A Sense of Scale

Have you ever wondered if small-scale renewable projects are worth their time and effort compared to large-scale projects?

This question came into stark focus on a visit to a community in Olosho-Oibor, Kenya in May this year, a visit that was a precursor to a meeting of the Solar Nano Grids (SONG) project.

Olosho-Oibor Community Energy Supply

Coming over the hills and down into the plains we arrive at the community of Olosho-Oibor, consisting of about 8,000 people spread over an area of 20 km2 and being of the Maasai people, they are mainly pastoralists. The community has a centrally located hub of a school, dispensary, church and some small commercial enterprises, which is located about 25 km from the nearest grid connection.

In 2009 UNIDO and AUSAID funded an off-grid electrical generation system consisting of a 7kWp solar PV array, a 3kWp wind turbine, a 9kVA vegetable oil/diesel generator (almost never used) and a battery bank. The community contributed to the project by digging trenches and laying underground cables to the dispensary, school and church.

The school receives a small amount of energy nevertheless it has enabled the it to have more light for work in the evenings - raising the standard of educational attainment to such an extent that it is one of the best schools in the area.

Similarly, the dispensary is able to deal with emergencies at night, and the electrical vaccine refrigerator enables safe storage of the vital medications. Down the road, a rescue centre for girls has been started which has also been electrified and is in the process of expanding to give a home to over 60 girls from the neighbouring area.

Further, three new businesses have started increasing the local quality of life. For example the presence of a mobile phone charging shop has enabled the increased use of mobile phones and hence access to banking facilities using M-PESA.

Interestingly, one of the unexpected uses was that the community bought a projector and screen and now there are regular community screenings of UK premiership football games!

This off-grid community now belongs to the global village.

Ngong Hills Wind Farm

In contrast, driving northwards from Nairobi, crossing the Ngong Hills, there is a lot of activity erecting another large wind turbine of the Ngong power station wind farm. This wind farm is rapidly increasing its capacity from 5.1 MW to 25.5 MW and is estimated that it will provide 75 GWh of electricity per annum. Most of this energy is destined for the rapidly growing city of Nairobi and this wind farm will supplement the largely hydro-based electrical generation capacity, providing some resilience to drier years for the Kenya Electricity Generating Company and mitigating the need for more large-scale diesel generation.

Big or Small?

So which is better? Both projects are providing low carbon energy. The wind farm produces substantial amounts of energy that would otherwise have been produced by large diesel generators. This is all good. The community scale project produces far less energy, but has a disproportionately increased benefit to the people who would not otherwise have access to electricity. This is also good.

Maybe the question posed is not the right question. Its not about having either big or small scale projects - its that both have their own important role to play: the large-scale renewable energy projects are good to help wean industrialised communities off fossil fuels and small-scale renewable energy projects democratise energy by uplifting rural communities which would otherwise be left behind.

Malcolm McCulloch
Head Energy and Power Group
Dept Engineering Science
University of Oxford

Supporting China’s adaptation - ACCC Phase 2

China faces significant challenges and opportunities in the wake of climate change. The country is many worlds within one, ranging from the subtropics in the south to the snow-covered north, the arid west and the lush coastal east. China’s vast population knows well the brunt of the elements. But all this is changing faster and less predictably than before. The time to act is clear.

Significant progress has been made recently to mainstream climate change adaptation in China. The Adapting to Climate Change in China (ACCC) project has been working on this, supporting decision makers with the information on who and what is at greatest risk from climate change, why they are vulnerable and what they can do. ACCC provides robust, locally relevant and up to date scientific, social and economic information to lay a solid foundation for adaptation responses.

The first phase of ACCC supported the development of the National Adaptation Strategy (NAS), which was announced by Vice Chairman Xie Zhenhua (National Development Reform Commission) at COP19, Warsaw. The NAS sets out key themes and priority work areas and mandates for the drafting of Provincial Adaptation Plans (PAPs) and the selection of pilot provinces. This represents the most critical phase of mainstreaming climate change adaptation process in China.

The second phase, managed by INTASAVE Asia-Pacific, will now support the development of the Provincial Adaptation Plans, including through support tools, capacity building and trialling local adaptation options.

The Adapting to Climate Change in China (ACCC) project brings together Chinese policy makers, research and policy institutions, as well as international organizations and experts, to develop practical approaches to climate change adaptation policy planning. The ACCC phase I (2009-2013) was designed as a “research-into-use” project, and focused on developing evidence-based climate change adaptation policy in China, at both the national and provincial levels. It made notable contributions to the formulation of the NAS through building on cross-sectorial partnerships, capacity building work and scientific and policy advances. However, significant support is still required in order to achieve more in-depth and ambitious mainstreaming process on adaptive planning.

ACCC phase II (2014-2017) builds on the work of phase I and aims:

• To mainstream climate change adaptation into development policies at national and provincial levels 
• To support the formulation and implementation of integrated Provincial Adaptation Plans (PAPs) across priority sectors and share these experiences and lessons with other developing countries.

The ACCC phase II is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation. The main institutional Chinese partner is the National Development and Reform Commission.  The project is undertaken in partnership with nearly 20 international, national and provincial bodies. The policy-research work spans climate impacts, vulnerability and risk across six provinces and municipalities (Ningxia, Inner-Mongolia, Jilin, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Qingdao) covering the following sectors:

• Water
• Agriculture 
• Grassland/Animal Husbandry 
• Disaster risk reduction 
• Integrated risk assessment for planning
• Coastal zone management

Towards Community-based Tourism in Jamaican Fish Sanctuary Areas

Under the C-FISH Initiative's Alternative Livelihood component, CARIBSAVE is looking to introduce, enhance and support community-based tourism in sanctuary areas. In order to achieve this, the Travel Foundation, a partner in the C-FISH Fund, undertook exploratory research regarding the market/demand and feasibility of creating bespoke, mainstream excursions that support responsible tourism initiatives at 3 fish sanctuaries in Jamaica. The information gathered from this study will help guide the direction and activities which CARIBSAVE will support in order to develop the community-based tourism. This component is very important for sanctuaries to provide sustainable financing mechanisms for sanctuary management (through C-FISH Fund), income generating activities through crafts and tours, and promote awareness of Jamaica, the sanctuaries and the need for conservation of fisheries.

Trysion Walters from BREDS: Treasure Beach Foundation takes visitors on a tour of the Galleon, St. Elizabeth Fish Sanctuary, Jamaica. These tours are one way that tourism supports the community; fishers with appropriate training can become tour guides, thereby providing them with additional income, and reducing fishing pressure in the area. Photo by Simone Lee.

Visitors support sanctuaries not only through tours, but through purchasing of locally made crafts. Look out for C-FISH branded products in the near future! Photo by Simone Lee

Tourists can also support the local economy through purchasing fruits or agro-processed products such as jams and jellies from community members. In Bluefield's Bay, the Westmoreland Organic Farmers Group offers a number of delicious products to sample! Photo by Brenda Barry

Welcome to Bluefields Bay! This is one of C-FISH grantee fish sanctuaries, and one that we are looking to support through community-based tourism. Bluefields is rich in culture and natural aesthetics. Would you be interested in a tour taking you to Accomopong Maroon Village, a cultural tour of Savanna-la-mar, and a visit to Bluefields Bay – an old pirate bay now turned fish sanctuary? Photo by Brenda Barry.

Feel like visiting a part of the Caribbean sea you probably won't have in front of your hotel? Welcome to Galleon, St. Elizabeth fish sanctuary – one of the C-FISH grantee sites. Take a boat tour with local and knowledgeable fishermen who can show you the juvenile fish, starfish and rays in the sea grass; the wetland birds both resident and migratory living in the mangrove forests. Look out for turtles that nest on the nearby beach and dolphins that frequent the area. Would you be interested in a tour that went to here, the nearby Y.S. Falls, and an opportunity to have a Red Strip on the famous Pelican Bar on wooden stilts in the ocean? Photo by Simone Lee

Oracabessa Bay – one of the C-FISH grantee sites has a lot of potential for community-based tourism. Located on the north coast near other popular tourism sites, visitors can get the opportunity to experience the coral gardening, turtle watching and other conservation activities at this sanctuary. Would you be interested in a tour to Firefly – the historical home of playwright Noel Coward, with an impressive list of celebrity guests – to Oracabessa and James Bond Beach, Oracabessa Bay fish sanctuary and an arts and craft tour? Photo by Simone Lee.


Visit the C-FISH website for more information on the Alternative Livelihood's programme and the broader C-FISH initiative being implemented in five (5) countries across the Caribbean Region!

UN Climate Talks in Lima: INTASAVE’s upcoming events

This year’s UN Climate Talks are set to begin in Lima, Peru next week, where governments will meet to negotiate on key issues for climate change. COP20 will also see many others from the climate community converge on the Peruvian capital and is a key opportunity for sharing experiences, best practices and lesson learned from a whole range of academic and practitioner organisations.

The INTASAVE-CARIBSAVE Group will be running a series of events in at COP20.

DATE: 5th December, 15:00-16:30
ROOM: Caral (130)
Official Side Event:

How can we maximise synergies for mitigation, adaptation & sustainable development policy & practice? 

Opportunities to create co-benefits across mitigation, adaptation and development are notable but AR5 stressed the need to further understanding. To begin this, INTASAVE will present on their global support for win-win policy, the Gabon will showcase their integrated Sustainable Development Policy and NCCSD will share sectoral experience from climate smart agriculture.</p>

Panellists:

• Dr Rebecca Nadin, Asia-Pacific Director, The INTASAVE-CARIBSAVE Group
• Dr Tanguy Gahouma, Permanent Secretary, National Climate Council, Gabon
• Dr Kirit Shelat, Executive Chairman, National Council for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership (NCCSD)

Boys, Girls and Climate Change in China

Rapid shifts in the socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions in Jinping and Guangnan counties, Yunnan Province, China, are creating different sets of hazard risks for women and children in both communities.

Today’s children are more vulnerable to harm during and after hazard events - impassable dirt roads after heavy rains make it difficult for them to get to school, a lack of water and food during drought leads to health issues and malnutrition, stress and mental health issues without adequate support often happen post-disaster. Many are held back by a lack of knowledge about disaster recovery or the inability to take part in disaster risk reduction decision-making either at school or at home. Many children are also ‘left behind’, raised by their grandparents as their parents migrate for work elsewhere. A few have no one at home to care for them and are more likely to suffer during drought, temperature fluctuations and heavy rain events, especially if they do not attend school. The economic pressure to migrate for work is high. Among the Hani and Miao ethnic groups in Jinping, many children drop out of school early to find jobs in neighboring provinces, often marrying before migrating. But among the Zhuang in Guangnan, the push for economic migration is actually encouraging girls to stay in school longer, with some expressing the wish for university or vocational training to get higher paying jobs in the future.

While today’s weather events are severe and increasing in frequency, the changes that tomorrow’s children (yet to be born) are likely to experience might be much worse. If today’s women and children struggle to deal with existing hazards or their direct impacts such as lost income or health, they are unlikely to have the skills to be resilient to future climate change.

Against this backdrop, INTASAVE conducted a participatory study for Plan China on the gendered impact of climate change on boys and girls in Guang’nan and Jinping counties in Yun’nan, China in order to analyse the gendered impact of climate change in China. The study provided recommendations to inform Plan International’s work on climate change in the country, specifically with regards to its child centered and gender sensitive disaster risk reduction projects in communities and schools and its efforts in empowering women and girls.

This study was a preliminary, rapid assessment of factors contributing to the gendered impacts of existing weather hazards on middle-school girls and boys, and adult women in two communities in Yunnan Province. We also extrapolated gendered climate risks over the next 10 years from trends in socioeconomic and cultural change and potential shifts in regional climate.

By working with both communities to address access to education for children and women, finding ways to keep children in school longer, fostering forums to give children a voice, and addressing the silent health and food security issues, PLAN can help women and children build skills to cope with today’s challenges and be agents of change. By addressing today’s vulnerability and climate risk contexts, women and children will be more resilient to future challenges, including climate change.

To facilitate this, the study aimed to assess the different needs of girls and boys and understand the gendered dimensions of their respective roles in climate change adaption efforts. It captured both positive and negative mechanisms that households are undertaking to cope with and adapt to the changing climate and the implication of these on girls and boys ‘rights to health, education, protection, economic development as well as children’s right to participation. The study assessed the level and quality of information about climate change adaption amongst girls and boys and to document their access to information on disaster risk management and climate change adaption.

The study also analysed the role of key stakeholders in building the capacity of the current generation of children to adapt to a changing climate and identify good practices of working with girls and boys on implementing child centred and gender sensitive climate change adaption that can be replicated.

The participatory assessment approach contributed to building boys and girls’ capacities to understand the impact of climate change and disaster on their lives and communities and increasing their resilience.

GCFI: 67th Conference at Accra Beach Resort, Barbados

The 67^th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) Conference is being held in Barbados from November 3rd - 7th at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa, under the auspice of the The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus - with the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) being the local organiser.

The theme for this year is "Small islands, big issues: applying fisheries and marine science to solve problems and create opportunities". The conference is one of the largest and best-known multi-disciplinary marine science conferences in the wider Caribbean region, and will consist of a series of technical sessions throughout the week, focused on a number of thematic and programmatic areas: fisheries livelihoods, Small Island Developing States, data limited stock assessment, reefs and associated ecosystems, climate change vulnerability and adaptation, and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) science and management amongst others.

INTASAVE Caribbean (CARIBSAVE) will be participating in the poster session being held on Tuesday, November 4th between 6.00pm and 9.00pm, with the following presentations:

1. Strengthening Climate Change Resilience in Caribbean Coastal Communities: Insights from Regional Capacity-Building Initiatives


2. Understanding the Social Dimensions of Marine Protected Areas in Jamaica: Fishers' Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Fish Sanctuaries


3. Community-based Approaches to MPA Research and Monitoring

CARIBSAVE will also be participating in one of the conference's side events - a workshop titled "MPAs as a tool for responsible fisheries and sustainable livelihoods in the Caribbean", organised by FAO, WECAFC, GCFI and UWI-CERMES, in collaboration with CARIBSAVE, C-FISH, TNC and NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program

The aim of the workshop is to contribute to successful fisheries-oriented MPA management in the countries of the Caribbean region by facilitating an exchange of experiences and views among MPA managers and practitioners, fishers and fishing communities, governments representatives – including fisheries, parks and environment departments and agencies – academia and NGOs. Accordingly, the workshop will attempt to identify issues, best practices and critical processes for planning and implementing MPAs in the context of fisheries, in particular with regard to small-scale fisheries.

Further information on the conference can be found via the conference website: http://www.gcfi.org/Conferences/67th/Barbados_en.html.

(Photo: Simone Lee/CARIBSAVE)