Adaptation to Climate Change in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
This report presents the findings of research into the risks to delivery of WASH results posed by climate change in Africa, drawing on rapid case study reviews of WASH programming in Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. A separate Case Study Report provides further detail on country background and findings.
Water is predicted to be the main channel through which the impacts of climate change will be felt by people, ecosystems and economies. However, predicting impacts on the availability and quality of freshwater resources, and more so water-dependent services and sanitation, remains difficult. While there is a high level of confidence in the processes linking emissions to warming, much less is known about how warming will manifest itself at the local level through changes in rainfall, runoff, groundwater recharge and climate extremes. This reflects challenges with the downscaling of climate models, but also the significance of intervening factors such as changes in land cover which may have a greater influence on local systems and services than climate change. In general, the level of confidence in climate change projections decreases as their potential utility for making decisions on how to adapt increases (OECD, 2013).
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Show previous commentsWould you all agree then that integrating a Climate Resilient Development approach in the WASH sector, implies primarily to acknowledge that main investments should go into (1) improved settlement policies and (2) improved land-use practices? This rather than - to say it in a simplified way - invest 'in isolation' in making WASH infrastructure more robust. Which would not be of any benefit in communities who's livelyhoods overall remain at risk.
Would you all agree then that integrating a Climate Resilient Development approach in the WASH sector, implies primarily to acknowledge that main investments should go into (1) improved settlement policies and (2) improved land-use practices? This rather than - to say it in a simplified way - invest 'in isolation' in making WASH infrastructure more robust. Which would not be of any benefit in communities who's livelyhoods overall remain at risk.
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