Innovative development planning for adaptation to climate change
Project description
Title: Innovative development planning for adaptation to climate change in Mali
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)
Country: Mali
Lead executing agency: Ministry for Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development
Overall term: 2011 to 2019
Context
Like other countries in the Sahel, Mali is suffering from the impacts of global climate change. According to forecasts, rainfall will fluctuate even more in future and the frequency of extreme events such as droughts or heavy rainfall will increase, as temperatures continue to rise. The impacts of climate change are particularly felt by the poorest population groups, for whom natural resources form the basis of their livelihoods.
A detailed policy framework is in place for adapting to climate change, but there has so far been little progress in terms of its implementation. Local people are aware of the impacts of climate change but cannot access climate data or information on potential adaptation measures that would enable them to take better-informed decisions given the actual circumstances.
Regions, districts and municipalities are responsible for their own development planning. However, the technical services at the ministries responsible for these local authorities do not have sufficient resources or the expertise needed to advise them.
Objective
The issue of climate change adaptation is integrated into development planning processes. Practical measures reduce the population’s vulnerability to climate risks.
Approach
The project cooperates with ministries, institutions and municipalities. It supports the planning and implementation of measures by creating a more conducive national framework.
For instance, the national guidelines on preparing decentralised development plans are being revised and provided with additional tools so as to incorporate climate change adaptation.
An important task of the project is to support decentralised local authorities in the planning, implementation and monitoring of adaptation measures. Documenting lessons learned on the ground in the project and publishing these for a national and international audience contributes to the widespread dissemination of the innovative approaches used.
Results
Since June 2016, more than 3,000 Malians have benefited from awareness-raising measures and training on issues such as climate change, its impacts in Mali and the integration of climate change adaptation into local development planning.
Climate change adaptation has been integrated into the development plans of the twenty municipalities most affected by climate change and implementation of the most important measures has been supported. The same applies in seven districts in the regions of Kayes, Koulikoro and Ségou.
Moving well beyond the municipalities affected, these measures have also encouraged neighbouring communities to implement similar measures. These municipalities have a total population of about 1.5 million, while 3,500 people were directly involved in the project. The project has supported the integration of climate change adaptation by means of new guidelines on the preparation of local development plans. This is written and structured in a way that is easy to understand so that even less well educated decision-makers find it easy to understand and apply. The project also established meteorological-agricultural platforms in six districts. Apart from providing information to the inhabitants, these also provide Mali's meteorological service with weather data from these regions.
All ministries involved in the implementation of Mali’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs) have taken part in five dialogue events. The participation of these actors has helped to institutionalise Malian climate policy.