LAKI in Southern Africa

As part of the implementation of the Lima Adaptation Knowledge Initiative (LAKI) for Southern Africa subregion, SouthSouthNorth, a NWP partner organization, collaborated with UNEP and UNFCCC secretariat in organizing the priority-setting workshop held on 16-18 November 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Please click here to access the full workshop report.

Using four criteria for prioritizing knowledge gaps - sustainability, scale of positive impact on closing the gap, urgency and cross-disciplinary nature of gap - ten expert participants (multidisciplinary stakeholder group or MSG in short) discussed and agreed to the pool of 16 priority adaptation knowledge gaps for the Southern Africa subregion through a multi-criteria analysis approach.

The MSG also provided a preliminary identification of potential response actions, in terms of concrete deliverables and target beneficiaries, to address this pool of priority knowledge gaps and also provided pointers as to the best placed organisations to undertake such responses.

B) Priority Adaptation Knowledge Gaps and Actions Undertaken to Close the Priority Knowledge Gaps:

List of priority adaptation knowledge gaps identified for the southern africa subregion:

No.	Thematic area	Gap Description	Cluster	Knowledge User	*Actions Undertaken to Close the Priority Gaps*
1)	Water resources	Lack of knowledge on the vulnerability of and impacts of climate change on river basins and watershed systems	Lack of data [1]	River basin authority, department responsible for River basin authority, department responsible for water resources management
2)	Cross-cutting	Lack of information on available adaptation options for agriculture	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [3]	Farmers and extension officers
3)	Agriculture/ Food security	Lack of knowledge on the sensitivity of agro-ecological zones across the sub-region to historic and future climate change	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [3]	National planners, land managers, small holder farmers
4)	Agriculture/ Food security	Lack of knowledge in implementing appropriate climate risk management strategies for agriculture	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [3]	National committee for disaster management; extension workers
5)	Water Resources	Lack of knowledge on the vulnerability of and impacts of climate change on river basins and watershed systems	Lack of data [1]	National and regional water planners, (River basin authority, department responsible for water resources management)
6)	Agriculture/ Food security	Lack of usable knowledge products on short and long-term meteorological data and seasonal forecasting for agriculture planning	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [3]	Agricultural extension department, extension workers and farmers
7)	Water Resources	Lack of clear information on the relative contribution of natural variability, climate change and other human impacts on trends in the hydrological cycles	Lack of data, Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [Mix]	Water resource planners, climate change department, meteorological department
8)	Agriculture/ Food security	Limited knowledge on technologies available for adaptation in the agricultural sector	Lack of access [2]	Small-scale farmers, extension workers, technology providers, financers, and planners
9)	Health	Lack of knowledge on relationship between climate change and human health including the geographical distribution of human diseases	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [3]	Ministry of Health, public health department
10)	Energy	Insufficient knowledge on the climate change impacts on hydro power generation	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [3]	National level energy planners
11)	Meteorological data/ information	Lack of knowledge on effective integration of climate model results into decision-making	Lack of tools/methods [4]	National level planners
12)	Human Settlements	Lack of knowledge on how to integrate climate science into spatial planning	Lack of tools/methods [4]	City planners, champions and higher education students
13)	Energy	Lack of integrated and sustainable approach to sustainable energy planning for households	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [3]	National energy planners
14)	Water Resources	Inadequate access to long-term meteorological data that limits rainfall-runoff modelling for the rivers and floodplains	Lack of access, lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [Mix]	National water resource planners, researchers
15)	Agriculture/ Food security	Lack of knowledge on the sensitivity of agro-ecological zones across the sub-region to historic and future climate change	Lack of data, lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [Mix]	Ministry of Agriculture, crop production departments, national level extension planners
16)	Forestry and Biodiversity	Lack of policy relevant information on the impacts of climate change on forestry, biodiversity and structure, functions and provisions for ecosystems	Lack of actionable knowledge (e.g., in need of repackaging existing knowledge) [3]	Ministry responsible for forestry and biodiversity