Newsletter I, June 2019

Project: “Adaptation to climate change in sub-Saharan African humanitarian situations”, implemented by WFP with UN Environment, UNICEF, UNHCR and WWEA

The project has been officially launched in each of the three implementing countries, with inception workshops held between December 2018 and March 2019 in Burundi, Chad and Sudan. Representatives from national authorities, UN agencies, NGOs, the private sector and the donor community came together to jointly identify the project target sites, discuss methods for climate vulnerability assessments in humanitarian hotspots, build synergies with ongoing initiatives and agree on the way forward.

On 8–10 November the 2nd World Community Power Conference took place in Bamako, Mali, with the participation of more than 500 delegates from 46 countries, 20 of which from the African continent. Close to 100 speakers talked about community power in numerous plenary and parallel sessions (find here the complete conference program and presentations). Conference languages were English and French, with simultaneous interpretation. The conference concluded with a declaration summarizing the main findings of the discussions and lectures. The government of Mali was represented by the Minister of Energy and numerous other high-level representatives from all relevant government agencies. Other participants came from other governments, international organizations, numerous non-governmental organizations, businesses, community energy groups and the scientific community.

Implementation of activities on the ground has started in Sudan and Burundi, where UNHCR has supplied 9,200 households with energy saving stoves.

Through restoration activities, 1,075.2 hectares of land that had previously been deforested due to firewood collection have been recovered.

Figure 1. Distribution of Improved Stoves in Al Makalief Village — Host community — White Nile (December 2018)

Figure 2. Forest officer explaining planting techniques to the community in Nyankanda (December 2018)

UNHCR has mobilized further resources to co-finance the project’s activities in Sudan, where US$ 260,000 from Innovation Norway Fund will be used for the rehabilitation of 100 hectares in the While Nile region with innovative ‘cocoon technology’. Cocoon technology is a 100% biodegradable tree-planting device that boosts survival rates of young trees while reducing water usage and reforestation costs by up to 10-fold. This technology can improve tree survival rates in humanitarian settings from 0–20 percent to between 75–95 percent.

Read more on what comes next here.