Ensuring climate information guides long-term development

Jones, Lindsey; Dougill, Andrew J.; Jones, Richard G.; Steynor, Anna; Watkiss, Paul; Kane, Cheikh; Koelle, Bettina; Moufouma-Okia, Wilfran; Padgham, Jon; Ranger, Nicola; Roux, Jean-Pierre; Suarez, Pablo; Tanner, Thomas; Vincent, Katharine

doi:10.1038/nclimate2701

Cited by 77 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In all Sahel countries, there is a limited availability of high quality, real-time in situ data because the density of local observation networks is mostly low [17,30], some crucial atmospheric variables are less observed [11], and data collection and transmission are done manually with many outdated equipment. Our other recommendation is that longer term programs, supporting climate information services, should include infrastructural improvement of the hydro-climate observation networks but also the services value chain must include climate field schools and response farming [6,31] to translate the seasonal rainfall variability into farming options that will spur smallholder farming system to build resilience.…”

Section: Discussion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global warming induced hybrid rainy seasons in the Sahel

Salack

Klein

Giannini³

et al. 2016

Environ. Res. Lett.

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The small rainfall recovery observed over the Sahel, concomitant with a regional climate warming, conceals some drought features that exacerbate food security. The new rainfall features include false start and early cessation of rainy seasons, increased frequency of intense daily rainfall, increasing number of hot nights and warm days and a decreasing trend in diurnal temperature range. Here, we explain these mixed dry/wet seasonal rainfall features which are called hybrid rainy seasons by delving into observed data consensus on the reduction in rainfall amount, its spatial coverage, timing and erratic distribution of events, and other atmospheric variables crucial in agro-climatic monitoring and seasonal forecasting. Further composite investigations of seasonal droughts, oceans warming and the regional atmospheric circulation nexus reveal that the low-to-mid-level atmospheric winds pattern, often stationary relative to either strong or neutral El-Niño-Southern-Oscillations drought patterns, associates to basin warmings in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea to trigger hybrid rainy seasons in the Sahel. More challenging to rain-fed farming systems, our results suggest that these new rainfall conditions will most likely be sustained by global warming, reshaping thereby our understanding of food insecurity in this region.

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Section: Discussion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global warming induced hybrid rainy seasons in the Sahel

Salack

Klein

Giannini³

et al. 2016

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Sectoral policy documents were developed before the policy development process was sensitised to climate change vulnerability and impacts, with iterations of sectoral policies not including all of the actions and priority areas reported on through climate change reporting via NAPAs and (I)NDCs. Problems of limited policy coherence are exacerbated as the long-term impacts of climate change are poorly understood at a national level (Jones et al 2015;Vincent et al 2017) and are not explicitly addressed in policy formulation. Chronological analysis combined with keyword analysis indicates that sectoral policies have been used as a valuable basis for developing climate change strategies, policies and actions (Table 3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate impacts are taking place alongside rapid social, economic and demographic transitions that combine to influence development outcomes, including interacting challenges across the nexus of food security (Ford et al 2015), water availability and energy supply (Conway et al 2015). Climate adaptation planning is subject to challenges of the paucity of reliable climate information (Jones et al 2015) and uncertainties about the timing of impacts and their spatial distribution (Davis 2011). As climate change is a cross-cutting issue, adaptation needs to be mainstreamed into sector-based policies (Stringer et al 2014) and across different levels of governance (Urwin and Jordan 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change adaptation and cross-sectoral policy coherence in southern Africa

et al. 2018

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To be effective, climate change adaptation needs to be mainstreamed across multiple sectors and greater policy coherence is essential. Using the cases of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, this paper investigates the extent of coherence in national policies across the water and agriculture sectors and to climate change adaptation goals outlined in national development plans. A two-pronged qualitative approach is applied using Qualitative Document Analysis of relevant policies and plans, combined with expert interviews from non-government actors in each country. Findings show that sector policies have differing degrees of coherence on climate change adaptation, currently being strongest in Zambia and weakest in Tanzania. We also identify that sectoral policies remain more coherent in addressing immediate-term disaster management issues of floods and droughts rather than longer-term strategies for climate adaptation. Coherence between sector and climate policies and strategies is strongest when the latter has been more recently developed. However to date, this has largely been achieved by repackaging of existing sectoral policy statements into climate policies drafted by external consultants to meet international reporting needs and not by the establishment of new connections between national sectoral planning processes. For more effective mainstreaming of climate change adaptation, governments need to actively embrace longer-term cross-sectoral planning through cross-Ministerial structures, such as initiated through Zambia's Interim Climate Change Secretariat, to foster greater policy coherence and integrated adaptation planning.

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“…The variability in rainfall intensity and frequency has been observed globally during the past century (twentieth century), with Africa being the most affected. There are ever growing concerns that this change in weather variability will further threaten the welfare and food security of already highly vulnerable rural households in developing nations and pose a serious challenge to development efforts (Jones et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of tillage practices, management of soil surface and fertilizer application on sustainable dryland agriculture: A case study of Eastern Rwanda

Kabirigi¹,

Ngetich²,

Mwetu³

et al. 2017

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

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Conservation agriculture (CA) is becoming popular in sub-Saharan Africa as potential solution to soil degradation. However, most findings are based on large scale, mechanized agricultural production systems which are not easy to apply within the smallholder farmer's context. This study assessed the implications of tillage practices, management of soil surface and fertilizer application on sustainable dryland agriculture of Eastern Rwanda. The experimental design was Split Plot with 4 replications. The main plots were conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) and sub-plots were: Control, sole residues application (RR); residues application with inorganic fertilizers (RR+IF) and inorganic fertilizers (IF) applied alone. Inorganic fertilizers application increased bean grain and biomass yield by 103%. In no tillage inorganic fertilizers had higher maize grain and biomass yields whereas residues application had 68% higher maize grain and biomass yield in conventional tillage. The significant increase in organic carbon was observed in residues applied with inorganic fertilizers. There was a significant N decrease in all treatments however control and residues had the highest N pool compared to other treatments. Sole residues application and residues applied with inorganic fertilizers treatment increased significantly Available P. The use of inorganic fertilizers in conservation agriculture systems should be promoted as the engine toward successful of CA practices for Bugesera district conditions. These results provide a basis for conducting trade-off analyses to support the development of CA crop management and international development strategies based on available scientific evidence.

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Ensuring climate information guides long-term development

Cited by 77 publications

References 12 publications

Global warming induced hybrid rainy seasons in the Sahel

Global warming induced hybrid rainy seasons in the Sahel

Climate change adaptation and cross-sectoral policy coherence in southern Africa

Implications of tillage practices, management of soil surface and fertilizer application on sustainable dryland agriculture: A case study of Eastern Rwanda

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