Round two bursary projects
Reazul Ahsan
Title “Climate Change” changes the urban land-use and housing economy and the urban planning system: A study on Bangladesh.
Affiliation School of Natural and Built Environment, University of South Australia
Supervisor Associate Professor Jon Kellet
Summary
Climate change and a rising sea level pose major threats to the people of Bangladesh. 15 million people will become environmental refugees and 12.5% of the agricultural land will be lost if a sea levels rise as expected. In addition, river overflows such as flash floods will affect around 60% of the population. These changes will likely force the poor and marginal poor from coastal areas into urban centers, which in turn will increase urban poverty and demand for housing, fundamentally affecting patterns of urban land use.
This research investigates the impact of a changing climate on migration within Bangladesh as well as to other countries. It investigates how these migrants become part of the urban system, and their potential to enhance rapid urbanization processes that affect the urban planning system on physical, social and economic levels. By focusing on how climate change will influence planning systems on those levels this research aims to identify which alternative planning approaches are needed to meet the challenges of the future.
Arun Kumar Das
Title Climate change and adaptive social protection: Synergies for poverty reduction.
Affiliation Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA), Sambalpur
Supervisor Ranjan Kumar Mallick, NR International
Summary
Adapting to climate change impacts is a crucial to eradicating poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Likewise, evidence suggests that social protection can effectively contribute to poverty reduction and strengthen people’s livelihoods. As two approaches to promoting resilience and minimizing the risks felt by vulnerable people, social protection and climate change adaptation have much in common; however, they remain somewhat disparate fields of research, policy and practice. Social protection initiatives are unlikely to succeed in reducing poverty if they do not consider both the short and long-term shocks and stresses associated with climate change.
This research explores the linkages between climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and social protection in the agricultural sector in order to develop appropriate strategies for ‘adaptive social protection’. It will examine opportunities and approaches to social protection with the overall aim of developing climate resilient social protection programmes in the agricultural sector.
Asmita Jayendra
Title Gendered chronic poverty and climate change adaptation in the Western Ghats, India: Asset development through a convergence approach.
Affiliation Institute of Development Studies
Supervisor Dr Martin Greeley, Fellow, Institute of Development Studies
Summary
Women who head their households in the chronically poor Konkan region of Western Ghats in India have no ownership or control over productive resources such as land. Commonly, their only asset is their own labor and they are primarily engaged in agricultural wage labor, a sector highly vulnerable to climatic change and extreme weather events. Furthermore, they depend on access to forests and common property resources in order to subsist. The lack of assets, especially productive assets, and their dependence upon natural resources exacerbates their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and that of the families and households they support.
This research focuses on assessing the vulnerability of the livelihoods of these women. It will draw upon the theoretical frameworks of feminist political ecology, transformative social protection and sustainable rural livelihoods. It will improve understanding of the relationships of power that mediate asset creation for chronically poor women in the Konkan region and thereby determine their climate change adaptation strategies.
Issack Ernest Kitururu
Title Policy and institutional arrangements necessary for providing operational agrometeorological services and information: A case of Same District, Kilimanjaro - Tanzania.
Affiliation Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
Supervisor E. E. Chingonikaya, Development Studies Institute, Sokoine University of Agriculture
Duration October 2009 - July 2010
Summary
The agriculture sector is highly sensitive to climate change and variability. The dissemination of accurate and appropriate agrometeorological information is thus imperative for smallholder farmers to counterbalance the risks that they face (e.g. the loss of planted seeds due to severe weather), to ease shocks (e.g. the incidence of droughts, heavy rains and strong winds that can destroy plantations), and to prepare contingencies (e.g. ensure household food security in advance of climatic events). In most developing countries smallholder farmers seldom benefit from advisory services and accurate and appropriate information products from the agrometeorology sector.
This research identifies institutional and political approaches to collecting and disseminating agrometeorological information that can provide advisory services, timely weather and climate forecasts, and will allow smallholder farmers to implement responsive measures. The project will review the efficacy of current policies and institutional arrangements in Tanzania and make recommendations to improve upon the delivery of agrometeorological information and services to smallholder farmers.
Debora Ley
Title Governance of community-scale renewable energy systems for climate change adaptation.
Affiliation Oxford University
Supervisor Professor Dianna Liverman, Director –Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University Centre for the Environment
Duration August 2009 - November 2009
Summary
Decentralized renewable energy systems can play a vital role in enhancing the capacity of vulnerable populations to adapt to extreme weather events. They can provide an electrical supply to be used in preparing for and recovering from disasters, diversifying income and livelihood opportunities and in doing so help to reduce dependencies on fragile natural resources. For instance, decentralized renewable energy systems can be used to power early warning or telecommunications systems, health clinics, potable water systems, irrigation for drought vulnerable crops as well as electricity for other income-generation activities.
This research assesses the criteria under which renewable energy projects can simultaneously meet the objectives of sustainable development, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. It will assess the relative roles of local historical contexts and physical characteristics, type of community governance, funding sources and project implementation process in the success of projects in meeting adaptation, mitigation and development goals.
Tanvi Patel
Title Scope of public-private partnerships for incorporating disaster risk reduction measures and climate change adaptation in national policy development processes: A case for India.
Affiliation Centre for Integrated Development, Gujarat, India
Supervisor Rushabh Hemani, Project Officer, Child Environment Programme, UNICEF
Duration October 2009 - September 2010
Summary
India has taken steps towards incorporating disaster risk reduction measures in national development schemes. It has also committed to combating climate change through a national plan that aims to protect the poor through inclusive sustainable development. The Indian government has pressed for the inclusion of civil society and public/private partnerships in these processes. However, at present there are no frameworks or operational measures in place to enable the inclusion of public/private partnerships in these national plans or development schemes.
This research will assess the scope for public/private partnerships in national development schemes and national action plans on climate change and disaster risk reduction measures. Specifically, in terms of the potential prospects and operational constraints in India. In doing so, it will identify possible frameworks that could be effectively used in order to include public/private partnerships in Indian development processes.
Charles Songok
Title Improving the participation of agro-pastoralist communities in climate change adaptation and disaster reduction policy processes in Keiyo district, Kenya.
Affiliation Koroitiet Community Initiative, Kenya
Supervisor Dr. E.C. Kipkorir, Senior Lecturer, Department of Environmental Planning and Management
Duration September 2009 - August 2010
Summary
In Kenya, agro-pastoralist communities reside in arid and semi arid lands. Their livelihoods depend on fragile ecosystems susceptible to droughts, erratic rainfall and natural resource degradation. However, frameworks used to formulate policies and make decisions pertaining to the management of these lands and natural resources are often fragmented and exclude the participation of vulnerable communities. Moreover, central and local government institutions are neither responsive nor accountable to the vulnerable groups that depend upon these lands for their livelihoods and wellbeing.
This research will assess the influence of community participation in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction policy processes. The results of this study will help to inform policy-makers about the need to pursue the participation of vulnerable communities, as a good management principle that ensures citizens can hold governments accountable for decisions made at the national level. This research hopes to help identify community-oriented alternatives and effective options for enhancing climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction policies.
Alexis Flores Williams
Title Citizen engagement in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction as a response to severe natural disasters and lack of government participation - Case study of Balfate micro-basin, Honduras.
Affiliation Trocaire, Honduras Supervisor Sally O’ Neill, Regional Director, Trocaire, Honduras
Duration December 2009 - July 2010
Summary
Balfate micro-basin is located within a rural area in which families live in poverty or extreme poverty. These communities are vulnerable to severe natural disasters especially in light of our growing understanding of the impacts of climate change. The lack of government recognition and responsiveness to climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the community of Balfagate has forced citizens to engage in the planning and management of their local environment for this purpose.
This research will evaluate community participation alongside local government responses and will identify opportunities for, and barriers to, citizen engagement. Specifically it will evaluate the role of community participation when supported by grass-roots organizations in engaging and influencing local government policy in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction. The research will then assess whether smaller, localized initiatives adequately support climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction in an environmentally dependant and highly vulnerable area.
