Resilience and Adaptation – Lessons from StARCK+

Transformational Adaptation Radically changing or replacing systems or practices that are existentially threatened by climate change with alternatives that are viable under new climatic conditions. Adaptation interventions must include measures to address specific identifiable climate hazard

Activities across StARCK+ - a typology Enabling environments “Good development” Addressing climate risks Capacity building Training Awareness raising Financing Coordination Skills & resources Policy, governance Advocacy Participation Planning Policies Institutional reform Policy environments Productive livelihoods Access to markets Farm inputs More product-ive livelihoods Diversification (general) Productivity Conservation, rehabilitation Tree planting Soil & water conservation Rangeland management Sustainability Targeting climate variability Water harvesting Forecasts Insurance Mobility Resilience Targeting climate change Short-cycle crops Crop / system transitions Adaptation (incremental & transformational) Many resilience and adaptation interventions focus on general measures to improves people ability to cope with Climate Variability often without any explicit consideration of climate change. May help build the foundation for adaptation but may not be sufficient and the extent to which they deliver real adaptation remains uncertain. Tangible adaptation benefits more likely through measures targeted at specific hazards and impacts. Indirect, ‘downstream’ Direct Nature of resilience/adaptation benefits/impacts

Transformational adaptation on the ground Likely or potential transformational adaptation on the ground Cotton ➞ silk (Makueni, REACT/Tosheka) Maize ➞ cassava, sorghum (Western Kenya, FICCF-CSA) Cattle ➞ camels, goats (Act!, REACT/Takaful) Low-diversity ➞ high-diversity systems with suite of CSA practices (Act!/SUPPA) Adoption of new crops & livestock that are more resilient to climate (change) hazards Raising caterpillars for silk production based on drought tolerant castor plant Diversification like bee keeping , poultry and exploitation of drought tolerant plants may be considered transformational if scale is large enough to significantly replace previous activity whose productivity is declining due to climate change

Transformational change for resilience & adaptation County CC Funds (CCCFs) in devolution context Devolved climate change budgets Participatory prioritisation of climate change actions Local ownership of resilience & adaptation measures Successful community management of natural resources (e.g. Isiolo pasture) Predictable, decentralised climate finance + enabling legislative environments & participatory decision-making mechanisms, can have transformational impacts on resilience at local level.

Markets & the private sector Linking producers with purchasers, processors, distributors in new value chains Enabling on-farm processing, value addition, market access CSA work under FICCF links finance with market access, insurance, CIS

Lessons Measures that build resilience to existing/historical CV will often help people adapt to CC but this is not always the case. Only a very small number of initiatives directly target climate change impacts. StARCK+ support in transformational adaptation in the agriculture sector, involving shifts away from increasingly unreliable crops such as maize and cotton, to the production of more climate-resilient crops and livestock. Capacity development, policy influencing, general livelihood strengthening and conservation are important for adaptation and resilience, but by themselves do not automatically deliver resilience and adaptation outcomes. The private sector has a key role to play in channeling climate finance to producers, to enable them to transition to more climate-resilient production systems. Predictable, decentralised climate finance, coupled with enabling legislative environments and participatory decision-making mechanisms, can have transformational impacts on resilience at the local level. Most adaptation is in the form of ancillary benefits from general resilience or livelihood interventions

Conclusion and Recommendations Screen interventions to establish the extent to which they identify and address specific hazards and risks associated with climate variability and change. Improve the focus on identifying and developing climate (change) resilient production systems and value chains in the context of support to the private sector. Promote decentralised climate finance mechanisms based on predictable budgets, and link these with mechanisms for participatory adaptation decision- making. Promote mixed approaches that support the creation of enabling environments through governance mechanisms, the development of climate-resilient value chains by the private sector, and wider capacity development and adaptation actions through conventional project approaches. Some challenges best addressed at cross-county/ regional/ecosystem level