MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
environmental conditions or rising temperatures. This puts livelihoods dependent
on natural resources under increasing pressure.
Pictures: Overgrazed land. In the two scenarios runoff increases, biodiversity and soil will be lost during
the rainy season. And this is one of the most likely underlying causes of many of the farmer’s challenges
As farmers are already experiencing production problems related to current
climatic constraints, as well as facing the prospect of coping with greater
uncertainty, we need a two-pronged approach to future Climate Change - the
“Twin Pillars of Adaptation”:
1. In the short term: helping farmers to cope better with current risks
2. Developing options for adaptation to future (largely unknown) risks due to
climate change – Adaptive Capacity.
Building livelihood resilience now will contribute to longer-term adaptive capacity.
Many of the strategies which will enable farmers to achieve food security and
increased well-being under current climatic conditions will directly contribute to
increasing their ability to cope with future uncertainty. They will contribute to
adaptive capacity.
In order to be able to deal with current hazards (including Climate Variability)
and rapidly changing circumstances, farmers‟ need to be empowered
(capacitated) to analyse and understand what is happening. They need to be
aware of the risks, hazards and shocks that they face, how these impact on their
livelihoods, what strengths or capacities they have that they can use to minimise
or avoid these risks and what they can do to make their lives and livelihoods
A Training Manual on Use of Climate Information and Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment for
Agricultural Extension Staff in Zimbabwe
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