Community Based Adaptation in the face of a changing climate
Agriculture in the Caribbean is facing significant socio-environmental issues that may exacerbate the existing socio-economic challenges, spurring a cycle of poverty. With projected annual temperature increases of between 1.8°C and 2.3°C by the end of the century, agricultural systems are expected to suffer severe damages particularly because agriculture in these regions is predominantly rain fed. The IPCC further suggest that the impacts of climate change, especially in rural areas, will be felt through constraints on water supply which has the ability to hinder food production and has repercussions for food availability, consumption and price stability.
Countries with agriculture-dependent economies, like Jamaica, which already have high rates of food insecurity, could encounter losses two-fold through reduced domestic agricultural production and increased prices for food on the global market. While farmers have in the past been able to moderate the effects of climate variability, the anticipated magnitude of climate change impacts will extend beyond the challenges previously experienced.
In light of these forecasts, Community-based adaptation (CBA) is now being widely accepted as a response to the risks posed by existing and emerging climatic changes and researchers are concerned with understanding how location-specific adaptation strategies may seek to foster sustainable agricultural development in the face of a changing climate. These initiatives have emerged, executing locally-driven, sustainable development paradigms that incorporate learning and knowledge sharing through extension and social interactions where there is dissemination of information about sustainable adaptation options. These interventions help to build social capital, a critical component of social resilience, while taking into consideration the priorities, knowledge and capacities of communities and addresses the contextual aspects of vulnerability at the grassroots level. Sustainable development is further achieved through a change-oriented lens where farmers are empowered to plan for and cope with the effects of climate change.
