Altering the Climate of Poverty under Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa : Setting Priorities and Strategies for Adaptation with the Forests to Climate Change

to contribute to national processes of adaptation to climate change through the development of policy-oriented adaptation strategies that also ensure sustainable use of forest resources in the Congo Basin Forests. Expected impacts: to contribute to national processes of adaptation and the development of strategies that ensure sustainable use of forest resources in the Congo Basin. vulnerability of livelihood linked to these prioritised sectors, for planning adaptation strategies to climate change and climate variability. The project consists of three phases which will be implemented in a period of three years. Phase 1 includes the identification of development issues, the development of the conceptual scientific framework and the development of specific methodologies. Phase 2 consists of the application of methodologies and the development of vulnerability maps. Finally, phase 3 will concentrate on adaptation, elaborating on discussions during the policy dialogue and on the basis of a sectorial policy analysis and the assessment of vulnerability. The proposed project acknowledges that adaptation should be addressed in the context of sustainable development and related policies. For this reason, the project will have as a starting point the development priorities and policies in each of the participating countries, in particular, those in which forest ecosystems play a role either as adaptation options (e.g. how forests can contribute to decreasing vulnerability of a specific topic(s)/area(s)) or as components of the vulnerability (e.g. how impacts over forests can undermine development efforts in a specific topic(s)/area(s)). An initial exercise within participating countries has specified that the project works on bioenergy, water, food secutiry and medicinal non-forest timber products. A methodological framework has been established to guide the development of specific methodologies. The framework describes 11 steps to be undertaken and the tools to be used in order to assess vulnerability to climate change deriving from impacts over forests. The framework requires methodologies to link vulnerability-related variables across different levels (policy, landscape, ecosystem and species levels), so that a streamlined assessment of vulnerability can take place. The application of the methodology will answer the following questions Which forest systems need to be managed in what way to reduce vulnerability in a specific are/topic? What policy options are there to adapt? How could adaptation be incorporated in national policies? Which would be the role of different actors, in particular, for the national government and the private sector? What message can be sent to the international community, in particular, relating to vulnerability of biodiversity and feedbacks of climate change into carbon storage and sequestration.