Climate Change Adaptation in Mozambique

I ended my last blog post by saying that in adaptation to climate change the context should always be considered and the vulnerabilities of the populations and the specific region should be understood. In this blog post, I will highlight a couple cases, in which the context, the local climate, and communities are shown to be important in adaptation. Whether climate change adaptation is a success has to do a lot with the perception of local communities and the sensitivity of institutions instead of just the right technologies and funding. Everyday practices are often institutional, social and cultural patterns that should be considered in adaptation policies (Artur & Hilhorst, 2007). 

To maintain livelihoods in a lot of places, adaptation is crucial to increase resilience. People in Africa often depend on agriculture, water, forests, and other sectors sensitive to climate change. Especially for them, it is important to think about adaptation measures. This is according to The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They focus on coastal management to make the marine and coastal ecosystems and local communities more resilient for climate change. Besides, sustainable agriculture is stimulated together with eco-responsible water resources use. This Video from Green TV  is about adaptation projects in Mozambique. The projects are collaborations projects between the national governments, local NGOs, local communities, IUCN staff members and is funded by CCDP (Climate Change and Development project, funded by the government of Finland). Governance, local farmers, governments, civil society and the private sector working together are important in IUCN programs. 

Adaptation in Mozambique 

Mozambique is a downstream and coastal country with climate change affecting the whole sector of economic development in the country. Natural hazards have been part of the country’s history-shaping poverty and vulnerability. Over the last decades, the frequency and intensity of natural hazards have increased, with especially flooding becoming an increasingly big problem. Since natural hazards are part of history, responses to disasters are also part of the culture, history and organizational environments (Artur & Hilhorst, 2007). 

Two cases of climate change adaptation in Mozambique

Most of the population live in the coastal areas. Tropical cyclones together with sea-level rising causes land loss for agriculture for the local communities. Besides, floodings have affected the local communities near the sea or the river more and more as well, affecting both human life and infrastructure.  More inland, the country also deals with droughts. Cantina is an inland village located in the Gaza Province. The village is very dry and experiences, due to climate change, long droughts, putting more pressure on the local community. The community relies on a big part in the surrounding forests for both food, health and, income. To think of good adaptation strategies, the local community was involved. Using their local memory to think about weather patterns, going back in time, helped to find confirmation of rapid climate change in recent decades. All parties involved then worked together in thinking of ideas to make the community less vulnerable to climate change impacts. Droughts and high temperatures are, in this area, the biggest climate hazard. However, the area has always been dry and therefore they started with looking at ways the community already adapted to such circumstances. Thereafter, they tried to identify other possible coping mechanisms. Involving the local community in these kind of visioning exercises helped coming up with making adaptation plans and create awareness in the need to think about these adaptations measures.

Solutions: because water scarcity was a clear problem, the CCDP contributed a solar panel to power a borehole pump. Besides, a community center was built for processing non-timber forest products with also a system to harvest rainwater. On top of this, agriculture is due to the dryness also hardly possible in Cantina. The community is, hence, dependent on the surrounding forests for food, medicine, and fuel. Improving the sustainability of harvesting non-timber forest products and conserving the forest to ensure food security in periods of droughts is important to make the community able to adapt. Especially for two important fruits, the community is heavily dependent on, coming up with processes to be able to can keep the fruits for much longer during times they need it.

On the river mouth of the Limpopo River in Mozambique, the communities experience other climate change problems. Coastal degradation caused by excessive and irregular flooding has led to the destruction of vast swathes of mangrove forests. These forests are important to maintain the coastline and protect the communities living near the coastline. These destroyed forests are now tried to be restored by replacing degraded forests with seedlings from the other side of the river where the original mangroves are still intact. With help from the IUCN and local NGO’s, the communities deforest the area.

These projects show that collaboration and representation of everyone involved is important in adaptation measures. Responses are also, according to this research, complicated because of the many parties involved and historical and contemporary processes that also play a role, besides the climate disasters (Artur & Hilhorst, 2007).