For farmers hit by drought, changing old methods takes time – and money

In the arid, mountainous hills of Leliefontein, northwest of Namakwa South

Farmers make a living from raising oxen and goats

"It's our pbadion. Is the only thing we know, "says Katrina Schwartz, one of the many female farmers in the remote Northern Cape.

Climate change and the lengthening droughts it entails have Made more and more difficult the traditional life.

But using the money from the international climate conveyed by South Africa n National Institute of Biodiversity (Sanbi), the farmers of Leliefontein find ways to adapt. [19659003Someonenowadayschangedchuckandgoatschecked'Meatmaster'buttonsconstructingresistantbutresistantnorthgrbadbuttonswithmorebetter-knownrootsfortheirweight

Efforts to rehabilitate Overgrazed and eroded land According to farmers, they have helped to increase the amount of water and pasture available in the area.

"Our community has no other job, and thanks to these projects we can put food on the table," said Schwartz, who traveled to Cape Town a conference on climate adaptation in June

Up to now, less than one-third of the funds of the Green Climate Fund, established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. United Nations on Climate Change, has been badigned to projects focused on targeted projects.According to the fund 's own figures, a larger share of money supports efforts to move to the next. clean energy and other projects to reduce emissions

but efforts like South Africa ] The small grants mechanism of $ 2.5 million – which gives communities such as Leliefontein direct access to small amounts of money for adaptation projects that they o chosen – aims to show what is possible.

Power to the People

Using Money Provided by the Adaptation Fund – A Smaller and Older Cousin's Green Funder for Climate – Mechanism aims to help the farmers of South

Africa The province of North Cape and the dry province of Limpopo effectively deal with worsening drought and other impacts of climate change.

Equally important, the four-year project aims to help communities learn and manage climate funds more effectively. "If we really want to finance communities, we have to do it directly and build capacity," said Carl Wesselink of South South North, a non-profit group that promotes smart development in the face of climate. the front-line manager of the Sanbi grant facility.

But, he admitted, "it's not a short-term process. It is a long-term process based on years and years of work.

Most community organizations, for example, have difficulty meeting the stringent financial requirements of major climate funders. He said, "The big question," said Wesselink, "is how to get farmers who just want to get into the system."

John Kaganga, a Ugandan farmer frustrated at not finding funding He said that He had found the demands of the lenders almost impossible to satisfy [65] [traduction]

[traduction] [TRADUCTION] "When you are given money, but few people say that you have misused money because you have not kept the records, "he said at the Cape Town Conference

Wesselink, when asked how many community projects his team is able to meet the financier He admitted that it was a huge challenge.

"None of the projects met the fiduciary requirements at the outset," he admitted. they will be at the end. "

Slow process

Another problem The challenge facing adaptation projects, according to the experts, is the time it takes to change well-established practices and traditions.

In Niger, an effort of community-based adaptation led by The CARE charity, aimed at helping farmers respond to much more frequent crop failures, has focused in part on helping women grow more resilient crops.

Today, "women now come to speak in community general bademblies and support households with their incomes," said Sanoussi Ababale of the Learning Program for Adaptation ] Africa managed by CARE. Voices in some communities are now higher (rows) than men's, "he said at the Cape Town Conference.

But the process of change took seven years, said Ababale. [19659003SchwartzofLeliefonteinagreedthatshiftingoldpracticescanbeaslowprocess-eveniftheclimatechangesquickly

"Things have been learned from generation to generation," she said. To teach farmers about climate change takes time, it takes time, it takes time. "