Abstract:In 2011 the North Bank Region of The Gambia experienced its most severe drought in 20 years. This article looks at how this drought affected households in the region, the coping measures they adopted, and residual loss and damage. In this study, 'loss and damage' is defined as adverse effects of climatic stressors that people have not been able to avoid through coping and adaptation (from Warner et al., 2012). Data were collected through a questionnaire survey (N = 373), 60 focus group discussions and six expert interviews. Almost all respondents reported that the 2011 drought had affected their household, particularly through crop failure, livestock losses and high food prices. Most households tried to cope by seeking non-farm income or selling livestock to buy food. Others relied on food aid or social networks. However, for almost two thirds of the households, these measures were not sufficient or had adverse effects.
Global Climate Change is one of the dire challenges facing the international community today. Coastal zones are vulnerable to its impacts. An effective approach with long-term prospects in addressing climate change impacts is it's mainstreaming into development agenda of sectoral policies. A comprehensive risk and vulnerability assessment is a pre-requisite to ensure that the right adaptive response is taken for effective integration into developmental plans. The objective of this study is to evaluate and prioritize risks, vulnerability and adaptation issues of current and anticipated impacts of climate change on the coastal zone of The Gambia. The study will also give a methodological contribution for assessing risks, vulnerability and adaptation from the sub-national to local levels. The relevance of this study will be to create a link between the sub-national and local levels in order to facilitate the integration and mainstreaming of climate change into sectoral and local policies for more climate-resilient communities. This will aid in the promotion of strategic investment of constrained developmental resources to actualize successfully dynamic coping strategies, elude 'maladaptation' and less compelling responsive measures. A purposive expert sampling technique was used in selecting respondents for the study. The findings of the study reveal that by the end of the 21st century, the climatic variables likely to have the highest impact on the coastal zone of The Gambia are 'increased flood severity' and 'increased temperature'. The coastal zone of The Gambia showed a high vulnerability to these climate change variables. The suggested adaptive response in addressing the impacts of increased flood intensity in the study area includes; improving regulations for restricting agriculture and livestock grazing activities to improve land cover; strengthening of early-warning systems, among others. The suggested adaptive response in addressing the increase in temperature includes: increase crop diversification and rotation to reduce total crop failure; switching to drought-tolerant crop and animal species, among others.
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