Building Response Capacity

The installation of photovolaic solar energy systems in three Senegalese villages led to an increase in local productivity by encouraging people to stay in the villages instead of leaving in search of economic opportunity. Many socio-economic benefits associated with electricity provision were observed, such as improved health services, enhanced livelihood, and educational and cultural opportunities.

An project providing technical advice, organization training, and financial help to farmers can be seen as case of “serendipitous” adaptation. Under the tutelage of ENDA-SYSPRO, farmers set up co-ops dedicated to agro-forestry. Benefits include reduced soil erosion, reduced need for irrigation, improved soil fertility, increased income opportunities (through agriculture), and improved food security (through crops).

The village of Vailoa Palauli depends on coastal springs for drinking water. During floods, this water is made dirty and undrinkable, and during droughts, the water source dries up. The residents have no alternative water source.The aim of this project is to help villagers manage water in such a way that they have access to this resource regardless of climatic variation.

The village of Lepa depends on coastal springs for drinking water. During floods, this water is made dirty and undrinkable, and the residents have no water source. The aim of this project, led by Lepa - Komiti Tumama, is to help villagers store water during non-flood periods to provide a source of clean drinking water during floods.

This project is an effort by the residents of Matafa’a village to conserve the local mangrove ecosystem in response to fears that the growing population of the village will encroach upon the mangrove. The village wishes to protect the mangrove because of its ecological value and its role in protecting the community from strong storm surges.

Samoa: Mangrove Restoration in Vaiusu Bay

The overall goal of the Vaiusu Bay Restoriation Project is the replanting of the mangrove area along the whole of Vaiusu Bay, as part of a large restoration project, which is intended to cover the neighboring villages of Vaigaga.

Philippines: El Niño Emergency Project

In 1998 counterparts of Oxfam Novib set up a joint relief program in response to El Niño. The results include different water management systems in villages on mountain slopes, credit extension and technical support to livelihood projects, rice rations for victim-families living in remote areas. A new relief and rehabilitation project will continue these activities, but will focus not only on natural disasters, but also include the effects of manmade disasters. Relief activities include provision of food and medicines.

Philippines: Friends of the Reef

The impact of climate change and El Niño is increasingly causing coral reefs to bleach. WWF’s Friends of the Reef project is an effort to protect Asia Pacific’s coral reef ecosystems, which are the source of new coral recruits for reefs throughout the region and a source of livelihood for coastal people, especially in the fishery and tourism sectors. Friends of the Reef engages local stakeholders and decision makers in developing, testing, and implementing plans to increase coral reef resilience to major threats in the region, including climate change.

Upland farmers and their families, who number about 20 million, comprise the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. Their livelihoods depend on cultivating marginal hilly land areas which are very vulnerable to climate related risks. This overall goal of this multi-organization project is to promote climate change adaptation by upland farmers in watersheds at the national level in the Philippines.

The World Bank began a project in 1983 that involved installing 15,000 of low-cost shallow tube well technology combined with small engine-driven water pumps, a new technology that soon acquired the name “fadama irrigation”.