News Update

2nd International Workshop on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change

PHOTO: One participant of the workshop is showing the flood and erosion affected area in the Ghaibanda District, Northwest Bangladesh. Floods have shown an increasing intensity and frequency in the last five decades, which had caused large soil erosion and the lost of the people’s home-land for living (HS)

Dhaka - Bangladesh, 24-28 February 2007

It is well-known that climate change causes significant impacts to the environment and can adversely affect the communities, especially the poor. Community Based Adaptation practices in developing countries aim at increasing the resilience of local communities who are directly affected by the climate change.

The 2nd international workshop on Community Based Adaptation (CBA) to climate change was conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh from the 24th to the 28th of February 2007. More than 100 participants from all continents representing policymakers, NGOs, research and policy institutes, academics and development practitioners attended this workshop, which was organized by Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies (BCAS), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and The RING alliance of policy research organizations.

The main aim and objectives of this workshop was to share the latest developments in adaptation programs, priorities and solutions. Specifically, the workshop tried: to bring different stakeholders and practitioners together to capture the latest learning on a wide variety of issues concerning Community Based Adaptation (CBA) practices in the developing world; to integrate these lessons into national and international development programs, and; to compile the papers and the findings of group discussion for further dissemination worldwide.

The workshop consisted of two days field visit to community-based adaptation project sites that were located sparsely in several regions of Bangladesh, and three days of interactive discussions on various adaptation issues in Radisson Hotel, Dhaka.

Ghaibanda District

Heru Santoso of TroFCCA SE-Asia had an opportunity to visit Gidari and Kamarjani, the areas which were badly affected by flood and soil erosion in the Ghaibanda District, Northwest Bangladesh. The communities living in these areas are mostly poor. Practical resilience buildings were conducted and the communities were eager to help themselves, but there were limitations. In particular, the link between the activities and the adaptation to climate change was not very clear and the actions were likely on coping with the current climate related problems. However, the field visit participants convinced that one way to build their resilience to cop with the climate change is through increasing the economic resilience of the poor. One main concern was in keeping track of property rights of the people especially the poor in relation to heavy land erosion, which could cause long term consequence to the community.

PHOTO: A government project to protect soil from being eroded. The river is dry during the dry season, and flooded during the rainy season.

The presentations and discussions were structured into two main themes. The first theme was on climate change science and adaptation. The experiences on several sectors and needs of adaptation were discussed under this main theme. The workshop learned the need to synthesize and generalize information, and to develop models of adaptation. The second main theme was on mainstreaming and partnerships, discussing tools and methods, communication and knowledge. Heru gave a presentation under this main theme, of which he tried to address the need to link different perspectives on adaptation for mainstreaming into the development agenda, specifically government versus community perspectives. At the end of the workshop, participants agreed on the formation of a community-based adaptation network.

Results of the workshop were expected to stimulate further the work of research and NGO’s in enhancing the adaptive capacity of vulnerable groups in developing countries by improving their livelihoods; to increase the knowledge of key players in the development field on adaptation to climate change; to further influence policy and practice; and to build better networks around climate change and adaptation.

Heru’s presentation can be seen here. More information about the workshop can be found at http://www.bcas.net/2nd-cba/index.html