Sustaining School Children's Access to Safe Water in Garissa District

Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA) and Community-Based Risk Screening Tool: Adaptation and Livelihoods (CRiSTAL) Tools

Training Workshop for the Global Water Initiative-Ethiopia

October 12th-16th, 2009

Borana and Rift Valley ZonesOromia Region, Ethiopia

Katharine Cross, Cynthia Awuor and Shannon Oliver

Executive Summary

The Howard G. Buffet Foundation Global Water Initiative was developed in September 2006 with the aim of “ensuring that vulnerable populations world-wide have reliable access to clean water in such a way that their dignity, rights, culture and natural environment are not negatively impacted”. The initial focus of Empowering Poor People to Manage Water in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands in Ethiopia is on provision of improved water, sanitation and hygiene in …Lira, Amuru and Gulu Districts where internally displaced peoples (IDPs) are settling and water/sanitation infrastructure is at a minimum. Within this context it was decided to carry out a climate change vulnerability assessment using a combination of adaptation and participatory tools including CRiSTAL (Community-based Risk Screening Tool - Adaptation & Livelihoods) and the Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA) methodologies. Results of these assessments are found here and detail the climatic hazards anticipated for the region, the resources community member have at their disposal, and the expected impacts to these resource from climate change. Finally, current project activities are reviewed within the context of climate change, and revised project activities are proposed to mitigate further impacts to livelihoods within the region. Feedback on the process and a way forward for the region are included as guiding documents on further activities.

TABLE of CONTENTS

1Introduction

1.1Workshop opening

1.1.1Expectations

1.1.2Ground Rules

2Climate Change and Vulnerability Assessment Tools

2.1Introduction to Climate Change

2.1.1Discussions on climate change

2.2Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Projects and Programmes

2.3Climate Change Assessment Tools

2.3.1The Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA) Tool

2.3.2The Community-based Risk Screening Tool: Adaptation and Livelihoods (CRiSTAL)

2.4The Rain Calendar and Vulnerability Matrix

2.4.1Rain Calendar

2.4.2Vulnerability Matrix

2.5Review of Field Guide

3Project information

3.1Project description and context

4Climate Change Context

4.1Regional Notes

4.2Country Notes

4.3Ecological Zone Notes

4.4Rain calendars

4.4.1Rain Calendar – Dawe and Darara Delecha villages

4.5Climate-related Hazards, Impacts and Coping Strategies

4.6Hazard 1

4.6.1Dawe – Drought

4.6.2Darara Delecha – Drought

4.7Hazard 2

4.7.1Dawe – Extreme Heat

4.7.2Darara Delecha – Extreme Heat

4.8Hazard 3

4.8.1Dawe – Desertification

4.8.2Darara Delecha – Floods

5Livelihood Context

5.1Overview of Livelihood Resources Framework

5.1.1Livelihood resources – Oromia

5.1.2Impacts of Climate-related Hazards to Livelihood Resources

6Analysis of project activities

6.1Revised Project Activities

6.2Synergies and Barriers

7Feedback on Field Exercise

8Way Forward

8.1Way Forward –Borena Zone

8.2Way Forward – Misraq Shewa Zone

Appendix 1. Participants list

Appendix 2. Workshop Program

Appendix 3. Field form

Appendix 4: Supplementary materials

TABLE of FIGURES

Figure 1.1. Map of Regions and Zones of Ethiopia

Figure 2.1. The Greenhouse Effect

Figure 2.2. Example of Rain Calendar

Figure 4.1Merged Rain Calendar – Dawe village

Figure 4.2. Merged rain calendar - Darara Dalecha village

TABLE of TABLES

Table 4.1 Climate context - Dawe

Table 4.2 Climate context – Darara Dalecha

Table 5.1, Resources strongly influenced by hazards – Dawe

Table 5.2. Resources strongly influenced by hazards – Darara Dalecha

Table 8.1 Way Forward

1Introduction

The initiative is being implemented in three geographic clusters namely: Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua), West Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Senegal) and East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). In Kenya, the HGBF-GWI program is being implemented by CARE, Action Against Hunger, and Catholic Relief Services.

The GWI programme in East Africa has three strategic objectives:

SO1: Good Governance- Improved local and community governance and the enabling policy framework.

SO2: Sustainable Multiple Uses of Water - Efficient, effective and equitable domestic and productive uses of water, sanitation, hygiene, and watershed management.

SO3: Risk Management - Vulnerable rural communities and their environments have increased resilience to water-related shocks.

The results under SO3 include:

IR3.1 Community and local stakeholders’ capacity to plan, organize, manage and adapt to water related shocks and conflict over scare water resources have improved.

IR3.2 Risk management initiatives are in place at regional and national levels to address water-related shocks in the context of global climate change.

Within this context it was decided to carry out a climate change vulnerability assessment using a combination of adaptation and participatory tools including CRiSTAL (Community-based Risk Screening Tool - Adaptation & Livelihoods) and the Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA) methodology to fulfill the results under SO3, as the tools enable project planners and managers to: (a) understand the links between local livelihoods and climate; (b) assess a project's impact on livelihood resources important for climate adaptation; and (c) devise adjustments to improve a project's impact on these key livelihood resources.

A workshop was convened in Hawassa, Ethiopia with a field trip to Dawevillage in Arsi Negele woreda and Derara Dalecha village in DugedaBora woreda, both in the Misraq Shewa Zone within the Oromia Region in the Rift Valley (see Figure 1.1). However there were representatives from both the Rif ValleyMisraq Shewa Zone and andBorana Borena regions Zones where GWI works in Ethiopia.

Figure 1.1. Map of Regions and Zones of Ethiopia

Participants included representatives of CARE Ethiopia, CRS, Oxfam America and their partners including government representatives. . The objectives of the workshop were:

Gain understanding and skills to carry out climate vulnerability assessments at project sites using CVCA and CRiSTAL Tools
Apply vulnerability assessment tools to the project sites
Facilitate work plan for a way forward in integrating climate change adaptation into the GWI program in Ethiopia.
Facilitate team building among participants.

This report covers the information provided in the workshop (sections 1-2) and the results from the climate change vulnerability assessment including field data and data analysis (sections3-6,). Feedback from the workshop is summarized in section 7 andsection 8 plots a way forward for the project in applying the information gained from the process to ensure project activities are more resilient to climate change impacts. Alist of participants can be found in Appendix 1 and aprogram for the workshop can be found in Appendix 2.

1.1Workshop opening

Meaza Kebede, the GWI-Ethiopia Coordinator, opened the meeting and asked participants to take a few minutes to get to know their neighbor. Each person introduced their neighbor giving their name, the organization they work for, profession, and hobby. The participants list is available in Annex 1.

1.1.1Expectations

Workshop participants were from Oxfam America, Action for Development

Rift Valley Children and Women Development, CARE Ethiopia, Catholic Relief Service, Meki Catholic Services, Arsi Negelle Woreda, Dugda Woreda, Bora Woreda, Miyo Woreda and the Oromia Regional State Bureau. Participants’ expectations were as follows:

To adopt a local strategy for reforestation
Identify and understand the drivers to, as well as contribution of individuals, groups and society to climate change
How to take climate change impacts into account in project planning/ amendment to mitigate against these impacts on people’s livelihoods (including rural livelihoods).
To understand how to assess communities’ vulnerability to climate change and their adaptive capacity; analyze risks and potential adaptation measures.
To get acquainted with climate change and vulnerability assessment and monitoring tools, and their application at local level.
To learn about the impacts of global climate change, impacts on Ethiopia, its impacts on the pastoral livelihoods, and propose adaptation strategies at community level.
To understand the relationship between community-based risk screening and livelihoods. .
To learn about the causes, coping mechanisms and ways to solve problems caused by climate change at global and country level (in Ethiopia).
To gain knowledge and skills on climate change adaptation, and how to mainstream climate issues in the management of CARE Ethiopia’s programs/projects.
To gain a paradigm shift, be able to understand climate vulnerability related data, and share information on this.
To network and share information with other experts.
To receive a certificate of training at the end of the workshop.
To access the training manual hardcopy (or soft copy) so that all trainees can use the knowledge and skills acquired during the workshop.
To understand how the CVCA and CRiSTAL tools practically help staff in development programs, the difference between them and other tools; and the advantages and disadvantages of using them
To relate scientific data with actual existing conditions, in order to try and solve problems
Take into account global issues in the context of a participatory approach.
To learn about the current environmental issues and tools that can help in the application of environmental protection
The training will help staff to contribute to controlling environmental degradation
To increase awareness and knowledge on what climate change means and its impacts on development endeavors and environment.
To get familiar with the CRiSTAL tool and understand its compatibility with Participatory Rural Appraisal Tools.
How to design, implement and monitor project activities in due consideration of climate change adaptation.
To successfully facilitate learning and enable participants to have confidence to carry out climate change vulnerability assessments, and make decisions on adaptation options to integrate into their projects.
To simplify knowledge and understanding of climate change and its impacts.
To learn about the work participants are engaged in and how it is affecting communities.
To establish a task force at project level for the application of the Tools in the GWI projects in Ethiopia.
To understand climate change mitigation and the opportunities therein.

1.1.2Ground Rules

To facilitate good coordination of the process, it was agreed that everyone would keep phones on silent mode, to ensure that there are no side meetings, participants and facilitators would ask /answer questions, respect each other, incorporate energizers and observe punctuality.

2Climate Change and Vulnerability Assessment Tools

This section provides background on climate change and the assessment tools used during the workshop.

2.1Introduction to Climate Change

Climate change is defined as any change in climate over time due to natural variability or human activities. Climate change is the gradual warming in the earth’s average temperature due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases that may result in significant impacts on local climate and people. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, Hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and Sulfur hexafluoride. Human activities that exacerbate climate change include burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and land degradation among others. Climate variability is the change that is seen from season to season and climate change is the change observed over an average of 30 year blocks.

A description of the greenhouse effect can be found in Figure 2.1 below. This is a process which maintains the earth’s surface temperature at levels most suitable to existing life and ecology. Increased greenhouse gases are thought to exacerbate the greenhouse effect,thereby contributing to increased warming of the earth’s temperatures.

Source: UNEP, obtained from

Figure 2.12.1. The Greenhouse Effect

2.1.1Discussions on climate change

In the Borana Zone and Rift Valley a local example was used to illustrate the impacts of a changing climate. Details of current trends in Ethiopia along with predicted impacts were discussed and illustrated that there has been an increase in the number of hot days and hot nights as well as a decrease in rainfall for the Southeastern part of the country. Additionally, it was stated that more frequent extreme events including droughts and unpredictable rainfall have been observed. Further expected impacts to the country and region were discussed and can be found in Section 4 (Climate Change Context) of this document.

Participants sought clarification on why there would be a need for a change in lifestyles in dealing with climate change. Many people in developed countries, and the wealthier ones in developing countries, should strive to adopt greener lifestyles. For example, people and families could choose to share one car, practice car pooling much more, and use products with adequate packaging. These actions would help reduce their carbon footprints, thereby contribute to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Participants asked for an explanation on carbon trading. It was explained that carbon trading was developed through the international climate change policy (Kyoto Protocol). Trees absorb carbon dioxide, so the trading scheme has been designed so that developed countries stipulate a limit to the amount of greenhouse gases that they can emit and issue permits with an equivalent amount of credits. Any industry or country that exceeds their emissions cap would then buy credits from other companies and countries that have emitted less greenhouse gases than their capped level. Various institutions engaged in the carbon trading scheme estimate the amount of CO2 absorbed by the Clean Development Mechanism project implementers and estimate the cost of payment, which is about 4$/year/hectare of reforested area. She noted that the financial returns are quite low, and not highly viable for incorporating other issues such as addressing poverty. It was pointed out that it is important to plant trees that have other benefits such as fruits and medicinal herbs, since trees have many other environmental benefits. Developed and developing countries need to cooperate much more to achieve a better development path in developing green industries, financing mechanisms and technology transfers.

2.2Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Projects and Programmes

Integrating climate change adaptation into development activities is important for increasing the sustainability of such activities. For example, if crops are failing consistently due to climate hazards (e.g. extreme drought and rain) and a community does not alter their agricultural practices they will continue to suffer from the impacts of climate change. If the hazards are properly analyzed, the community will be more adequately prepared to deal with the expected impacts. Additionally, integrating adaptation allows for project activities to be avoided that inadvertently increase vulnerability to the hazards and impacts from climate change. This might arise from development projects that require large financial or temporal investments from the local community, which may lead to a decreasing capacity to cope with climatic variations (decreased resilience). For example, if there is large financial investment into a high yield monoculture, but the crop is destroyed then the community is worse off than when they started. Finally, integrating adaptation into development activities lends to a direct reduction in the target community’s vulnerability. This may be done through the education that takes place with that target community/population, through the incorporation of adaptation measures, as well as through the increased awareness of climatic variation on a regional and local scale that can aid in driving future development practices.

As a first step however,it is important to consider whether or not a particular project would benefit from or requirethe integrationof adaptation measures. In order to do this, the project context must be considered; including local livelihoods, resources, and socio economic activities. Essentially, the project needs to be examined holistically in order to determine if there are direct or indirect links with climate change. All climate sensitive projects such as agriculture, pastoralism, water resource management, etc should integrate adaptation. Non-climate-sensitive projects may not need to integrate adaptation,however implementersshould be aware of the impacts climate change may exert in their project population and maximize their contribution to empowering target communities in areas ofadaptation.

To assess whether a project is climate sensitive, the project team should answer the followingquestions:

Does the project take place in a climate-sensitive location?
Are the target groups for the project particularly vulnerable to climate change?
Are the project activities sensitive to climate change?

Women in developing countries are generally considered to be more vulnerable to climate change, due to their roles in society. For example, in Northern Kenya, when there is drought, the men migrate to seek employment in order to earn income. The women remain behind to take care of the children and homes. When drought becomes severe, they cannot easily move to other areas to access markets and resources needed for survival. In this manner, they have decreased capacity to cope with potential negative impacts of climate change. Projects aimed at involving or impacting women therefore, should consider climate change adaptation measures to ensure the vulnerabilities experienced women are not increased unnecessarily.

Projects that are not directly impacted by climate change still need to consider the implications of climate change on their target populations and investments. Consider the example ofan HIV/AIDS project, where the target population orproject area is experiencing extreme weather events. The people who are affected by HIV/AIDS may have compound effectsfrom the floodingor drought due to their already diminished health status and the associated reduced resilience. Within such a project,project activities could aim to help the vulnerable groups adapt through access to, and use of early warning information to prepare accordingly. Other help may come in the form of disaster relief or relocation prior to an expected event.