347
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
B. R. Singh et al. (eds.), Climate Impacts on Agricultural and Natural Resource
Sustainability in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37537-9_21
Need for Personal Transformations
in a Changing Climate: Reflections
on Environmental Change and ClimateSmart Agriculture in Africa
Bishal K. Sitaula, Ognjen Žurovec, Bal Chandra Luitel, Anne Parker,
and Rattan Lal
Abstract In this paper, we discuss the need for personal transformation in the rapidly changing environmental context. We also provide a short reflective and analytical framework for climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and its linkages with vulnerability,
resilience, and livelihoods and reflect on how CSA can impact positively on the
livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Africa. Furthermore, we stress the importance
of reflective thinking on interdependence and the linkages between agricultural and
environmental problems that are deeply rooted in human wants/greed and that manifest in various forms such as unsustainable agriculture, biodiversity losses, climate
change, and land/soil degradation. To address these problems at their source, we
attempt to introduce the idea of personal transformation, which is lacking in current
approaches to education and agricultural development. We present a few educational
perspectives, where a transformation refers to a change or shift of meaning on dominant ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. We argue that transformation takes place within
the self after internalizing the transformative individual views or ideas from different perspectives. In other words, we cannot transform ourselves through the lens of
beliefs and assumptions that are taken for granted. It is being aware of one’s own
B. K. Sitaula (*) · O. Žurovec
Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University
of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
e-mail: bishal.sitaula@nmbu.no
B. C. Luitel
School of Education, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal
A. Parker
Department of Environmental Sciences, Naropa University, Boulder, CO, USA
R. Lal
School of Environment and Natural Resources, Carbon Management and Sequestration
Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
B. R. Singh et al. (eds.), Climate Impacts on Agricultural and Natural Resource
Sustainability in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37537-9_21
Need for Personal Transformations
in a Changing Climate: Reflections
on Environmental Change and ClimateSmart Agriculture in Africa
Bishal K. Sitaula, Ognjen Žurovec, Bal Chandra Luitel, Anne Parker,
and Rattan Lal
Abstract In this paper, we discuss the need for personal transformation in the rapidly changing environmental context. We also provide a short reflective and analytical framework for climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and its linkages with vulnerability,
resilience, and livelihoods and reflect on how CSA can impact positively on the
livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Africa. Furthermore, we stress the importance
of reflective thinking on interdependence and the linkages between agricultural and
environmental problems that are deeply rooted in human wants/greed and that manifest in various forms such as unsustainable agriculture, biodiversity losses, climate
change, and land/soil degradation. To address these problems at their source, we
attempt to introduce the idea of personal transformation, which is lacking in current
approaches to education and agricultural development. We present a few educational
perspectives, where a transformation refers to a change or shift of meaning on dominant ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. We argue that transformation takes place within
the self after internalizing the transformative individual views or ideas from different perspectives. In other words, we cannot transform ourselves through the lens of
beliefs and assumptions that are taken for granted. It is being aware of one’s own
B. K. Sitaula (*) · O. Žurovec
Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University
of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
e-mail: bishal.sitaula@nmbu.no
B. C. Luitel
School of Education, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal
A. Parker
Department of Environmental Sciences, Naropa University, Boulder, CO, USA
R. Lal
School of Environment and Natural Resources, Carbon Management and Sequestration
Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA