CDKN's Action Lab Innovation Fund supported the project "Promoting climate change adaptation policies through the integration of multi-stakeholder dialogues and research-led initiatives – a pilot approach from the semi-arid region of northeast Brazil."

The Brazilian semi-arid region is among the poorest areas of Latin America. About 30 million people are affected annually by prolonged dry periods that according to scientific studies will intensify due to climate change. Small farmers are likely to be affected the most because of their little means and resources for adaptation.

Adapta Sertao is a coalition of research institutions, NGOs and cooperatives that have been helping small farmers become more resilient to climate change through an adapted agricultural system consisting of a combination of irrigated and drought resistant crops since 2006. Adapta Sertao consistently tested and monitored 16 different arrangements implemented together with small farmers over the two year span of the project to understand their true adaptive and food security potential.

Starting from this experience, this project aimed to:

• Test and monitor more arrangements;
• Synthesise the experience from a climate adaptation perspective by analysing relevant scientific datasets;
• Promote the integration among existing national socioeconomic policies to address climate change adaptation in the semi-arid region of northeast Brazil, through multi-stakeholder dialogues with policy makers, and using the synthesised results as a basis for discussions.

Expected outcomes:

• A synthesised climate change adaptation model for small farmers living in dry areas that can be replicated in other dry regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America;
• Development of an approach for multi-stakeholder dialogues that can foster national climate adaptation policies;
• Integration of climate change into existing development policies.

Project outputs and resources:

• Policy brief: Climate change adaptation strategies for smallholder farmers in the Brazilian Sertão
• Policy brief: An integrated approach to family farmer adaptation in Brazil’s semi-arid region: the case of Adapta Sertão

Lead: Thais Corral, Daniele Cesano  (REDEH – Network for Human Development)

Project Partners: Leonora Zoninsein (Master thesis student at School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University), Carolina Elia (Independent researcher), Laise Santos da Silva, Nereide Segala (Rede Pintadas), Martin Obermaier (researcher at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)

CDKN funding: £112,000

Photo credit: Dep. Neusa Cadore.