The 14th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change

21-25 September 2020. The 14th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change

CBA14 gathered together more than 500 people from over 70 countries for an innovative online event that delivered learning, networking and creative dialogue. This page brings you some highlights from the five-day event.

CBA14 presented eight short films about local climate adaptation projects and invited participants to vote for their favourite. We announced the winner at the closing plenary.

Short videos can be an effective way to illustrate the nuances of complex issues, personal experiences of climate change or valuable lessons emerging from a project. The eight videos featured projects in Eastern Kenya, India, Honduras, Kenya, South-Africa, Uganda and Nepal, and focused on topics such as nature-based solutions, climate finance and adaptation technology.

The winning video portrayed Women’s Climate Centers International (WCCI), a project that links women from Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and the United States to create women-led one-stop climate centres in Africa. Read more about the project at WeAdapt or watch the video below:

WCCI will receive sponsorship for one person to attend CBA15 next year. The winning film will also be screened at We The Peoples Film Festival 2020, the annual flagship event of the United Nations Association Westminster.

CBA conversations: fostering resilience in the Sahel

COVID-19 has turned our world digital and forced many conversations online – but learning and knowledge exchange on climate resilience haven’t stopped.

Taking meetings virtual, the interactive platform Africa Learning Forum on Adaptation (ALFA) Sahel 2020 convenes practitioners, scientists, decision makers and researchers to share challenges and opportunities for building climate resilience in the Sahel drylands of west Africa.

 

A sand storm in Kouggou village, Niger (Photo: copyright Marie Mornimart)

This landscape offers huge potential for productive livelihoods. But its people are among the poorest and most vulnerable on earth.

The webinars aim to understand drivers and barriers for climate resilience in the region. Discussions have covered current and future climate science projections, trends in livelihood systems and natural resource governance and conflict. ALFA Sahel shares outcomes online. To keep the webinars responsive to needs, polls during each session determine the topic for the next.

Programme lead Sanoussi Ababale said: “During these two-day forums we brainstorm ways to build resilience among the diverse yet vulnerable Sahelian people and their landscape. We’re also building knowledge on how governance systems influence farmers’ and pastoralists’ access to natural resources given the Sahel’s changing climate.”

He added: “The topic for next month’s webinar will be ‘Gender and resilience’. Join us!” Email him at ababale.mahamanesanoussi@care.org.