Decentralized Governance of Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa Decentralized Governance of Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa Esbern Friis-Hansen CABI is a trading name of CAB International CABI CABI Nosworthy Way 745 Atlantic Avenue Wallingford 8th Floor Oxfordshire OX10 8DE Boston, MA 02111 UK USA Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Tel: +1 (617)682-9015 Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cabi.org © CAB International 2017. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Friis-Hansen, Esbern, author, editor. Title: Decentralized governance of adaptation to climate change in Africa / Esbern Friis-Hansen. Description: Boston, MA : CABI, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017004388 (print) | LCCN 2017008646 (ebook) | ISBN 9781786390769 (hbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781786390776 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781786390783 (ePub) Subjects: LCSH: Climatic changes--Government policy--Africa. | Decentralization in government--Africa. Classification: LCC QC903.2.A35 F75 2017 (print) | LCC QC903.2.A35 (ebook) | DDC 363.738/7456096--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017004388 ISBN-13: 9781786390769 Commissioning editor: Alex Hollingswoth/David Hemming Editorial assistant: Emma McCann Production editor: James Bishop Typeset by SPi, Pondicherry, India Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Contents List of Contributors vii Foreword ix 1 Introduction 1 Esbern Friis-Hansen 2 Implementing African National Climate Change Policies 11 Esbern Friis-Hansen 3 Contemplating Climate Change at Local Government: On-the-ground Politics of Adaptation Delivery in Tanzania 25 Sarah Ann Lise D’haen and Jonas Østergaard Nielsen 4 Climate Change Adaptation and Decentralisation Politics: the Case of Local Governments in Rural Zambia 39 Mikkel Funder, Carol Mweemba and Imasiku Nyambe 5 A White Elephant in a Changing Climate: a Territorial Approach to Climate Change Adaptation in Uganda 51 J.J. Okiror, Esbern Friis-Hansen, Bernard Bashaasha and Isaac Nakendo 6 Creating Political Space for Climate Change Adaptation in Northern Ghana 61 Julie Fogt Rasmussen and Esbern Friis-Hansen 7 Local Politics of Climate Change Adaptation in Uganda 75 Esbern Friis-Hansen and Charles Aben 8 Political Ecology of Climate Change Management in Rural Uganda 89 Charles Aben 9 Local Political Processes and the Management of the Awoja Watershed in Eastern Africa 97 Charles Aben, Esbern Friis-Hansen, Jacob Agea and J.J. Okiror v vi Contents 10 Competing Interests over Natural Resources and Adaptation to Climate Change: the Case of Rice Cultivation in the Gweri Wetlands, Uganda 111 Charles Aben, Esbern Friis-Hansen, Bernard Bashaasha and J.J. Okiror 11 Social and Institutional Dynamics of Mobility as an Adaptation to Climate Change 121 Charles Aben, Esbern Friis-Hansen and Isaac Nakendo 12 Hoarders as Saviours: The Performance of Regional Grain Traders During and After Extreme Drought 137 Godfrey Suubi and Esbern Friis-Hansen 13 Conclusion: Towards Subnational Climate Change Action Amidst Ambiguity and Contestation Over Power and Resources 147 Esbern Friis-Hansen Index 155 List of Contributors Charles Aben, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda. E-mail: [email protected] Jacob Agea, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda. E-mail: [email protected] Bernard Bashaasha, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University. E-mail: [email protected] Sarah Ann Lise D’haen, Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen; Consultant, Climate Analytics, Berlin; and IRI-THESys, Humboldt University, Berlin. E-mail: [email protected] Esbern Friis-Hansen, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: [email protected] Mikkel Funder, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: [email protected] Carol Mweemba, PhD student, University of Zambia, Zambia. E-mail: [email protected] Isaac Nakendo, Research assistant, National Agricultural Advisory Services, Uganda. E-mail: [email protected] Jonas Østergaard Nielsen, Professor, IRI THESys, Humboldt University, Berlin. E-mail: jonas. [email protected] Imasiku Nyambe, Professor, University of Zambia, Zambia. E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] J.J. Okiror, Lecturer, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. E-mail: [email protected] Julie Fogt Rasmussen, Student, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: [email protected] Godfrey Suubi, Socio-economist, National Agricultural Research Institute, Uganda. E-mail: [email protected] vii Foreword Climate change hazards are a real part of the rural people’s life in Africa. Gradual climate change increases variability of weather patterns and reduces the predictability of agricultural seasons, whereas extreme climate change events take the form of severe floods or prolonged droughts. While everyone is affected, the poor are more vulnerable and suffer most from climate change. Autonomous adaptation by individual households is largely inadequate and there is an urgent need for collective adaptive solutions planned and implemented through inclusive governance at the level of climate change action. Understanding the institutional conditions and dynamics of how subnational governments engage with climate change is crucial because local governments are best situated to implement international and national policies and programmes in practice. Yet, very few fieldwork-based studies have examined how subnational institutions respond to climate change. This book addresses this knowledge gap. Most chapters in this book are an outcome of the Climate Change and Rural Institution (CCRI) studies that were undertaken 2012–2016 with the aim to examine how a range of subnational institutions respond to climate change in Africa and Asia. Although programme find- ings have been presented and published elsewhere (www.diis.dk; Christoplos et al., 2016), this book presents and reflects on CCRI research findings from Africa. I am grateful to the Danish Research Council for Development Research for funding the research programme. The Danish Institute for International Studies has provided an excellent institutional and academic environment for undertaking the research. The two CCRI partner institutions in Africa, Makerere University in Kampala and Zambia University in Lusaka, have been very actively engaged in undertaking the research, making it a truly collaborative study. The authors of this book are in debt to the many people who in various ways assisted and contributed to the 11 district-based case studies. The book comes at a highly appropriate time, as the international community after long negoti- ations reached an agreement at COP 21 in Paris 2015 for a roadmap for financing support for cli- mate change adaptation. Focus has now shifted on how to take action and implement the agreement in practice. However, only a few national and international programmes have yet to engage with the subnational government level in Africa in a serious way. It is the hope that this book can contribute to enhance our understanding of the institutional dynamics of how local governments respond to climate change and that can be useful for future support for creating an enabling environment for rural climate change adaptation in Africa. Esbern Friis-Hansen Senior researcher Danish Institute for International Studies ix