Growing the knowledge base to support community-based adaptation

Friday, 05 March 2010 17:55

A team guide facilitates bilingual exchange between conference participants and the local community during a field trip.

SEI contributes to conference on community-based adaptation addressing issues of knowledge networks and transfer, the economics of climate adaptation in Kenya, and methodological approaches to community-based adaptation.

The 4th International Community Based Adaptation (CBA) conference was recently held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It drew a diverse, dynamic and passionate group of people, over 170 in total, and provided a platform for many to share their knowledge and experiences pertaining to CBA.

Basra Ali presented SEI's work on climate adaptation in Kenya.

SEI researchers Basra Ali and Anna Taylor presented work on knowledge networks and the economics of climate adaptation in Kenya as well as an ongoing collaboration with Oxfam GB to foster knowledge transfer. Anna Taylor also chaired a session on CBA methodologies.

Using weADAPT to share knowledge and experiences
During the conference lots of examples of early CBA efforts taking place in a variety of contexts were presented. The Google Earth function in weADAPT will increasingly be used to showcase and share these more widely (supported through a partnership between IIED and SEI).

The first set of CBA placemarks were shown at the event and generated much interest as people could immediately see the power and usefulness of visualising information in this way.

Much to be learned from other fields
A sense shared by many at the event was that of CBA as a fledgeling field - with new energy, lots to learn from other related fields (such as disaster risk reduction, community development, natural resource management, etc.), and still some lack of clarity on the 'boundaries' and characteristics of CBA.

This motivated the establishment of a large number of working groups to tackle various questions, challenges and opportunities posed.

One group is working to gain more clarity on the key terms and concepts being used by people working on CBA and address fundamental FAQs about CBA. This will be developed into an article for submission to Tiempo, and a longer, more academic article to be submitted to the Climate and Development Journal. The idea being that this can then serve as a resource for people to refer to as needed.

Another working group formed around the topic of monitoring, evaluation and learning (M, E & L) in CBA. A new weADAPT blog will provide space to continue engagements around this topic, document and share our progress, and invite others to join in!


SEI researcher Anna Taylor (right) speaks during one of the conference working groups.

For more information on CBA and the 4th International CBA conference, go to the following resources:

Workshop report

Workshop daily highlights

PLA Notes on CBA