MainDB: Community Based Forestry and Livelihoods in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation

Title: Community Based Forestry and Livelihoods in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation
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NWPTypeOfOrganization: Regional center/network/initiative
NWPGeographicRegion: Asia
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Good practices and lessons learned: The consequences of climate change have caused an increase in extreme climatic events such as floods drought, erratic rainfall, and cyclone among others. These have further negative implications on water availability, agricultural production, and food security in the context of project research sites. The agrarian households that depended on the agriculture sector for their livelihoods are vulnerable to the impact of climate change. To adapt to extreme events, communities adopted measures to manage resources, harness opportunity from technology, and practices traditional and indigenous knowledge. The role of government and external agencies has been found to be vital for empowering local people and strengthening local institutions in process of adapting to climate change.
 
A few key findings and outcomes from some of the individual case studies are highlighted below:
 
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, the study revealed that the increasing trend of climate change particularly temperature and erratic rainfall patterns, and anthropogenic activities (like deforestation) could be the reasons for decreasing the natural resources, particularly forests. The community people have taken some adaptation measures like changing the planting time, using new technologies, etc. However, the community strongly opined that the concerned authorities should take appropriate measures like construction of water reservoirs, afforestation through community approach/partnership, development of pest and disease resistant variety, etc. These might have positive benefits to combat the impacts of climate change to a considerable extent and creating their better livelihood opportunities.
 
Nepal 
In Nepal, rural communities are highly dependent on forest products for their livelihood. The effect of climate change can be seen in the form of less forest product availability for harvesting. Institutions play a vital role in climate change adaptation and enhance the capacity of local people to cope with the extremes. The success of all the adaptation practices depends on the arrangement of institutions and performance. Even the government also recognized the role of local communities in designing and implementing an ecosystem-based adaptation approach.
 
Thailand
In Thailand, it has been realized that the climate is changing and this has had an impact on the cropping system, water availability, and traditional harvesting pattern from the forest. Direct impacts from changing climate on crop yield and natural resources are still not noticed well but reported that such impacts are difficult to distinguish from effects due to deforestation and land-use change. Local wisdom and traditional knowledge could be useful to help to respond to environmental changes. However, this has been lost by the introduction of modern technology in some cases. Local research to compile and conserve traditional wisdom is critical for the community and province to strengthen their capacity to adapt and respond to future environmental impacts, including climate change.
 
Vietnam
In Vietnam, in order to adapt to climate change, local people have been changing their agriculture activities, number of livestock rearing, cultivation techniques, crop composition, vaccination, pest and disease prevention measurement and apply new techniques. Most of the adaptation activities of local people toward climate change are from their own experiences or learning from their individual practices. There were no any programmes from the government/local authorities to help local people to adapt to climate change. The focus of the government in the coastal area where the impacts of the climate changes are much more serious.
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Date of submission: 06/04/2016
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Adaptation element: Adaptation planning and practices; Communication and outreach/awareness; Education and training; Institutional arrangements; Socio-economic data and information
Adaptation sector/theme: Agriculture; Food security; Biodiversity; Ecosystem-based adaptation
Climate hazard: Drought; Land and forest degradation; Loss of biodiversity
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NWPDataSource: Local, indigenous and traditional knowledge
Description: This project was undertaken in the rural agrarian villages dependent on the forest resources of Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, and Viet Nam, with a view to understanding and documenting the trend of climate change as well as the adaptation measures to cope with the adverse situations that might arise in the near future. The study was accomplished through an intensive survey of households in each country and analyses of long-term (nearly 30 years) meteorological databases.
 
The results exhibited that resources, particularly natural resources and agriculture has been either reduced or experienced pattern changes. Increasing trends of climate change along with anthropogenic activities are the main reasons for the decreasing natural resources and livelihood options of the communities. The results of the analysis of the long-term climatic database particularly the changing trend of temperature and rainfall has been strongly supported by perceptions/opinions of the community people.
 
In the face of challenges of climate change and livelihoods, communities have strongly suggested undertaking some new adaptation measures such as the construction of water reservoirs, strengthening aforestation programmes through community approaches, development of strong institutional mechanisms, the introduction of pest- and disease-resistant varieties, supply of high-quality planting materials, etc., for conservation of resources and their better livelihoods, which need strong public and private support.
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Further information: For further information see: "Community Based Forestry and Livelihoods in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation,” APN E-Lib: http://www.apn-gcr.org/resources/items/show/1585 which provides more detailed information on the outputs of the project.
For the final report go to: https://www.apn-gcr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/739eb6475f3e968e78217a6975131598.pdf
NWPGeographicScope: National
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NWPInformationType: Case study
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Target group: Communities; Policy makers; Practitioners
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Documented traditional knowledge of rural people in relation to climate change adaptation, which will contribute to policy development based on the context of individual project partner countries.
A training manual on climate change and adaptation (in Nepali) has been published for the climate change trainer to help them train rural villagers, community forest users, farmers, teachers, and students.
A special edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Forestry and Livelihood on climate change adaption has been published including four papers from current APN research and other four papers from different scientists (SEE https://forestaction.org).
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NWPReferences: Paudel, N. S., Khatri, D. B., Ojha, H., Karki, R., & Gurung, N. (2013). Integrating Climate Change Adaptation with Local Development: Exploring Institutional Options. Journal of Forest and Livelihood, 11(1), 1–13. Retrieved from: https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JFL/article/view/8606
Implementing partners: ForestAction Nepal
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Created at 13/05/2016 12:08 by Roberto Felix
Last modified at 16/05/2022 18:29 by Nicholas Hamp-Adams
 
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