International Development Research Centre

Pan-African and transdisciplinary lens on the margins: Tackling the risks of extreme events (PALM-TREES)

Project disclaimer

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Description

According to the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, over 20 million people are displaced annually and many more are affected by floods, drought and heatwaves. Such extreme events are followed by negative impacts on mental health and well-being and overlap with internal conflict, security risks, and multiple forms of vulnerability. Limited access to resources, aid and services during and after climate shocks in sub-Saharan African is pushing communities to the margins of society and limiting their ability to adapt. This project addresses stakeholder and community needs across six countries to identify the consequences of extreme events as experienced by marginalized people. The project will extend beyond the characterization and modelling of physical anomalies (which consider extreme events in terms of their occurrence, intensity and frequency) to examining when and why these events are considered “extreme” by the communities and how they contribute to vulnerability. This knowledge will be integrated into the work of the local stakeholders in charge of preparedness and adaptation plans and into their inclusive design and implementation. The hypothesis is that more inclusive implementation of these plans will contribute to reducing inequalities rather than perpetrating them. Research will be on flooding in Kitui and Turkana counties in Kenya; the dynamics of flooding and gender-based violence (and responses) in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa; the impact of flood and drought on the agricultural productivity of women in Guider and Fombot in Cameroon and Mbanza-Ngungu provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the impact of heat stress on the health and livelihoods of communities in informal settlements in Lagos, Nigeria; and the impacts of droughts, floods and water management on diverse communities in the Volta River basins and Accra in Ghana. This work combines participatory social science with the physical science of climate modelling to assess the impacts of more frequent climate extremes as compound risk. This knowledge will also test the usefulness of the next generation of climate models. The project forms part of the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) initiative, co-funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and IDRC. This five-year, CAD120 million initiative supports inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards for people across Africa and Asia-Pacific.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Cameroon

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