Background
During the International Partners Workshop in Cambodia in 2006, Prolinnova partners expressed their interest in looking into the link between climate-change adaptation and participatory innovation development (PID). After all, if farmers are constantly having to adapt to changes in local conditions, whatever the cause of these changes may be, some of their innovation efforts will most probably also be aimed at coping with the effects of climate change.
In an initial review of literature, we realised that few people have actually tried (and managed) to implement interventions focused on local-level efforts to adapt to climate change. There are few accounts of experiences in the field. There is much rhetoric, but not much evidence of action. Even fewer people mention farmers’ own creativity as a starting point for intervention. There is, in short, a need to bring relevant experiences into the debate.
Prolinnova partners mobilised a small amount of funding to do just that: to bring into the overall debate some interesting field-based cases of local innovation in the face of perceived climate change.
Exploratory study
Because funds are limited, only a few country platforms could become involved in this initiative, although many are interested. The initial exploratory study was made in 2008-2009.
The overall objective of the study was to explore the relevance of local adaptation/innovation and the PID approach to climate-change adaptation at the local level. More specifically, it tried to:
-
systematically document local experimentation processes that come about as a response to a locally felt need to adapt to climate change
-
understand local communities’ perceptions of "climate change"
-
stimulate documentation of local innovation (processes) at local level
-
draw lessons on the potential impact/influence of local innovation processes on climate-change adaptation policies and programmes.
