the main rainy season of Gola is easier to reach and currently in a transformation kremt ( July–September) is the main economic activity with process from pastoralism to sedentary farming. some livestock rearing. The area receives the lowest average annual rainfall in the Amhara region. The mountainous in mali drought risks are high but the area is highly degraded and has a bimodal but erratic rain- presence of rivers enables irrigation fall pattern. The midland areas have a relatively reliable rainfall pattern, which feeds several major rivers. Rainfed In Mali, climate variability is very high with extreme crop production mainly during the kremt season ( June to periods of drought in the 1970s and 1980s. The mid-September) and livestock are the main economic climate zones more or less prescribe the agricultural activities. In Kalu, two villages were selected from the potential (Figure 4). An exception is the Inner Niger figure 4. AgroeCologiCAl And rAinfAll zones in mAli Zone Saharienne: ML01 , ML02, ML03 0–200 mm rainfall Zone Sahélienne: ML04, ML05, ML06, ML08 200–600 mm rainfall Zone Soudaniènne: ML07, ML09 600–1000 mm rainfall Zone Soudano-Guinéenne: ML10, ML11, ML12 >600 mm rainfall Study villages Source: fewsnet livelihood zones mali. 10 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S The irrigation schemes are managed by the Office du Riz fig u r e 5. A n n uA l r A i n fA ll (m m) i n Ségou. From the region of Sikasso, in the northern y em en Guinean agroecological zone, the village of N’Tjilla was selected. This village is in a more favorable rainfall zone and faces lower drought risks than the other villages. N’Tjilla is in the area where the cotton cooperative CMDT is operating. In the region of Mopti, Kandara and Touara were selected; they represent the receding flood Sana’a farming system (agriculture de décrue). They are situated in the Inner Niger Delta and benefit from the Bani and Niger rivers, from which they can also fish. The areas face Ibb Al Mahweet a higher flood risk but also benefit from the water resources for rice cultivation and fisheries. They also face Taiz mm drought risks, especially in case of late arrival of the floods. <50 50–125 C l i m a t e p a t t e r n s a n d A g r i c u l t u r a l op p o r t unities 125–250 250–375 i n ye m e n s h o w l a r g e di ff e r e n c e s >375 In Yemen rainfall varies widely across the country. Precipitation occurs primarily in spring and summer. Temperature depends on the elevation of the locations. Delta wetland located in the Sahel and Sudan climate In the highlands, the average annual temperature is zones, which stretches along the Niger River and its 12°C, while in the coastal areas, close to the sea, the tributary the Bani. In Mali, the average maximum average annual temperature is 30°C. Not only has rain- temperature in the shade is between 34° and 37°C. fall decreased over a large part of Yemen, the timing of The country has one rainy season, which lasts six rainfall, the intensity of individual storms, the delay months in the south to three months in the northern between falls, and the frequency of interannual variabil- regions. The country has become hotter and drier over ity have changed as well in the last decades. When the last decades. Projections show that rainfall levels projected annual changes in rainfall are combined with continue to decline and become more variable and changes in potential evaporation, a new climate regime that temperature will increase. As a result, both for Yemen is likely to exist by 2050. drought and flooding probabilities increase. Even though climate variability affects the rural environ- Yemen can be divided into five regions: mountain ment, other factors also have a significant impact. massif, eastern plateau, desert regions, coastal plains, Examples are increasing population pressure leading and Yemen islands. The villages selected are in four to intensified agriculture and cultivation of marginal governorates: Sana’a and Al-Mahweet governorates in lands, and changes in social structures, which have the central mountain massif and Ibb and Taiz gover- reduced mitigation of vulnerability through trusted nates in the southern mountain massif. The southern kinship networks. and western coastal plains and lower mountain slopes have an arid tropical climate, which is characterized by The field surveys took place in three regions, covering high temperatures and low precipitation (0 to 400 mm). about four farming systems. In the region of Ségou, three The lower and upper mountain slopes areas and the villages were selected. Fambougou and Kondogola are in eastern plateau region (Taiz, Ibb, and Al-Mahweet the southern Sahel millet-based cropping system. governorates) have an arid subtropical climate with Households practice rainfed cereal-based farming most temperatures between 16 to 28°C and precipitation often in the Sahel region. The area is threatened by ranging from less than 100 mm to 800 mm. Finally, the desertification. In the village of Togou, households apply high mountains ranging from 1,800 to 3,700m above irrigation by controlled flooding (submersion controlée). sea level (Sana’a) have a temperate climate with SYnthESIS REpoRt 11 relatively low temperatures (10–18°C) and precipitation Mahweet), two villages in the highlands with rainfed varying from 200 to 1,200 mm. In most areas, the reli- agriculture supplemented by spring irrigation (Al ability of rainfall is of critical concern, reflected by the Masajed in Sana’a and Al Mehraq in Taiz) and one fact that little or no truly rainfed agriculture is prac- village with mixed agriculture in the dryland area ticed. In virtually all cases, there is some form of rainfall (Arraheeba in Taiz). Mu’aneet and Al Masajed are supplementation, whether tubewells, hand-dug wells, or located in the area where the RALP project is working. flood-water harvesting. The village of Al Wathan is relatively close to Sana’a. Both highland villages and Mu’aneet are rather diffi- The field survey was conducted in three villages with cult to reach. Even though all villages face a drought rainfed agriculture (Al Wathan in Sana’a, Magahem risk, this risk is highest for the dryland village of Asha’abi Dhi Shraq in Ibb, and Mu’aneet in Al Arraheeba. 12 3. CompAring AdAptAtion in village own many cattle, but are still vulnerable to climate shocks. Their coping capacity is limited due to ethiopiA, mAli, And yemen their large household size and low levels of education and landholdings. The second lowland village is in a transformation process from pastoralism to a mixed This section presents the results of the field studies. It farming-livestock system. Due to a high dependency indicates the extent to which differences within and ratio and low income, they currently are vulnerable. between the countries explain how climate hazards are This is expected to change if future income is more perceived and what actions are taken. First, the chapter diversified and if their new farming systems are more explains differences in vulnerability. Second, it shows the climate-proof. The midland and highland villages differences in strategies adopted, and discusses why generally are less vulnerable, in part due to their lower different categories of strategies were adopted. Third, it exposure to drought risks. The midland villages are discusses differences in the roles of the institutions. least vulnerable. Compared to the highlands, their Finally, the costing of adaptation strategies is worked coping capacity is higher (higher landholdings, educa- out in more detail. tion levels, and migration rates), but due to more irreg- v ulnerA b ility profiles ular rainfall patterns, they are more exposed to climate hazards. High erosion in the highlands makes these This section explains the differences in vulnerability regions sensitive to climate variability. For all villages, within and between the three countries. First, it drought is the main climate hazard. Also in the high- compares the villages. Differences in village vulnerability lands, prolonged periods of drought and reduced rain- are explained by differences in exposure, sensitivity, and fall levels have appeared more often in the last decade. coping capacity. Second, as exposure and the options to Not all hazards, however, are directly related to climate. reduce sensitivity are location-specific, clusters of house- Hazards with an indirect link to climate variability holds are distinguished based only on coping capacity include high food prices, soil erosion, and animal characteristics. This shows why some households are diseases. better equipped to deal with hazards. It then considers the question: Can we identify universal characteristics H o u s e h o l d C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s E x p l a i n Vu l n e rability that explain vulnerability? If clusters of households are classified based on coping e thiopia capacity characteristics only, it becomes clearer which households are better capable of dealing with the Vulnerability D e p e n d s o n A l t i t u d e hazards. By using cluster analysis techniques, for each country six clusters of households are distinguished, The study villages show clear differences in the level of based on household characteristics (for example, house- vulnerability. Households in the lowland, pastoralist hold size and average age, education, income, activities, SYnthESIS REpoRt 13 and asset ownership).4 The vulnerability profiles of vulnerable households are. They don’t give absolute these clusters are shown in spider diagrams. Spider values of vulnerability, but clearly show the relative diagrams are a graphical method to display multiple differences between the household types. The main quantitative variables in one chart by distinguishing conclusions are the following: several axes starting from the same point. The spider diagrams show how households score on sensitivity and • Most household types are dependent on only one coping capacity characteristics. These diagrams show source of income and only have limited fallback the multifaceted character of vulnerability. They are set options. up in such a way that for each variable, the value is • The low-educated pastoralists still are in a relatively normalized between 0 and 1. A higher value implies wealthy situation due to their herds; climate change that the household is less sensitive or has a higher may deteriorate their situation, however, which is coping capacity for that variable. The larger the scores difficult to alter due to their dependence on live- (so the larger the spider web), the less vulnerable house- stock and low education levels. holds are. Spider webs do not give absolute values of • The small, poor farmers are in the most difficult vulnerability, but clearly show the relative differences position, with limited income earning possibilities, between the household types. Six clusters are distin- few fallback options, and a larger percentage of guished, described as follows: female-headed households. • The young agropastoralists currently are in a vul- 1. Low-educated pastoralists: lowland pastoralist nerable situation. Once their children grow older, households, having a large household size and low their scope for exploiting more income diversifica- migration rates, education levels and asset owner- tion activities improves. ship and cultivating only a few small plots. • The asset-rich farmers can fall back on their assets 2. Young agropastoralists: agropastoralists, having a in difficult years; their scope for future improve- high dependency ratio, little temporary migration, ment is positive due to their above-average educa- low education levels, and cultivating average tion levels. amounts of land. • The large, landowning farmers have the highest 3. Large, landowning households: farmers cultivating coping capacity; however, they only cover 2 percent a relatively large acreage, having only few children, of the sample. relatively high education levels, and high migration • Differences between households are large on all rates. characteristics, so it is not possible to identify 4. Asset-rich households: farmers with average which characteristics affect vulnerability the household characteristics, but a relatively high edu- most. Interventions by institutions are expected to cation level and ownership of assets and owning be most effective if they are tailor-made and prop- many fruit trees. erly consider the characteristics causing the most 5. Small, poor households: farmers with a high per- vulnerability. centage of female-headed households, low education levels and low asset, land, and livestock ownership. mali 6. Average household: average farm household having an above average migration rate, cultivating espe- A n n u a l R a i n f a l l a n d P r e s e n c e o f Wa t e r cially cereals, and some qat as a cash crop. R e s o u r c e s E x p l a i n s Vu l n e r a b i l i t y Figure 6 shows that all household types are at least to Vulnerability in Mali depends to a large extent on the some extent vulnerable. They show the multifaceted exposure to climate variability. The study villages in the character of vulnerability. The diagrams are set up in Ségou area, practicing rainfed agriculture, are the most such a way that the larger the spider web, the less exposed. They score low on agroecological capacity and climatological suitability. They are highly dependent on 4 Six clusters of households were distinguished. Throughout the analysis, agriculture and livestock, so they are also very sensitive it was concluded that distinguishing more clusters would make the dif- ferences between them too small to be interpretable. Distinguishing to climate variability. The study village in the climato- less would not show the differences between the households adequately. logically more favourable Sikasso area, although not 14 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S figure 6. the mAin vulnerAbility ChArACteristiCs for ethiopiA very exposed, has a limited coping capacity through a D i ff e r e n t Ty p e s o f H o u s e h o l d s a r e P r e s e nt strong focus on agriculture. The other three villages in w i t h i n E a c h Vi l l a g e the Mopti and Ségou area, practicing receding flood farming or controlled flooding systems, currently have a If geographical location is set aside, but only coping medium exposure to climate variability. Due to their capacity characteristics are considered, six clusters of higher rates of migration, cash crop earnings, and household types can be distinguished: income diversification (for example, from fisheries), they have better coping capacities than the other 1. Educated, wealthy livestock farmers: better edu- villages. cated livestock farmers, owning large herds of small SYnthESIS REpoRt 15 and large cattle, and producing cereals and cash more diversified households from cluster 2 seem to be crops. somewhat better off than those of the “large fisheries 2. Diversified, rich farmers: households with a diver- households.� The “large, cash-crop growing house- sified income that are rich in assets, landholdings, holds� are a relatively small group. They have a less and livestock. diversified income, but their higher education levels 3. Large fisheries households: households producing and higher cash earnings put them in a less vulnerable cereals and few cash crops, involved in fisheries, situation. and having a high percentage of permanent migration. ye m e n 4. Larger cash-crop growing households: better edu- cated cash-crop producers with low migration. H i g h E x p o s e d Vi l l a g e s a r e N o t N e c e s s a r i ly 5. Poor households: households having especially Vu l n e r a b l e small ruminants, producing cereals and some cash crops, having low levels of education, a relatively Vulnerability and agroecological potential in Yemen high dependency ratio, and low migration. are related to altitude, which is related to rainfall. The 6. Smallholder cash-crop growers: smallholder cash- study village in the coastal plains (Arraheeba in Taiz) crop growers, cultivating especially cereals and cash is the most exposed. This village scores low on agro- crops and owning only a few animals. ecological capacity, yet the households are highly dependent on agriculture. The three study villages Figure 7 shows that the poor households and the small with an arid subtropical climate are somewhat less cash-crop producers are most vulnerable to climate exposed. The two villages in the highlands with a rela- change. Their spider webs are smallest. The diversified tively high precipitation are the least exposed to rich farmers and the large fisheries households are the climate variability. The highly exposed villages, least vulnerable. Their income is more diversified, they however, are not necessarily the most vulnerable. The have higher cash crop earnings, and they own more land most exposed village in the coastal plains is vulnerable. and livestock. They have low cash-crop earnings, low income diversi- fication, and relatively low educational levels. Due to Education an d I n c o m e D i v e r s i f i c a t i o n a r e low soil fertility, their higher landholdings do not Important fo r D e f i n i n g Vu l n e r a b i l i t y result in high yields. The least vulnerable village seems to be the rainfed agriculture village Al Wathan in For Mali, the dependency ratio and rate of migration are Sana’a governorate. They are highly exposed but not determining factors of household vulnerability. All compared to most other villages, they also have higher households score more or less the same. Education, cash-crop earnings (both from qat and fruits and vege- cash-crop earnings, and livestock are important charac- tables), higher landholdings, more livestock, more teristics explaining the differences among the clusters. assets, and higher education levels. Their sensitivity to Involvement in fisheries is important for increasing climate variability seems to be relatively low and their income diversification and thus increasing coping coping capacity good. Both highland villages score capacity. very differently. Al Masajed in Sana’a governorate has relatively good landholdings, income from livestock Villages Exh i b i t S i g n s o f a S o c i a l D i v i d e and migration, and relatively good levels of education. The highland village of Arraheeba in Taiz governorate The cluster analysis shows that the “better educated, has lower landholdings and also a low income level, wealthy livestock farmers� and the “poor households� which makes them more vulnerable. Vulnerability in are living in three study villages in the Ségou area. In the Yemeni study villages seems to be less dependent these villages, there seems to be a social divide on climate exposure but more on other factors. For between the better-off and worse-off households. In example, proximity to the capital Sana’a most likely addition, the fisheries community in the Mopti area is makes the villages in the Sana’a governorate less divided into two groups (cluster 2 and 3), of which the vulnerable. 16 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S figure 7. the mAin vulnerAbility ChArACteristiCs for mAli d ifferences b e t w e e n ho u s e h o l d 2. Highland smallholders in the southern types are la r g e highlands with relatively low landholdings, moderate asset ownership, and that mainly If geographical location is set aside, but only coping produce grains. capacity characteristics are considered, six clusters of 3. Diversified households with a high share of household types can be distinguished: females and low dependency ratio, rich in landhold- ings, producing herbs and legumes, and a high share 1. Diversified, wealthy farmers with livestock who are of migration. better educated, own large herds of cattle, and pro- 4. Highly educated cash-crop growing farmers with a duce cereals and cash crops (qat). high dependency ratio, small landholdings, relatively SYnthESIS REpoRt 17 many assets, and producing cereals and cash synthesis crops (qat). 5. Fruit and vegetable farmers producing cereals, veg- E x p o s u r e A ff e c t s Vu l n e r a b i l i t y b u t c a n n o t be etables, and fruits, with some livestock, a relatively Reduced by Adaptation Policies high dependency ratio, and relatively low levels of education. An important factor causing vulnerability among farm 6. Dryland farmers with large landholdings, produc- households is exposure to climate variability. The three ing cereals but no cash crops, low in education, countries in the CALI study are located in semi-arid owning only a few animals and having a high regions and are regularly threatened by prolonged peri- dependency ratio. ods of drought and experience years with low levels of rainfall. Despite the different characteristics of the Villages Exh i b i t S i g n s o f a S o c i a l D i v i d e regions in which the study villages are located, it is clear that rainfall variability and rainfall levels are important Figure 8 shows that the clusters vary across the determinants of vulnerability. The more erratic the rain- villages. fall and the lower rainfall levels, the higher the vulnera- bility. Therefore, the lowlands in Ethiopia, the Sahelian • The “diversified, wealthy livestock farmers� villages in Mali, and the coastal plains and low moun- (cluster 1) and the “highland smallholders� tain areas in Yemen have a more disadvantaged starting (cluster 2) account for two-thirds of the respondents position compared to the other villages. Climate adapta- in the survey. tion policies cannot change this disadvantage. Only • The “diversified, wealthy livestock farmers� climate mitigation policies on a global level may affect (cluster 1) are the least vulnerable. They are exposure on a local level, even though the pace of this present in all six villages, although villagers of effect will be slow. Al Wathan (Sana’a) are most frequently present. Note that Al Wathan was also the least vulnerable H a z a r d s a r e N o t O n l y C a u s e d b y C h a n g i ng village. C l i m a t e Va r i a b i l i t y • The “highland smallholders� are most vulnerable. About half of them live in Thi-Yashreq (Ibb) and Al Many of the other hazards faced by households are indi- Mehraq (Taiz). They score much lower on all char- rectly related to high rainfall variability and low rainfall acteristics, which is a sign that villages are divided levels. Increased levels of soil erosion, high food prices, into better-off and worse-off households. and increased incidence of human, animal, or crop • Most households in the dryland village of diseases are related to rainfall variability. Other hazards, Arraheeba in Taiz are “fruit and vegetable farmers� which are seemingly climate related, may be caused by or “dryland farmers� (cluster 5 and 6). They are in a human-induced factors. Among villages near the Malian vulnerable situation. The fruit and vegetable farmers rivers, flood hazards are partly caused by construction are somewhat better off as they have a higher and activities in low-lying, flood-prone areas. In one of the more diversified income. Both household types, villages in the Ethiopian lowlands, flood hazards are however, have low education levels, which gives caused by dikes built to protect neighboring estates, them a low capability of improving their livelihoods which prevents water from freely flowing toward lower themselves. areas. Flood hazards in Ethiopia’s highlands and in • The situation of the “highly educated cash-crop Yemen are partly caused by decreasing water infiltration growing farmers� (cluster 4) is difficult to assess. due to deforestation and soil erosion. One has to be care- Their low dependency ratio and high levels of edu- ful blaming all hardship on climate change. Instead of cation and assets indicate they are more capable of focusing too much on adaptation only, an integrated deciding about adaptation themselves. Low land- development approach is recommended. This means that holdings and income earning capacities, however, one has to be careful initiating projects focusing on a put them in a vulnerable situation. single theme, such as soil erosion prevention, without emphasizing the importance of communal, sustainable 18 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S figure 8. the mAin vulnerAbility ChArACteristiCs for yemen 1 1.00 1 1.00 9 0.80 2 9 0.80 2 0.60 0.60 0.40 0.40 8 0.20 3 8 0.20 3 0.00 0.00 7 4 7 4 6 5 6 5 Diversified wealthy farmers with livestock Highly educated cash-crop growing farmers Highland smallholders Diversified households 1 1.00 9 0.80 2 1 Inverse of dependency ratio 0.60 2 Percentage of households with migrated members 0.40 3 Average years of education (males of 15 years and older) 8 0.20 3 4 Average asset score 0.00 5 Average acreage per household 6 Cash crop earnings from Qat 7 Cash crop earnings from fruits and vegetables 7 4 8 Livestock (in Tropical Livestock Units) 9 Share of civil servants 6 5 Dryland farmers Fruit and vegetables farmers soil management. This requires more than just the techni- exposure. For Mali, the villages near water resources cal soil erosion prevention works, but should also address have the opportunity to apply irrigation and are thus costs for cooperation and management skills and systems. less sensitive to rainfall variability. Their dependence on flood irrigation, however, still makes them more sensi- Low Sensitiv i t y a n d H i g h C o p i n g C a p ac i t y c a n tive than households that are part of (multi)village irri- Alter the Th r e a t s f r o m H i g h E x p o s u r e gation schemes or use independent on-farm irrigation systems. Note, however, that communal schemes High exposure does not necessarily cause high levels of require good institutional backing to assure sustained vulnerability. Low sensitivity to climate variability and operation of the schemes. As will be discussed in the high coping capacity can alter the threats from high next section, in Ethiopia many households adopt SYnthESIS REpoRt 19 sensitivity reducing measures in order to become less households are in a better position, improving school dependent on rainfall variability. In Yemen, many farm- enrollment remains an important development priority. ers install groundwater pumps to reduce their sensitiv- ity to rainfall variability. Wo m e n ’s R o l e s a n d P o s i t i o n s D i ff e r b e t w een the Three Countries The Variety i n H o u s e h o l d Ty p e s S i g n a l s t h e Need for Tai l o r - m a d e I n t e r v e n t i o n s From the survey findings, it is difficult to give conclusive judgements about the position of women in the different Even households in areas with low exposure can still be household types in the sample villages. Several observa- vulnerable if their coping capacity is low. Many of the tions, however, can be made. A disadvantage of the small households in the Sikasso area in Mali are still vulnerable household sizes in Ethiopia is that women have few fall because of their dependence on income from agriculture. back options if they become single. On the other hand, If harvests fail, they only have limited fall-back options the results indicate that Ethiopian women have a larger and limited capacities to repay debts from their cotton say in household decision making than in the other two input purchases. Households receiving remittances from countries. In Mali, the larger household sizes may serve migrating household members, owning more assets, and as some sort of insurance as women can support each having more diverse income sources—for example, from other in difficult times. There is, however, also evidence fisheries, livestock, or trade—have better options to of hidden poverty in extended households because of respond to income shocks. In addition, households with hierarchical differences. In Yemen, due to cultural reasons, better education levels have greater capacity to find alter- women only have a marginal say in household decisions native ways of living. The spider web diagrams give even though their role is important in nearly all house- evidence that interhousehold differences between the hold tasks. When designing gender-specific development Ethiopian and Yemeni villages are larger than between programs, account should be given on how to reach the the Malian villages. As a result, for Ethiopia and Yemen most destitute groups. This deserves special attention, aid programs should be tailor-made, focusing on particu- especially for Yemen. The choice of adaptation strategies lar groups, whereas in Mali interventions seemingly can is also gendered, as described in the following section. be more general. Note that the ABDCC study also concludes that vulnerability and therefore also interven- A dA p tAt i o n s t rAt e g i e s tions are locally specific (World Bank 2010b). On the other hand, generally speaking, the coping capacities of This section discusses which adaptation strategies are Malian households seem to be better than in most of the adopted by the different types of households. It explains Ethiopian households. Households are larger, migration differences observed within and between countries and is a more common practice, more households own some whether universal strategies can be identified. The cattle, and (in the study villages) almost all households number and type of strategies adopted by households cultivate some cash crops. In Ethiopia, the lowland differ substantially between the countries. Moreover, this households transforming from pastoralism to a sedentary section assesses the causes of differences in adoption of mixed farming-livestock system acknowledge the impor- individual or communal strategies, or of strategies focus- tance of income diversification. In many of the other ing on reducing sensitivity or improving coping capacity. villages, households still focus on livestock or agriculture instead of broadening their income sources. In Yemen, ethiopia differences between households are also large. Proximity to Sana’a seems to be beneficial for households, and many Households Adopt a Mix of Individual and households benefit from cash incomes from qat sales and Communal Strategies migration. Within villages, differences may be large. For designing appropriate, tailor-made aid programs, atten- For Ethiopia, each household in the sample adopts on tion should be given to the particular constraints house- average 8.5 strategies. Figures 9 and 10 show the distri- holds face. As the data show that better educated bution of the strategies. The top five most important strategies are (1) crop selection (adopting 20 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S figure 9. perCentAge of households Adopting A pArtiCulAr strAtegy for ethiopiA, mAli, And yemen % of households adopting the strategy % of households adopting the strategy 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Diversification Strategy a01 c01 a02 c02 a03 c04 Agriccultural Strategy a04 c05 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10 Water man. Strategy Communal Pooling Strategy b01 d01 b02 d02 b03 d03 d05 d06 Ethiopia Mali Yemen a01 Crop selection c01 Temporary migration to urban areas or abroad a02 Adapt planting dates c02 Temporary migration to other rural areas a03 Adapt cropping densities c03 Home-garden agriculture a04 Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application c04 Draw-down on livestock or savings a05 Adapt tillage practices d01 Restore and preserve homestead or mountain forests a06 Apply different feed techniques d02 Rangeland preservation and grazing restrictions a07 Improve food storage facilities d03 Soil erosion prevention programs a08 Improved seeds d04 Communal water harvesting, tanks a09 Change production practices d05 communal irrigation a10 Use manure of family herd on the �eld d06 Cereal bank b01 Use water harvesting techniques b02 Improve, construct, or rehabilitate terraces b03 Use irrigation drought-tolerant crops; chosen by 78 percent of the and often with the help of institutions. This shows that households); (2) improve or rehabilitate terraces institutions play an important role in improving liveli- (adopted by 72 percent); (3) soil erosion prevention hoods in the villages. Similar conclusions are drawn from programs (chosen by 69 percent); (4) restore or preserve the IFPRI study (Deressa et al. 2008; Bryan et al. 2009). homestead or mountain forests (adopted by 62 percent); and (5) adapt planting dates (adopted by 51 percent). S e n s i t i v i t y R e d u c i n g M e a s u r e s a r e F a v o r ed Three of these strategies are communal strategies that Strategy choice differs between the clusters. For the have to be implemented jointly with other households young agropastoralist households, the top five strategies SYnthESIS REpoRt 21 figure 10. perCentAge of households in the sAmple Adopting AdAptAtion strAtegies Increasing coping capacity Ethiopia Ethiopia 7. Home-garden agriculture (47%) Mali Mali 4. Temporary migration to urban centers (24%) 5. Communal cereal bank (21%) 7. Reduce livestock/savings (16%) 9. Temporary migration to other rural areas (14%) Yemen Yemen 2. Temporary migration to other rural areas (15%) Ethiopia Ethiopia Individual strategy Communal strategy 1. Crop selection (78%) 2. Improve, construct, or rehabilitate terraces (72%) 5. Adapt planting dates (51%) 3. Soil erosion prevention (69%) 6. Adapt feed techniques (zero grazing) (48%) 4. Restore and preserve forests (69%) 8. Adapt cropping densities (43%) 9. Rangeland preservation / management (42%) 10. Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application (41%) Mali 1. Improved seeds (79%) Mali 2. Use of manure of family herd on the fields (70%) 8. Use irrigation (16%) 3. Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application (41%) 6. Change production practices (20%) Yemen 1. Use irrigation (26%) Yemen 2. Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application (22%) 3. Improve, construct, or rehabilitate terraces (18%) 6. Adapt tillage practices (10%) 5. Communal irrigation (12%) 7. Use water harvesting techniques: roof water collection, tanks (10%) Reducing sensitivity Note: Categorized by individual vs. communal strategies and sensitivity reducing vs. coping capacity increasing strategies. only strategies adopted by at least 10 percent of the households are shown. are individual strategies focusing on improved agricul- Drainage Project. Income diversification strategies to tural practices (crop selection, planting dates, cropping improve coping capacity are not regularly chosen. densities, fertilizer application, and feed techniques). Home-garden agriculture is the main income diversifi- The low-educated pastoralist households choose cation strategy adopted. Furthermore, it is observed that communal strategies focusing on improved water only a few households see migration as a suitable strat- management and water storage to reduce their sensitiv- egy to reduce hazards (Box 2). ity to climate variability. They are dependent on communal grazing lands and watering points and only Strategy Choice is Gendered have limited individual strategies at their disposal. The midland and highland households have a more mixed Decisions on strategies related to market sales, livestock, strategy of crop selection combined with soil erosion savings, or pastoral areas are mainly made by the men. prevention and home-garden agriculture designed to For most agricultural decisions, men also make the deci- reduce sensitivity to climate variability. In Ethiopia, sions more often than women. Women generally decide communal strategies implemented with assistance from about home-garden agriculture, handicrafts, consump- extension agencies are relatively important. These are tion decisions, and charcoal and timber sales. Financial promoted by, among others, World Bank-supported decisions also are gendered; especially among the “low- development programs like the Productive Safety Net educated pastoralist� cluster, financial decisions are made Program (PSNP), the Pastoral Community exclusively by men. In the other clusters, women are Development Project (PCDP), and the Irrigation and involved more in financial decision making. 22 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S box 2. temporAry migrAtion Many of the participants in the focus group discussions indicated that at least one of the household members had migrated to other towns during the last year. Many youngsters traveled ong distances for salt mining work to the nearby towns or to Addis. Some women travel to countries like Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Many migrants send remittances back home. In a focus group discussion in Keteteya, the downside of the situation is expressed as follows: ‘’due to food shortages, some girls are forced to drop out of school and travel to the nearby towns to look for work; some of the girls ended up in prostitution and came back home with HIV/AIDS.’’ Better-off Ho u s e h o l d s I n v e s t improved food storage. Strategies should focus on both More and Ad o p t M o r e C o m m u n a l of these elements of vulnerability. Strategies … B u t h a v e a L i m i t e d Va r i e t y The costing data provides evidence that the better-off groups invest more money and time in their adaptation The variety of strategies that are adopted in Mali is strategies than the more vulnerable groups. This is spent rather limited. As explained below, strategies requiring on communal soil erosion prevention and water community action were not observed. The regions in management strategies. This indicates that access to which the study villages are located only allow for a institutional support is easier for the better off house- limited number of strategies to diversify income. Due to holds. Costing of adaptation strategies is discussed in low income levels, the consequential low levels of house- more detail later in this chapter. hold demand and malfunctioning market institutions like credit markets, there is only limited scope for broad- m ali ening the strategies households can choose to diversify their income. This is an important reason why migration Most Househ o l d s M a k e U s e o f is such a commonly used coping strategy. The range of Similar Stra t e g i e s strategies adopted, however, is rather limited, which carries the danger of a certain “saturation� of the effec- In Mali, most households make use of a limited number of tiveness of a strategy if climate variability increases. coping strategies; see Figures 9 and 10. The top five most important adaptation strategies include (1) using improved C o m m u n a l S t r a t e g i e s a r e D i ff i c u l t t o seeds (adopted by 79 percent of the households); (2) using Implement manure from the family herd on the farm (adopted by 70 percent); (3) adapting fertilizer/ pesticide applications One of the most popular strategies is a communal strat- (adopted by 41 percent); (4) temporary migration to urban egy (cereal bank). Water management strategies, which areas or abroad (adopted by 24 percent); and (5) using the usually are communal strategies, are seldom used, even cereal bank (adopted by 21 percent). though they are expected to have positive benefits in climate zones where drought is one of the major threats Strategies A i m b o t h a t S e n s i t i v i t y R e d u c t i o n to livelihoods. Communal actions seem to be difficult to and Coping … set up in the study villages. Communal actions need both investments and training from external institutions, The adopted strategies aim at reducing sensitivity to but also a sense of urgency and a feeling of ownership climate variability through selection of drought-resistant on the part of the households. Community actions seeds and increased use of soil improvements, as well as require a very active approach from institutions in creat- improving coping capacity through migration and ing adequate commitment by households. In many SYnthESIS REpoRt 23 villages, several institutions actively attempt to imple- practices. The better-off households seem to adopt more ment community development plans. Training and strategies than the worse-off, even though differences are awareness creation are particularly underdeveloped. not large. For the villages participating in the World Bank- supported Rainfed Agriculture and Livestock Project yemen (RALP), there were no significant differences in strategy adoption. Terrace rehabilitation and reforestation are Only a Few S t r a t e g i e s a r e U s e d important for them as well as the use of water harvesting measures, but not much higher than in the other villages. In Yemen only a few strategies are used. On a country level, the top six most important strategies to adapt to C o p i n g C a p a c i t y I m p r o v e m e n t S t r a t e g i e s are climate change were identified as (1) using irrigation Hardly Applied (26 percent); (2) adapting fertilizer/pesticide applica- tions (22 percent); (3) improving, constructing, or reha- For all villages, coping capacity strategies are restricted bilitating terraces (18 percent); (4) temporary migration to migration to urban areas or abroad. Other possible to urban areas or abroad (15 percent); (5) adjusting strategies—like migration to other rural areas, crop selection (14 percent); and (6) developing commu- home-garden agriculture, or increased market sales or nal irrigation (12 percent). handicraft—are hardly used. As the cultivation of fruits and vegetables is already applied by many, home-garden Other strategies were adopted by less than 10 percent agriculture as it is promoted in Mali and Ethiopia may of the households. About 40 percent of the households be a less relevant strategy. Moreover, one reason for in the survey did not adopt any of the strategies listed increased sales of animals or for savings is the need for in the questionnaire. Three of the top six strategies are cash for medicines or water. In such cases, these strate- communal strategies, for which cooperation with gies should be categorized as distress strategies instead neighbors or other households is necessary. The of strategies to improve coping capacity. The lack of number of strategies adopted is rather limited; some of coping capacity strategies may be caused by market the strategies are adopted in only one or two villages. problems, political problems, or financial constraints. Furthermore, the number of strategies that are adopted Moreover, political instability generally does not create between the villages is very different. The village of Al receptive conditions for initiating new activities. Wathan has adopted 3.5 strategies on average, whereas the village of Al Merhaq only adopted less than one C o m m u n a l S t r a t e g i e s a r e A d o p t e d E s p e c ially (0.7) strategy on average per household. Among the b y t h e B e t t e r - o ff H o u s e h o l d s villages, the percentage of responding households that did not adopt any strategy also varied significantly. Even though communal strategies like terrace rehabili- tation and communal irrigation are chosen regularly, Strategies M o s t l y A i m a t R e d u c i n g S e n s i t i v i t y differences in the choice of communal strategies differ a lot among the villages. In the more vulnerable villages in Most strategies aim at reducing sensitivity to climate vari- Taiz and in the more vulnerable clusters, many fewer ability through irrigation, fertilizer/pesticide applications, households adopt communal strategies than in the or the improvement, construction, or rehabilitation of better-off villages and clusters. terraces. The only strategy focusing on coping capacity is through temporary or permanent migration. Differences synthesis between villages and clusters are notable. In the vulnerable villages of Al Mehraq and Arraheeba in Taiz governorate Households in the Study Countries have and in the most vulnerable clusters, only a few households D i ff e r e n t P e r c e p t i o n s A b o u t S t r a t e g i e s t o adopt some strategies. The highland village especially C o p e w i t h C l i m a t e Va r i a b i l i t y focuses on migration and prevention of soil erosion (terrac- ing and reforestation), whereas the dryland village of The number of different strategies in Mali is much Arraheeba focuses on irrigation and adapting farming smaller than in Ethiopia (3.5 versus 8.5), while in 24 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S Yemen households hardly use any strategies (on average available seem to differ among the countries, showing 1.7 strategies per household, with 40 percent of the the importance of awareness creation. households adopting no adaptation strategy at all). Figure 9 shows the differences among the three coun- I n d i v i d u a l S t r a t e g i e s R e d u c i n g S e n s i t i v i t y are tries and shows what category of strategy is adopted the Already Applied by Most Households most (agricultural, water management, diversification, or communal pooling). There are some country-specific Figures 9 and 10 show that the strategies used to reduce patterns. Water harvesting techniques are adopted in sensitivity are quite similar among the three countries, Yemen more than in the other countries. In Ethiopia, even though the percentage of households adopting the water harvesting techniques currently are promoted by strategies differ substantially. These are predominantly the extension programs, but they still are not adopted individual strategies and are aimed at introducing by many households. Improved seeds are adopted espe- improved agricultural techniques on the farm level. cially in Mali, whereas in Ethiopia and Yemen house- Although the individual strategies are similar—for holds switch to more drought-resistant crops if example, for the strategy “crop selection� or “improved necessary. seeds�—there can still be considerable differences among countries in the actual crops that are selected or Malian households, especially those in the Sahelian the type of seed improvement that best fits the charac- regions, have for the most part already made the switch teristics of the region and preferences of the population. from sorghum to more drought-resistant millet. The In addition, optimal cropping strategies, planting dates, other countries are still in this process. In Ethiopia, cropping densities, and fertilizer/pesticide applications more effort is expended on solving the problem of are dependent on regional characteristics. As a result, deforestation. This is a typical example of an these strategies should be promoted in all three coun- institution-based strategy that individual households tries, even though their exact interpretation is will not easily adopt and that requires the presence of region-specific. strong institutions. Furthermore, in Mali the selected strategies are mostly individual strategies, while in D e s p i t e t h e i r I m p o r t a n c e , C o m m u n a l S t r a tegies Ethiopia and Yemen there is a mix between individual are Hardly Adopted in Mali and communal strategies. Figure 10 shows the top 10 strategies adopted in the study villages according to the A further distinction can be made between the different characteristics of communal versus individual, and strategies according to the level of outside assistance enhancing coping capacity versus reducing sensitivity. needed; that is, strategies for which households are Although for Yemen there also is a mix between indi- solely responsible versus strategies in which the govern- vidual and communal strategies, in general very few ment or other institutions have a clear input. These strategies are adopted and differences between house- strategies are adopted more regularly, especially by the holds are large, which makes it difficult to assess. Ethiopian households. Although they are also part of Impressions from the field are that in Yemen few inno- the top 10 strategies for Yemen, adoption levels in vations are used by households to reduce vulnerability. Yemen are very low. In Mali, hardly any communal In particular, a considerable percentage of households strategies are adopted. Households seem to be much do not make use of adaptation strategies. There still more on their own. Well-functioning individual strate- seems to be much less attention to climate adaptation gies may spread throughout the community, but jointly in Yemen than in the other two countries. Recently, a implementing strategies that require cooperation number of World Bank and multidonor programs have between neighbors and community members hardly started focusing on this issue. Due to a lack of institu- occurs. Communal strategies, however, are important, as tional backup, Yemeni households do whatever they they may create conditions under which individual can, even though this is limited, especially for the strategies become more efficient. Soil erosion preven- worse-off groups. In Ethiopia, the focus on adaptation tion, reforestation, communal irrigation, and terrace is stronger, resulting in more and more diverse strate- rehabilitation have public good characteristics. All gies. Awareness of the issues at stake and the options community members benefit from better agroecological SYnthESIS REpoRt 25 conditions, whereas nobody can be excluded from them. extension agencies, village communities, and religious When initiating such activities, strong institutions are communities (Figure 11). In the sample, NGOs espe- necessary to create commitment among community cially act in the lowland villages, whereas the lowland members and account for factors such as free-rider households have less contact with the local authorities. behavior. Moreover, attention should be given to the This is related to the pastoral nature of these villages worse-off households who seem to have less access to and the focus of the extension agencies. The extension communal strategies. agencies focus especially on agricultural and communal development. It seems they put less emphasis on Strategy Ch o i c e i s G e n d e r e d promoting other strategies, or that households do not view them as helpful with these issues. Informal The results show that strategy choice is affected by village community institutions are important for gender. In Yemen, men make most decisions and the mobilizing households for the implementation of role of women is marginal. Water fetching is a task that communal strategies and for spreading good practices costs women more and more time. In Mali, men make among the households. The somewhat better off, most decisions, but women have a role, particularly in “large, land-owning farmers� and “asset-rich farmers� some activities like handicrafts and petty trade. In (clusters 3 and 4) have more contacts with the village Ethiopia, women play a larger role. They especially community. This indicates that the better-off farm decide about trade, handicrafts, and home-garden agri- types, who also adopt communal strategies more often, culture, but they are also involved in decisions about have the strongest position in the informal community agriculture. To ensure that interventions reach the target institutions and are more effective in advancing their groups, it is important that institutions target their requirements. Accessibility to community institutions activities to those groups making the decisions and is more difficult for the marginalized groups, especially implementing the strategies. This means that those for female-headed households, or these groups lack strategies in which women have an important role, like information on the assistance the village community home-garden activities and handicrafts, have to be care- can offer. fully targeted in order to get an adequate active partici- pation. In general, women are more difficult to reach, yet Extension Agencies Especially in general they are more vulnerable than men because of P r o v i d e Tr a i n i n g their lower education levels, lower income diversity, and lower asset ownership. Extension agencies provide assistance, especially in terms of training, which improves the skills of house- i nstitutionAl A ssistAnC e holds to improve their own situation. Other tasks, like input provision, is mainly carried out by cooperatives, This section explains the differences between institu- while cash provision is carried out by NGOs and formal tional assistance received by the households in the microfinance institutions. It seems that the informal different countries. The strength of the institutional micro-credit, community institutions are less important networks in the three countries show remarkable differ- for obtaining cash; the cash requirements may outweigh ences. This partly explains the difference in the number their capacity, so formal institutions have to be and type of strategies adopted. approached. ethiopia Many Households can be Reached by the Network of Extension Agencies The Majority o f t h e H o u s e h o l d s R e c e i v e Assistance f r o m E x t e n s i o n A g e n c i e s Extension agencies, which cover almost all of the house- holds in the villages where they are working and are In Ethiopia, some institutions reach a large part of the supported by the PSNP and PCDP programs, are an villages and households. In the study villages, almost important asset in Ethiopia. They give the authorities all households are in touch with local authorities, the means to reach the households in a relatively easy 26 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S figure 11. perCentAge of households hAving ContACts with institutions in ethiopiA Micro- Local Extension Coopera- Village Religious Women’s finance authority Agency NGO tives community community groups inst. L-Haro Kersa L-Gola M-Choresa M-BirkoDebele H-Ketetya H-Hardibo Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 Legend 0%–10% 10%–30% 30%–50% 50%–70% 70%–90% 90%–100% Note: l - lowland villages are haro kersa and gola, m - midland villages are Choresa and birko debele, h - highland villages are keteteya and hardibo. 1) low-educated pastoralist households, 2) young agro-pastoralists, 3) large, landowning farm households, 4) Asset-rich farm households, 5) small, poor farm households, 6) average farm households. manner. Moreover, the broad focus of the safety net mali programs, which make investments both in the public (roads, irrigation canals) and in the private domain A s s i s t a n c e t o Vi l l a g e s i s D i v i d e d A m o n g (assisting households with their individual household Institutions strategies), is a promising strategy. It strengthens the enabling environment and the capacity of households to In Mali, although each of the study villages receives improve their own situation. support from more than one institution, certain institu- tions focus on certain villages (Figure 12). There has Institutional A s s i s t a n c e i s C o n s t r a i n e d seemingly been a division among the institutions in order to cover as many villages as possible and try not to The institutional stakeholders point to a number of duplicate efforts. This is illustrated by the figure below, constraints. They face managerial and financial showing the percentage of households in contact with constraints, lack adequate infrastructure in terms of the various institutions. road networks and information dissemination networks, and sometimes face government policies and P o o r C l u s t e r s a r e D i ff i c u l t t o R e a c h laws that restrict or discourage their activities. The long-term presence of the institutions in the regions— Poor households seem to be more difficult to reach. so they can build trust in their relationships with NGOs and village communities provide assistance to the households and have the opportunity for follow-up cluster of poor households in terms of assistance to adopt activities—is relatively well-organized in Ethiopia. adaptation strategies. International donors, national Realizing trustworthy relationships with farmers and authorities, banks, schools, and religious communities are raising awareness among the stakeholders, however, not mentioned as institutions that are in contact with the requires continuous effort. households. However, from the interviews with the SYnthESIS REpoRt 27 figure 12. perCentAge of households hAving ContACts with institutions in mAli Micro- Regional Local Extension Coopera- Village finance self help Authority authority Agency NGO tive community inst. group Mo-Kandara Mo-Touara Sé-Kondogola Sé-Fambougou Mo-Togou N'TSi-jila total 1 2 3 4 5 6 Legend 0%–10% 10%–30% 30%–50% 50%–70% 70%–90% 90%–100% Note: mo - kandara, touara, and togou are in the region mopti area, sé - kondogola and fambougou are from the ségou area, and si - n’tjilla is in the sikasso area. in togou area, rice is cultivated. institutional stakeholders, it follows that many of the is focusing more on setting up top-down initiatives, in institutions that are in contact with the households maintaining traditional cooperative institutions, and receive financial and sometimes technical support from providing inputs. In addition, trade organizations such the national authorities and international donors. as the Compagnie Malienne pour le Développement des Textiles (CMDT) focus more on input provision- Assistance G i v e n i s M a i n l y I n p u t s ing than on training to improve capacity. This approach gives an advantage to the people that already The assistance institutions provide to households is have an above-average education. They are better predominantly given in the form of inputs like seeds, equipped to identify the opportunities to improve their fertilizers, and pesticides. Training is virtually absent in livelihoods. the listing of assistance received by the households. In the institutional stakeholder interviews, however, train- ye m e n ing was mentioned as an activity that was provided to the households. Apparently, the households do not I n s t i t u t i o n s P l a y a M i n o r R o l e i n P r e p a r i ng envisage this as training. for Climate Change More Educa t e d H o u s e h o l d s B e n e f i t M o r e In the study villages, institutions play a minor role in the from Assista n c e livelihoods of the Yemeni farmers. Figure 13 shows that compared to the other two countries, hardly any of the It is an important observation that training and capac- villages or clusters receive any assistance. According to ity building apparently receive so little attention in the the findings from the Yemeni village studies, there was institutions’ activities. Training is one of the major almost no contact between households and institutions. ways to give people the capacity to take responsibility Only 7 percent of the households have had contacts and initiate activities to improve their livelihoods. It with institutions. About half of these households judge seems that development assistance in the study villages these contacts as being useful in the adoption 28 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S figure 13. perCentAge of households hAving ContACts with institutions in yemen Regional Local Extension Village Micro-finance Self-help Villages Authority Authority Agency NGO Cooperatives community institution group R - Al Wathan D - Arraheebah R - Dhi Shraq R - Mu’aneet H - Al Mehraq H - Al Masajed Total Clusters Diversified, wealthy hh Highland smallholder Diversified household Educated cash crop hh Fruit/vegetable hh Dryland farmer Legend 0%–10% 10%–30% 30%–50% 50%–70% 70%–90% 90%–100% Note: r = villages characterized by rainfed agriculture, d = village with dryland agriculture, h = highland villages with rainfed agriculture and supplementary irrigation. villages participating in the rAlp program are mu’aneet and Al masajed. of adaptation strategies. Extension agencies are the well-known in Yemen. In rural Yemen, the role of the institution mentioned most frequently. Furthermore, national government is often contested and officials are national authorities, regional authorities, local authori- viewed with suspicion, which makes setting up national ties, and seed production authorities are contacted for extension services difficult. assistance, but only by a few households. Due to the low level of institutional contacts, it is difficult to judge Institutions Hardly Provide Any Assistance whether particular villages or clusters have more contacts than others. It seems as if the better-off clus- Most of the adaptation strategies adopted by the ters (1 and 5) have somewhat more contact with insti- households were financed and realized by the house- tutions than the worse-off households; these results, holds themselves using their own resources. Formal however, are not significant. Moreover, surprisingly, for institutions hardly provided any assistance in terms of the villages included in the RALP project, institutional training, inputs, or cash. Only people from the assistance is not higher than in the other villages. This community helped each other through the provision of may be due to the fact that the RALP project is a labor for rehabilitating terraces and setting up irriga- rather new initiative or the fact that households tion or water management measures. The low number included in the village survey were not familiar with it. of strategies adopted may partly be explained by this As will be discussed later, for setting up networks of low institutional coverage. Households adopt the strat- extension agencies, as done in the RALP project, gain- egies they know. The majority have already been ing trustworthy relationships with the village house- applied for centuries; only a few modern strategies are holds takes time. Next to the few “outsiders� who adopted. Households often lack the knowledge, aware- provide help to the households, the respondents indi- ness, and financial means to adopt such strategies. cate that they receive some help or cooperation from Moreover, it often is difficult to adopt them due to neighbors or people from the clan group. Even though malfunctioning markets. Because of the virtual absence these are community institutions, the respondents of formal institutions, reducing market problems is apparently don’t judge them to be an institution. The difficult. low institutional coverage and dependence on kinship is SYnthESIS REpoRt 29 synthesis communities seem to be much more loosely organized. Due to the large household sizes and high rates of migra- Institutional C o v e r a g e i s L o w i n Ye m e n a n d tion, strong community links seem to have become less High in Ethio p i a important. Micro-finance institutions, through formal institutions or as part of community institutions, are The type of institutions most prevalent in each of the important in Mali and Ethiopia. In Yemen, financial countries is partly explained by government policy. The capacities of households seem to be larger, among other extension services in Ethiopia, supported by efforts such things due to the cultivation of qat and other cash crops. as the PSNP and PCDP programs, have a strong and The growing role of formal micro-finance institutions extensive network of agencies covering a large part of the may be a sign that the financial requirements of modern country (Figure 14). Those regions not covered, or adaptation strategies outweigh the capacity of informal marginally covered, by the extension services host a higher institutions. As these more innovative strategies require number of NGOs. In Mali, the extension services have a more financial means, the role of micro (or meso) finance much weaker network. They cover fewer regions, seem to institutions may become more important in the future. have fewer resources, and reach fewer farmers. They also seem to have less well-coordinated development D i ff e r e n c e s i n I n s t i t u t i o n a l C o v e r a g e h a v e programs. In Yemen, households in the study villages Historical and Political Reasons hardly have any contacts with government institutions, and NGOs are not consulted regularly. Households seem Differences in the role of institutions in the three coun- to be much more on their own without much help from tries are partly explained by historical and political factors. any institution, except for the informal community insti- The presence of authorities in rural areas has always been tutions (clans and neighbors). Community institutions in much more prevalent in Ethiopia than in Mali, so spread- Ethiopia also play an important role. In Mali, ing knowledge and planning development assistance can figure 14. perCentAge of households hAving ContACt with An institution 100% % of households having contact with an institution 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% li n pia li en ia li n pia ia li n pia li n pia li n Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma me me me me me op p m hio hio hio hio hio hi Ye Ye Ye Ye Ye Ye Et Et Et Et Et Et National and Local Extension Non- Cooperatives Village regional authorities agency governmental communities authorities organization Not specified Food Cash Inputs Labor Training Note: the subdivision of the bars shows the allocation of the types of assistance households receive. 30 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S be done in a much more coordinated way. In Mali, devel- seed selection or the adaptation of planting dates, opment assistance is scattered over a large number of implementation is expected to be more successful if organizations and funded by a large number of donors. It back-up is provided by institutions in terms of training lacks the integrated, multi-donor, government-coordinated and knowledge transfer. In Ethiopia extension agencies development programs such as in Ethiopia. For Yemen, play such a role (Figure 14). In Mali, training is almost the clan culture explains why authorities only play a small absent, but institutions fulfil other tasks. In Yemen, the role in some parts of the countries. As a result, the recent institutions are almost absent and households are more initiatives to set up integrated, nationwide development or less on their own. For communal strategies, commit- programs will be a challenging job and should include at ment is very important. It requires a sense of ownership least the set-up of a network of trustworthy extension on the part of all stakeholders and the will to cooperate. agencies with minimum political interference and an More training and knowledge transfer about the pros assurance of long-term financing and planning. and cons of the different strategies helps improve this sense of ownership and stimulates households to make Except for Ye m e n , F e m a l e - d o m i n a t e d their own choices. Moreover, some communal strategies Households A d o p t F e w e r S t r a t e g i e s a n d require substantial investments in terms of money or Have Less A c c e s s t o I n s t i t u t i o n s labor input. It depends on the strategy whether institu- tions provide these investments or whether they are Female-headed households often are in a more vulnera- (partly) financed by households. Most commonly ble situation than most of the male-headed households. observed constraints for all strategies are the financial The results show that for Ethiopia and Mali, female- constraints and the difficulty in obtaining affordable headed households and households with a larger share loans by households and managerial and budgetary of adult women adopt fewer strategies than male-headed constraints by institutions. Solving these constraints households. These lower adoption rates are valid for all requires intervention from higher level institutions. strategies but especially so for the more demanding When properly targeting interventions, account should strategies like irrigation. Female-dominated households be given to these constraints. Adaptation strategies will more often adopt strategies like handicrafts and charcoal not be successful if these constraints are not resolved. sales. Sadly, they also receive less assistance from institu- tions. In Ethiopia, this is especially so from authorities Each Institution has Its Particular Role and extension agencies, but also from the community institutions and women’s groups. This is partly compen- The different institutions play different roles that depend sated by extra attention received from religious institu- on the level at which they aim their intervention. tions and micro-finance institutions. In Mali, extension Institutions do not operate individually but are part of a agencies provide less assistance to female-dominated network of institutions that support and depend on each households. When targeting assistance, donors have to other. The central government has a role in realizing a pay special attention to the question of how to reach better functioning social and market environment, such as female-dominated households. In Yemen, the reverse is improved roads, telecommunications, input and output true. Female-dominated households adopt more strate- markets, credit facilities, veterinary facilities, and meteoro- gies, even though the types of strategies adopted are not logical information dissemination. These options provide different. One explanation for this is that in Yemen, the the enabling environment needed for a well-functioning richer men have the capacity to marry more women and society. Other institutions aim their interventions at the also the capacity to adopt more strategies. In Mali, household level. Households need support in terms of polygamy seems to be less related to wealth. training, financial support, techniques, and inputs, which give them the skills and means to improve their situation Institutional A s s i s t a n c e I n c r e a s e s E ff i c i e n c y themselves in a sustainable way. This level of intervention of Adaptatio n S t r a t e g i e s is mostly carried out by NGOs, extension agencies, and community organizations. Institutions have to be aware of The analysis shows that for many strategies cooperation their role and their position and responsibilities in the is needed between the households and institutions. network of nationally operating institutions. If these roles Even for cheap and individual strategies like and responsibilities are formulated clearly, institutions can SYnthESIS REpoRt 31 be held accountable for their activities and it can be adaptation strategies. Reliable costing information from checked whether all the tasks necessary for a successful other sources is also almost nonexistent. For that reason, development strategy are covered. a qualitative assessment is provided here of the different costing elements involved in adopting adaptation strate- Costing Ad AptAtion gies. Moreover, no distinction is made between assis- tance to be provided by governmental or by implementin g st r a t e g i e s r e q u i r e s C o o p e r a t i o n nongovernmental institutions. In principle, the same type of assistance can be provided by governmental or The surveys provide evidence of the types of investments nongovernmental institutions. It depends on the local stakeholders have to make for implementing adaptation context and the organizational and financial capacity of strategies. It is important to realize that investments not the institutions present whether governmental or only include monetary investments, but also investments nongovernmental institutional back-up is preferable. in terms of time, skills and social relations (social capital). For many strategies, households are not, or only to a household investment Capacities are low limited extent, capable of choosing and implementing these themselves. Households may lack the knowledge, In order to properly interpret the qualitative costing the skills, the labor, and the money or the help from assessment, one has to be aware of the limited invest- formal or informal institutions. Further, institutions may ment capacity of most of the households in all three lack these resources and skills, which may constrain their countries. Average cost observations for Mali are on activities. Table 2 presents an overview of the invest- the order of magnitude of XOF 110,000 ($200), which ments needed to choose, and successfully implement, a is mainly caused by the high investment costs of cereal strategy. The figure is based on the costing framework banks; without cereal banks average costs are XOF presented in Chapter 2 and Appendix 1. The figure 63,000 ($120). For Ethiopia, average cost observations shows the type of resources needed by households, are on the order of magnitude of Birr 780 per house- community institutions, and governmental and nongov- hold ($57). Without the communal strategies, this ernmental institutions to implement a strategy. amounts to Birr 575 ($43). For Yemen, the irrigation schemes are costly (YER 680,000 = $3,000). The other A distinction is made between the following resources; strategies are much cheaper and in the range of YER • M = monetary needs, 40,000 per household ($182). As already discussed • L = labor inputs required to actually carry out the above, these numbers should not be interpreted as the tasks, investment costs for the adaptation strategies, as these • T = time needed for training, negotiations, and should also include the regular costs made for items social contacts and such as seed, fertilizer, and labor. Moreover, especially • C = commitment needed, which refers to the will- for Mali and Ethiopia, the costs provided by the ingness to furnish the effort to successfully and, in households seem to be rather large, as their earning case of communal action, jointly implement the capacities are generally rather low. Moreover, in all strategies. three countries, rural households spend 50 percent to 80 percent of their income on food, so only a limited For each of the resources, based on the costing informa- amount of money remains for making productive tion from the households, the institutional and the investments.5 stakeholder interviews, it is indicated whether low, medium, or high investments are expected and what currently constrains the successful implementation of 5 For Yemen, expenditures on food are estimated to be on average the strategy. As discussed in the introduction, given the 45 percent of household income, rising to 60 percent for the poorest quintile (WFP 2010). For Mali and Ethiopia, average food expendi- general lack of information about the costs of imple- tures reach 75 percent of household income, rising to 82 percent for menting adaptation strategies, the sensitivity to ask such the poorest quintile (Kpodar 2006; World Bank 1998). With average information from households and the low response rate income levels for Ethiopia and Mali ranging between $150 and $250, households only have a limited investment capacity. In Yemen, with an on these questions, it has been difficult to elicit reliable average income of around $1,000, investment capacities are somewhat quantitative information about the monetary costs of larger. 32 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S Adoption of l o w - c o s t st r a t e g i e s de p e n d s o n markets are missing; (c) households may lack the knowl- their e xpect e d be n e f i t s edge to implement the strategies; (d) for home-garden agriculture, households may lack seeds, irrigation/ Table 2 and the above discussion on adaptation strate- watering equipment, or storage techniques to make it a gies show that low-cost strategies for which households successful strategy; and (e) home-garden agriculture may expect immediate gains are already chosen by many not be adopted because of coinciding peak labor households.6 This is especially true for sensitivity reduc- demands with other farm activities. ing agricultural strategies such as seed selection, chang- ing planting dates, or changing cropping densities. The Alternatively, households may not perceive the focus on color coding in Table 2 shows that for these strategies, coping capacities as being useful in reducing their little institutional assistance is required and that mone- vulnerability even if net benefits are positive. For most tary, labor, and training requirements in most cases are people, agriculture has been the main income source for relatively low. For well irrigation, monetary investments decades, without any major new income source (except may be constraining; for manure application, labor perhaps for migration). It is not evident that people requirements may be constraining. As most of these easily initiate new income earning activities, especially if strategies can be adopted without help from the commu- there is not an enabling environment for this activity nity or institutions, required levels of commitment and if education levels are low. As previously noted, in among the community is limited. Training needs are low all three countries only a few strategies to improve for these strategies. Training, however, may improve effi- coping capacity are adopted. Both formal and informal ciency. Institutions can play a role in mitigating some of institutions have an important role in the adoption of the constraints; for example, malfunctioning markets these strategies since they can provide training, raise constrain the purchase of inputs (see below). Without awareness, and promote good examples. assistance, adoption of strategies may reach a saturation level and new innovative strategies, for more severe A d o p t i o n o f h i g h - c o s t s t r a t e g i e s re q u i r e s climatic variability, may not be developed. The results for Cash income or institutional Assistance Mali and Yemen provide some evidence for this. The most common individual strategies are mostly adopted, As indicated above, the more expensive individual but the essential back-up is lacking to initiate the more adaptation strategies—like the use of water harvesting demanding communal strategies. In order to prepare techniques, improved food storage facilities, and the use households in Mali and Yemen for future adverse of individual irrigation (e.g. pumps)—are also affected climatic variability, cooperation between households and by knowledge and credit constraints. Many of these institutions is necessary in order to develop new innova- strategies have positive expected net benefits, but face tive strategies that meet the new challenges. financing constraints and require higher skills. They also require higher levels of social capital (commit- There are several other promising low-cost strategies— ment), as households have to invest time and acquire like handicrafts, charcoal sales, or non-timber forest skills to learn how to manage and maintain the new product commercialization—that are selected by only a equipment. For Yemen, the use of pumps for irrigation few households. In addition, home-garden agriculture is is in many regions a necessity to cultivate crops. a technique that could be selected by many more house- Households do not receive institutional assistance but holds and is expected to have high benefits, both in use income from cash-crop sales. So, on the one hand nutritive value and as cash earnings. There may be cultivating cash crops provides them with the cash several reasons why expected benefits turn out to be income to improve their coping capacities. On the negative: (a) markets for these goods may be too thin or other hand, cash-crop sales are a necessity for earning malfunctioning; (b) inputs may be difficult to acquire if sufficient cash in order to operate and maintain the pumps. This necessity also creates a new vulnerability as 6 In the questionnaire, we asked for the type of benefits households the risk of bad harvests may cause financial problems. expect from the adaptation strategy. Most households answered that the strategies would reduce their hazards. Most of the strategies were In Ethiopia, several of these more expensive strategies not adopted in the expectation of higher monetary benefits. are adopted in consultation with the governmental or SYnthESIS REpoRt 33 nongovernmental institutions present in the area. In is important to have coordinated, longer term, and inte- Mali, the more expensive individual strategies are gral commitment from donors. hardly used. Assistance from formal and informal m ore e xpen s i v e C o m m u n a l st r a t e g i e s f a c e i n s t i t u t i o n s m a y r e l i e v e A d o p t i o n C o n s t r aints financial an d m a n a g e r i a l C o n s t r a i n t s From the above, three conclusions can be drawn. First, Implementation of communal strategies requires coordi- low-cost individual strategies, with low requirements for nation among the different households in order to avoid labor and skills, are already adopted by almost all house- free-rider behavior and share the costs and benefits in an hold types. Monetary benefits will be limited, but the equitable way—as is shown by the red and orange colors strategies can reduce climate-related hazards. in the column showing required commitment levels. Expected net benefits of these strategies are in many Second, adoption of some promising strategies, even cases positive, but they are constrained by financing and though their expected net benefits are in many cases managerial skills. Such projects often have high costs, positive, may be affected by financial constraints, labor which cannot be met by the participating households constraints, or knowledge constraints. As discussed themselves, and which can only be recovered in the above, these strategies have several types of cost longer run. For that reason, the involvement of govern- elements, each of which may constrain adoption. More mental or nongovernmental institutions is often neces- wealthy household types—usually having more cash sary. In the three study countries, only in Yemen such income, more assets, more cash crop cultivation, and higher cost strategies are adopted without much inter- more diversified income sources, can adopt the more ference from formal institutions. Additionally, this type expensive strategies that reduce their sensitivity or of project often requires technical expertise, which most increase their coping capacity. Larger households, with households do not possess. Moreover, informal commu- more productive household members—can adopt strat- nity institutions play an important role in guaranteeing egies that are more labor demanding. Higher educated sufficient commitment among the participating house- households, having a larger share of household holds (Table 2). The longer run investments (in terms of members who attended at least primary education, are money and labor) to operate and maintain initiatives better capable of choosing the strategies that best fit such as communal irrigation schemes require commit- their livelihoods. Assistance from formal and informal ment among all participants. This also implies creating a institutions may lessen some of these constraints. It sense of ownership among the participants to ensure requires, however, tailor-made strategies by the institu- that the strategies can also be applied in the longer run. tions, carefully targeting the different constraints to With changing economic circumstances in each of the strategy adoption. three study countries, social networks also have changed. This has had effects on social capital, social cohesion, Third, implementation of communal strategies requires and therefore commitment to jointly initiate invest- back-up by formal and informal institutions. These ments. More training and knowledge transfer about the strategies require awareness raising, creation of commit- requirements and pros and cons of the different strate- ment, technical expertise, financial support and mana- gies would help improve this sense of ownership and gerial back-up. Each of these cost elements may stimulate households to make their own choices. constrain the successful implementation of communal Processes to create such awareness are often difficult and adaptation strategies. Long-term commitment and time consuming. Compared to construction or training integrated coordination by the international donor activities, they are difficult to plan and success is difficult community may lessen some of these constraints. Some to measure. The governmental or nongovernmental of the actions are specific for particular strategies; institutions implementing these communal strategies others are more general investments in public goods must therefore show that their presence and involve- necessary to create an environment that is suitable for ment is assured over a longer period as well. For this, it sustaining adaptation strategies. 34 tAble 2. overview of Costs And investments needed to implement AdAptAtion strAtegies Governmental or Community non-governmental Strategy Household institutions institutions Constrained by Costing elements M L T C M L T C M L T C Individual strategies Crop Selection and selection of improved seeds Awareness creation l l l l l willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial Purchase and application l l l l constraints for extension agencies credit constraints for farmers, Adapt planting dates: adapt planting dates according to the most up-to-date meteorological information Awareness about improved croping calender l l l l l l willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Application of improved croping calender ll h m h for extension agencies availability of appropriate meteorological information; need for a well functioning meteorological institute Use manure of family herd on the field Awareness creation l l l l l willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Collection and application ? h m ll for extension agencies Adequate supply of manure from own animals, otherwise funds will be needed for purchase of manure Adapt fertilizer/pesticide application Awareness creation l l l l l willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial Implementation m l l l l constraints for extension agencies credit constraints for farmers, Irrigation (wells or pumps) Awareness creation m l l l l ability to set up training activities to learn how to proplery construct, operate and maintain individual wells or pumps constraint for Construction and implementation h m l mmm l credit, materials and knowledge on how to dig, operate and maintain wells; constraint for community members providing Operation and maintenance h ll m l l l assistance constraint for credit, materials and knowledge on how to maintain and repair wells; commitment to maintain wells Use water harvesting techniques: roof water collection, tanks Awareness creation m l l l l willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Installation of water harvesting equipment m h l m l m ll for extension agencies credit or financial constraints, depending on who finances equipment; labour contstraints for farmers; Operation and maintenance of equipment lll m llll managerial constraints for (N)GO's labour and knowledge constraints for farmers; commitment needed to sustain operation Temporal migration Implementation ll Adequate labour availability within the household that can be spared for migration and off-farm labour Home garden agriculture: promote vegetable and fruit cultivation on home gardens Awareness creation l l l l l l willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Apply home garden agriculture l m l for extension agencies credit and labour constraints during some months for the farmers Communal strategies Improve or rehabilitate terraces: rehabilitate existing or create new terraces along slopes of hills Awareness creation l m l m ll m willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Implementation ? h l h ? h l h ? m l h for extension agencies constraint for materials (and maybe labour) for party financing construction Maintenance lll h lll h lll h constraint for materials and credit for party financing maintenance Soil erosion prevention: programmes focussing on improved tillage techniques (e.g. improved ploughing and installation of eroson prevention materials (e.g. rock bunds) Awareness creation mmmm ll m willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Implementation l m l h l m l h l h for extension agencies necessary to create commitment and sense of ownership among participants Maintenance ll h ll h ll h necessary to create commitment and sense of ownership among participants Restore or preserve forests: prevent deforestation and (re)plant homestead or mountaines forests to prevent soil erosion and improve water infiltration Awareness creation lll m lll willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Implementation l m l h l m l h ? m l h for extension agencies constraint for materials for party financing; constraint on alternative fuel sources Maintenance ll h ll h ll h Cereal bank Awareness creation l m l m l mm willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Install infrastructure h ll ? lll h ll for extension agencies credit or financial constraints, depending on who finances infrastructure Create management organisation l h m h l mm managerial constraints for households and/or (N)GO's; high commitment needed to sustain operation Maintain infrastructure and management system lll h l h l mm managerial constraints for households and/or (N)GO's; danger of "free-rider" behavior; commitment needed to sustain operation Use irrigation: installation and management of communal irrigation systems Awareness creation lll m ll m willingness and ability to set up suitable training activities by extension agencies or NGO's; budgetary and managerial constraints Install irrigation systems ? h l h ? h l hhh m h for extension agencies constraint for high labour input by households and high financial needs by extension agencies of NGO's Operate irrigation systems m ll h lll h ll h constraint for financial needs (e.g. for pumps) and managerial skills; high commitment needed to sustain operation Maintain irrigation systems mm l h lll h mm h constraint for financial needs (e.g. for pumps) and managerial skills; high commitment needed to sustain operation = low = medium = high M = monetary investments, L = labour needed, T = time required, C = commitment C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S 35 4. ConClusions And landholdings, low cash income, and low adoption levels of water management techniques. Coping capacity can reCommendAtions improve when households have more income earning opportunities, less children, and higher education levels. Therefore, in all three countries, investments in educa- The field studies in Ethiopia, Mali, and Yemen gener- tion remain an important priority. Better educated ated a number of observations on differences in house- people are more capable of making informed decisions hold vulnerability, adaptation strategies adopted, reasons on how to improve their livelihoods. Interventions to why promising strategies may not be adopted, and the decrease household vulnerability should carefully type of assistance institutions provide. These observa- consider household differences and the major tions make it possible to draw conclusions about why constraints these households face. Improving income particular patterns are observed and make recommenda- earning opportunities requires improvements in market tions on future interventions. environments. h ousehold C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t e n a r e m o r e Moreover, sensitivity to climate variability can be important d e t e r m i n a n t s o f vu l n e r a b i l i t y t h a n reduced in the mountainous areas of Ethiopia and e xposure Yemen by investments in improving water availability, such as soil erosion prevention or terrace rehabilitation. In the three study countries, drought is the major For all three countries, investments in water manage- climate-related hazard faced by the households. The ment techniques (water storage and irrigation) are majority of the households see periods of drought to be important. The dry and low-lying areas in the three a larger threat than flood hazards or extreme rainfall and countries will benefit from water retention techniques, extreme temperatures. Generally, the regions in the dryer while those areas closer to streams and rivers will bene- and in lowland areas are more exposed to drought fit from irrigation schemes. Promoting pump or well hazards than those in regions receiving more rainfall and irrigation provides short-term benefits, but is unsus- those in more mountainous areas. However, households tainable in many cases because of decreasing groundwa- with less exposure to hazards can still be in a vulnerable ter levels. situation if they are sensitive to climate variability or have a low coping capacity. For all interventions proposed here, not only the physi- cal investments are important. It is probably more Important determinants of vulnerability are low coping important that these investments fit within a broader capacities—for example, because of low education program of integrated development in which attention is levels and low income diversity—and high sensitivity, given to the improved social capital needed to sustain which can be caused by factors such as low the investments in the future. 36 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S target interv e n t i o n s t o pa r t i c u l a r gr o u p s a n d demanding communal soil erosion and water man- to their Char a c t e r i s t i c s agement strategies. As the more wealthy groups are generally more capable of obtaining assistance, Differences in household characteristics within and development programs should particularly focus on between villages seem to be larger in Yemen and the less-well-off groups. In particulr, lower educated Ethiopia than in Mali. Furthermore, the roles of men households and households living in remote rural and women differ among the three countries. Where areas are more vulnerable. For Mali and Ethiopia, men make almost all decisions in Yemen and Mali, the female-dominated households were identified as role of women in Ethiopia seems to be more impor- especially vulnerable. They usually have lower edu- tant. Additionally, in Ethiopia there are more female- cation levels and low income and assets, and thus headed households, which usually are more vulnerable. have fewer resources to implement adaptation strate- Moreover, women generally receive less assistance from gies. For all three countries, villages in remote areas institutions than men. For that reason, it is important with bad infrastructure and far away from urban that interventions are properly targeted, considering centers were more vulnerable and adopted fewer especially strategies designed to reach the most vulner- strategies to prepare for climate change. able groups and women. The effectiveness of any strategy—and constraints preventing its adoption—is strong institutions are necessary for influenced by household characteristics. Some lessons s u c c e s s f u l i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f ne w s t r a t e gies from this study include the following: Successful implementation of the different adaptation • In Mali, targeting interventions seems to be easier strategies depends in large part on the institutional than in Ethiopia and Yemen, as differences between assistance that is provided during the adaptation process. villages and between the household types are smaller. As a result, more generic strategies can be • In the three study countries, similar low-cost, sen- developed that are suitable for particular areas and sitivity reducing agricultural strategies were applicable to all households present. In Yemen and adopted. These included using more drought- Ethiopia, even within villages a more diverse set of resistant crops and improved seeds, and adapting strategies has to be promoted, in which attention is planting dates and cropping densities. Even given to the differences in characteristics between though most households can adopt these more households. traditional strategies themselves, institutional • It is advisable to involve women in decisions, espe- assistance will improve their efficiency. As these cially regarding home-garden agriculture, petty strategies have proven their value, institutions such trade, charcoal sales, and handicrafts. Without their as extension agencies and NGOs should actively involvement, these strategies may not be adopted. support their adoption among households where • More marginalized groups need special attention. they are not yet practiced. They are more difficult to reach and have lower • Low-cost strategies focusing on improving coping adoption levels of the prevailing, low-cost adapta- capacities (like home-garden agriculture, charcoal tion strategies such as seed selection, changed plant- sales, handicrafts) are selected by fewer households, ing dates, and changed use of fertilizers and especially in Ethiopia and Yemen. Migration is one pesticides. Furthermore, in Yemen, low institutional of the few strategies used regularly to diversify outreach makes it even more difficult to reach mar- income in all three countries. The adoption of strat- ginalized groups. In Ethiopia, the situation is better, egies to improve coping capacity is often constrained but still these groups are less involved in communal by malfunctioning input and output markets, actions. financing problems, overlapping labor calendars, • More wealthy households have the opportunity to and lack of knowledge. Some of these constraints invest in more expensive strategies. The better-off can be overcome with institutional assistance. These households in Yemen more often adopt pumped irri- constraints also require national actions to improve gation. In Ethiopia, they more often adopt the more market conditions. SYnthESIS REpoRt 37 • Due to low education levels and a poorly functioning more encompassing adaptation strategies, leading to market environment, few households will be capable lower levels of vulnerability. of developing innovative strategies that are suitable for adaptation to more severe climate variability. l o n g - t e r m p r e s e n c e o f i n s t i t u t i o n s f a c i l i tates Institutional assistance will be necessary. In all three t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f C o m m u n a l s t r a t e g ies countries, currently the institutional and market environment does not create an enabling environ- The preference for individual strategies in Mali seems to ment in which new initiatives can be easily sus- be due to the fact that communal action is difficult to tained. Initiating new income generating options or organize. This is accentuated by the fact that households developing more innovative adaptation strategies are normally large. With these large households, there is may be hampered by poorly functioning markets sufficient labor to organize strategies that even for (including credit markets), low quality of infrastruc- Ethiopia would need to be organized on a communal ture (roads, electricity, and telecommunications), and basis because of the lack of labor. Furthermore, the focus low purchasing power. Some of the basic precondi- on their own household makes it more difficult to coop- tions needed for a well-functioning market environ- erate with other households, as these other households ment are currently missing and can only be realized are also large and therefore significant additional gains through public investments. are required in order to justify the involvement of outside assistance. For Yemen, the situation is different. The focus From this, it follows that the objectives of sustainable on their own clan and the distrust of authorities makes it development will not be reached if interventions focus difficult to accept assistance from outside the village. only on one constraint. Integrated development Despite the marginal role played by formal institutions, programs, which are currently executed in Ethiopia and however, households adopt several communal strategies. initiated in Yemen, seem to be promising ways of giving Due to their relative wealth, they may overcome some of households the opportunity to improve their livelihoods. the financial constraints of communal strategies. A more diverse set of strategies can be adopted, however, if insti- better instit u t i o n a l C o v e r a g e le a d s t o m o r e tutions can assist with overcoming some of the manage- and m ore di v e r s e st r a t e g i e s rial, knowledge, and technical requirements that households encounter when adopting more demanding The number of households adopting strategies and the communal strategies—for example, communal irrigation number of strategies adopted per household varies schemes, larger scale reforestation, soil erosion prevention, significantly among the countries, with 8.5 strategies and terrace rehabilitation programs. From this, it follows adopted per household for Ethiopia compared to 3.5 for that the adoption of communal strategies requires the Mali and only 1.7 for Yemen. There are a number of long-term presence of institutions. Institutions can build country-specific differences. Ethiopia, which benefits trustworthy relationships with village households, create more from institutional support than Mali or Yemen, commitment among the households to jointly improve has opted more for community-based strategies. Mali livelihoods, and prove the additional gains that can be and Yemen, where support through institutions is small reached through cooperation. (Mali) to negligible (Yemen), households stay with more individual and “proven� strategies that can be imple- Coordination and Cooperation Among mented with the resources that are readily available from institutions makes it easier to reach more the household itself. Moreover, strategies in Ethiopia are households more innovative than those adopted in Mali and Yemen. It appears as if the number and type of strategies Promoting adaptation strategies requires institutional adopted depends on institutional coverage, whether cooperation on three levels.7 First, formal, governmental, through a network of extension agencies (as in Ethiopia) or through a network of nongovernmental institutions. 7 The ABDCC study also concludes that assistance to households has to include cooperation among community-based organizations, local Investments in coordinated networks of extension agen- administrative and technical services, traditional rulers, and civil soci- cies and NGOs pay off in the adoption of more and ety organizations, as well as NGOs (World Bank 2010b). 38 C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S or nongovernmental institutions working in the villages inputs (for example, cooperatives) or cash (for example, have to cover most villages. Ethiopia has a network of micro-credit institutions). Training and awareness rais- extension agencies reaching a large part of all house- ing are important ways to provide households with the holds. In Yemen and Mali, it is more difficult for the skills to make their own choices and to create a sense of formal institutions to fully reach the households. In ownership of the strategies adopted. Without a sense of Mali, institutional assistance is scattered over a number ownership, households will remain dependent on insti- of nongovernmental institutions. Even though most tutional assistance and realizing investments that remain regions are covered by at least one NGO or extension productive in the long run will be more difficult. In agency, it is difficult to set up well-coordinated nation- Mali, assistance is predominantly in the form of inputs. wide programs because there is little communication Both in Yemen and in Mali, training by institutions is between the institutions and limited coordination of virtually absent. These differences among the three study interventions. countries are explained by the Ethiopian network of extension agencies, which apart from individual assis- Second, informal community institutions also play an tance also invest in communal strategies (such as irriga- important role in reaching households. To set up tion schemes or community reforestation) and public community strategies and spread good practices among infrastructure (such as roads and electricity). They not the households, commitment among households is only try to improve the skills and opportunities of the essential. This is a task for community institutions. For households, but also try to relieve some of the Mali, these community institutions play a much smaller constraints limiting the adoption of particularly promis- role than in Ethiopia, so creating commitment among ing strategies. For Yemen and Mali, such an integrated, households is more difficult. For Yemen, even though coordinated approach is still nonexistent. In Yemen, households indicate that community institutions are not recent initiatives have a similar focus to the multi-donor, important, the strong clan culture explains why commu- government coordinated, integrated development nal strategies like terrace rehabilitation and irrigation are programs in Ethiopia. applied. Third, national coordination of interventions can avoid i n v e s t m e n t s i n A d a p t a t i o n s t r a t e g i e s r e quire duplication of work, strengthen opportunities to learn more than monetary investments from each other, and make it possible to raise the more macro-level constraints to the relevant authorities. Investments in adaptation strategies not only include Whether it is best to realize this through formal, monetary investments. Equally important are invest- government-related extension agencies (like in Ethiopia) ments in terms of time, skills, and social relations. For or through nongovernmental channels (like in Mali) many strategies, households are not (or only to a limited depends on the country context. If setting up a govern- extent) capable of choosing and implementing these mental network of extension agencies is not feasible or themselves. Households may lack the knowledge, the not possible due to political reasons, it may be useful, for skills, the labor, the money, or the help from formal or example, to develop a national platform for the exchange informal institutions. Furthermore, institutions may lack of experiences. To realize this, it is important to take resources and skills, which may constrain their activities, further steps to mainstream climate change adaptation or they may not have the resources, knowledge, or inter- across all relevant policy sectors and not make climate est to sustain positive changes over time. Especially for change adaptation the responsibility of a single ministry the more demanding strategies in terms of money and or agency (Kok and Coninck 2007; Stringer et al. 2009). skills (such as pump irrigation, water storage) and for those for which households have to cooperate to imple- d espite its i m p o r t a n c e , ma n y in s t i t u t i o n s do ment and maintain the changes (such as soil erosion n ot provide tr a i n i n g prevention programs, irrigation schemes, cereal banks, or input cooperatives), outside assistance is often needed. In Ethiopia, institutional assistance includes an impor- In particular, the required social capital (commitment tant training component. Some institutions also provide and coordination among communities and institutions) SYnthESIS REpoRt 39 may be constraining. Processes to create such commit- The focus on only a single issue will most likely not ment are often difficult and time consuming. result in the envisaged results. 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Costing frAmework Costs Costing adaptation methodology Individual costs Communal costs External costs Adaptation options inputs time training needs inputs time Inputs training needs agricultural techniques Seed selection: select drought costs of improved training on improved seeds training on use of resistant/tolerant crops like sorghum or different seeds cultivation improved seeds and heat and salinity resistant crops methods Adapt planting dates changes in labor training on training on allocation cultivation cultivation methods methods Adapt cropping densities / mixed changing input additional labor training on training on cropping costs time due to cultivation cultivation intensification methods methods Adapt fertilizer / pesticide changing input additional labor training on fertilizer and training on application costs due to changed cultivation pesticides cultivation input use methods methods Adapt tillage practices (changes in changing input additional labor training on new tillage tools training on priorities in land use, land area costs time related to cultivation cultivation cultivated, labor input) new tilling methods methods methods Apply different zero grazing costs for feed use; additional labor training on communal labor material for stall training on techniques costs for stall due to changing livestock provisioning construction; feed livestock farming construction livestock farming management methods Change composition of herd (e.g. costs for feed ; additional labor training on more goats and less cattle) and opportunity costs related to livestock livestock products for different types changing livestock management of livestock farming methods Improve food storage facilities costs for food labor for storage training on food communal labor training on food storage facility storage facilities provisioning storage construction construction Change the herd composition costs for livestock labor time for training of purchase/sales alternative herd livestock management management Change the pastoral system labor time for (distance and frequency of mobility) alternative herding regimes Water management techniques C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S Use water harvesting techniques: materials needed labor time training on water land for water labor time for materials needed training on water collect water from roofs, collect for water harvesting wells, harvesting construction and for water harvesting water in tanks harvesting systems and maintenance of harvesting techniques ponds water storage facilities Improve, construct or rehabilitate materials needed labor time for training on land for terraces labor time for materials needed training on terrace terraces for terrace construction, farming on construction, for terrace construction and construction and maintenance, and terraces maintenance, and construction and maintenance and SYnthESIS REpoRt renovation rehabilitation rehabilitation renovation on farming on terraces Use irrigation materials for labor for training on the use land for irrigation labor for materials needed training on setting construction and construction of of irrigation canals and construction of for set up of up and maintenance of irrigation systems; facilities and water systems irrigation systems; irrigation systems; maintaining irrigation systems; time for communal management set up of water legal documents irrigation; training costs for water; water user association for organizing on communal costs for pumping management or a comparable water user water organizaton associations management Re-use treated wastewater systems to labor for set up of labor to set up, materials for training on redistribute water managing wastewater maintain and wastewater wastewater from wastewater wastewater storage and manage storage and treatment facilities facility to plots treatment and for treatment facility wastewater treatment facility and management applying treated treatment facility; wastewater training on wastewater treatment and management Improve watering sites in pastoral labor for well and land for ponds; labor for pond materials for determination of areas pond construction materials for construction; set designing, optimal location designing, up of water user constructing, and and design of constructing, and association maintaining ponds ponds; assistance maintaining ponds with water user association Diversification 43 44 Costs Costing adaptation methodology Individual costs Communal costs External costs Adaptation options inputs time training needs inputs time Inputs training needs Use alternative sources for costs for new training on new cooking capacity building fuelwood cooking facilities alternative facilities and fuels on cooking, and fuel cooking facilities fuelwood problems, etc. temporary migration to urban areas investments in reduced on-farm dependence of awareness raising or abroad transport costs labor availability those staying at on (dis) and living during off-season home on advantages of expenditures neighbors migration temporary migration to other rural investments in reduced on-farm dependence of awareness raising areas (e.g. plantations) transport costs labor availability those staying at on (dis) and living during off-season home on advantages of expenditures neighbors migration permanent migration (to other rural investments in reduced on-farm dependence of awareness raising areas, urban areas or abroad) transport costs labor availability those staying at on (dis) and living during entire year home on advantages of expenditures neighbors migration non-timber forest product investments in labor time needed investments in labor time needed investments in training on non- commercialization (e.g. gum tree cultivation for planting and tree cultivation for planting and tree cultivation timber forest production) maintaining maintaining product forests forests commercialization home-garden agriculture / legume investments in labor for home- improve marketing training on home- based agroforestry / horticulture home-gardens; garden cultivation channels; seeds, garden cultivation seeds, fertilizers etc. Increase market sales labor for improve local improve marketing information on marketing markets channels and road price fluctuations infrastructure and price development handicrafts/commerce inputs for labor for improve local improve marketing information on handicrafts handicrafts markets channels price development Reduce expenses by changing lower costs but consumption patterns (meal high opportunity composition, frequency of meals) costs due to reduced productivity Draw-down on livestock, surpluses, lower reserves or savings Communal pooling C o S t I n g A D A p tAt I o n t h R o U g h L o C A L I n S t I t U t I o n S Restore and preserve homestead or costs of labor for training on labor for trees, seeds, training on mountain forests to reduce erosion reforestation replanting reforestation replanting materials, reforestation and peak flows from intense rainfall fertilizers,… Rangeland preservation and grazing labor for rangeland Set up a legal embedding assistance with restrictions implementing management rangeland of rangeland rangeland management training management management management systems system systems system SYnthESIS REpoRt Set up community seed banks and labor for facility storage facilities labor for storage storage facilities knowledge on food storage facilities implementation management optimal storage techniques Soil erosion prevention programs of costs for erosion labor for erosion labor for erosion inputs needed for training on erosion farming land prevention works measures measures erosion measures prevention (e.g. stones, measures (e.g. trucks, materials) rock bunds,…) Change local water management labor for water labor for water training on water rules and regulations alternative water management management management management training association 45