361
personal sphere of individuals (belief, values, worldviews, and paradigm. Refer to
O’Brien and Sygna 2013), which requires personal transformation. Furthermore,
what is climate smart in one place may not be that in another. Thus, transdisciplinary research at the landscape level and the assessment of synergies and cobenefits, as well as the development of metrics to quantify the benefits and trade-offs
of different options based on stakeholder objectives, are needed to derive locally
acceptable and feasible solutions.
Education and knowledge transfer of CSA practices is needed for African farmers to facilitate new mitigation and adaptation agendas to positively impact sustainable intensification. Extension services have played a key role in promoting
agricultural productivity and dissemination of knowledge, and their role in promoting adaptation measures to climate change will certainly have the same importance
(Bryan et al. 2009; Maponya and Mpandeli 2013). It is necessary to strengthen or
enhance the capacity of both public and private agricultural extension services,
enabling them to take leading roles in terms of strengthening innovation process,
building linkages between farmers and other agencies, and institutional development. As leaders in knowledge generation, research institutes and agricultural universities have an important role to provide means and tools for reflective practices
such as first person inquiry by educating mindful, context responsive, and economically viable agricultural practices among to students, extension workers, and policymakers. This can be accomplished on different ways, such as through the use of
demonstration plots, joint research projects, field trials, training seminars, etc.
(Asopa and Beye 1997), and should include aspects of transformative learning and
personal transformation (described in more detail in the following sections).
It is evident from the discussion above that much more work is needed in order
to achieve sustainable livelihoods and resilient communities and individuals in
Africa, both in technical and political contexts, and including aspects of personal
transformation. One of the greatest challenges is to mobilize sufficient technical
support and financial resources for the necessary actions at the local level and to
ensure that resources reach the most vulnerable target groups. While the estimated
costs of adaptation and mitigation in Africa and worldwide largely exceed the funds
available, CSA opens up new funding opportunities for agricultural development by
allowing the sector access to climate funds to enable adaptation and mitigation in
agriculture. A number of strategies, policies, partnerships, and investments have
been initiated in recent years to put the CSA concept into practice, such as the
Adaptation Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund, Special Climate Fund, Clean
Development Mechanism, Global Environment Facility Trust Fund, and Future
Green Climate Fund. These initiatives may address problem on the proximal level,
but do not address the problem of human desire and greed.
Farmers are faced with many barriers to adaptation, including but not limited to
financial, sociocultural, institutional, and technological challenges. They are also
constrained by the lack of weather and climate data. There is a serious need to
determine the drivers and barriers to sustained adoption of CSA practices in order
to understand the local context within which adaptations take place and to thoroughly evaluate the suitability of target practices and how their widespread adoption
Need for Personal Transformations in a Changing Climate: Reflections…
personal sphere of individuals (belief, values, worldviews, and paradigm. Refer to
O’Brien and Sygna 2013), which requires personal transformation. Furthermore,
what is climate smart in one place may not be that in another. Thus, transdisciplinary research at the landscape level and the assessment of synergies and cobenefits, as well as the development of metrics to quantify the benefits and trade-offs
of different options based on stakeholder objectives, are needed to derive locally
acceptable and feasible solutions.
Education and knowledge transfer of CSA practices is needed for African farmers to facilitate new mitigation and adaptation agendas to positively impact sustainable intensification. Extension services have played a key role in promoting
agricultural productivity and dissemination of knowledge, and their role in promoting adaptation measures to climate change will certainly have the same importance
(Bryan et al. 2009; Maponya and Mpandeli 2013). It is necessary to strengthen or
enhance the capacity of both public and private agricultural extension services,
enabling them to take leading roles in terms of strengthening innovation process,
building linkages between farmers and other agencies, and institutional development. As leaders in knowledge generation, research institutes and agricultural universities have an important role to provide means and tools for reflective practices
such as first person inquiry by educating mindful, context responsive, and economically viable agricultural practices among to students, extension workers, and policymakers. This can be accomplished on different ways, such as through the use of
demonstration plots, joint research projects, field trials, training seminars, etc.
(Asopa and Beye 1997), and should include aspects of transformative learning and
personal transformation (described in more detail in the following sections).
It is evident from the discussion above that much more work is needed in order
to achieve sustainable livelihoods and resilient communities and individuals in
Africa, both in technical and political contexts, and including aspects of personal
transformation. One of the greatest challenges is to mobilize sufficient technical
support and financial resources for the necessary actions at the local level and to
ensure that resources reach the most vulnerable target groups. While the estimated
costs of adaptation and mitigation in Africa and worldwide largely exceed the funds
available, CSA opens up new funding opportunities for agricultural development by
allowing the sector access to climate funds to enable adaptation and mitigation in
agriculture. A number of strategies, policies, partnerships, and investments have
been initiated in recent years to put the CSA concept into practice, such as the
Adaptation Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund, Special Climate Fund, Clean
Development Mechanism, Global Environment Facility Trust Fund, and Future
Green Climate Fund. These initiatives may address problem on the proximal level,
but do not address the problem of human desire and greed.
Farmers are faced with many barriers to adaptation, including but not limited to
financial, sociocultural, institutional, and technological challenges. They are also
constrained by the lack of weather and climate data. There is a serious need to
determine the drivers and barriers to sustained adoption of CSA practices in order
to understand the local context within which adaptations take place and to thoroughly evaluate the suitability of target practices and how their widespread adoption
Need for Personal Transformations in a Changing Climate: Reflections…