PAS-PNA - Science-based National Adaptation Planning in Senegal

During the Climate Conference in Cancun in 2010, the Parties agreed on the process of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) to reduce their vulnerability to climate change and integrate adaptation in the planning processes and development strategies.

Senegal, in accordance with the progress of the international climate negotiations, launched its NAP process in 2015. It aims to reduce the vulnerability of the country in the face of climate change impact by strengthening its adaptation capacities and resilience and facilitating the integration of climate change planning in development plans. The achievements recorded during the process are the following: (i) elaboration of a road-map in 2015 with all the stakeholders, (ii) identification of the priority sector, (iii) definition of a sectoral approach for the elaboration of the NAP, (iv) validation and signature of the NAP document. The Support Project for Science-based National Adaptation Planning in Francophone Sub-Sahara African Least Developed Countries (PAS-PNA) was initiated in this context through the cooperation between Senegal and Germany.

The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with Climate Analytics and partnered with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) from 2016 to 2019. The project was officially launched in April 2017 and aims to support the Senegalese government, namely MEDD, in the process of climate change adaptation planning for the sectors of agriculture, water resources and coastal zones.

In the technical instructions of the NAP processes formulated by a group of experts, the need for science-based knowledge is stated explicitly (2012). The international climate financing mechanisms require that vulnerability in the face of climate change is demonstrated and evaluated by scientific expertise and that the strategies developed explicitly tackle the impacts caused by climate variability and change. Therefore, it is necessary to prove the climatic vulnerability of development sectors of the country and identify concrete adaptation measures based on robust scientific facts.

Initial preparatory phase of the studies – April 2017 to January 2018

• Selection of the three sectors: agriculture, water resources and coastal zones

• Stocktaking of the integration of climate change and science-based knowledge in the policies and strategies at national and regional level
  An analysis of the institutional and political context of climate change in Senegal has been undertaken. It covers the following aspects:
  • An evaluation of the processes incorporating the scientific information in the formulation of policies and strategies
  • An analysis of the consideration of the dimension of climate change in the regional development policies within the study area of the vulnerability studies
  • A literature review was undertaken for each stage of this methodology and was complemented by interviews of stakeholders from relevant institutions at national and regional levels.

• Approach for scientific capacity building
  It was agreed that the stakeholders would form three research consortia (one consortium per sector) bringing together national research organisations (between 10 and 15 organisations per consortium) for the vulnerability studies. Six young researchers (post-docs) were recruited: three researchers are placed within each consortium and have the responsibility of leading the vulnerability studies for their sector and the three others are responsible for the social sciences, socio-economic and climatologic dimensions of the studies. Therefore, the scientific capacity building allows six young researchers to gain in-depth expertise in the analysis of climate vulnerability that they can subsequently use in future studies. In addition, a monitoring committee of the consortia was created with representatives of the civil society, the private sector and different concerned administrative services at national and regional levels to accompany and supervise these studies.

In-depth vulnerability studies – February 2018 to January 2019

• Stocktaking of science-based knowledge
  The stocktaking of science-based knowledge allowed on one hand to get a clear picture of the existing scientific knowledge on impacts, vulnerability, adaptation options and strategies available in Senegal for the three priority sectors. On the other hand, it allowed to identify the gaps for the availability and reliability of scientific information in each of these sectors. Based on the two stocktakings undertaken, it was possible to determine the additional information to be provided by the sectoral vulnerability studies.

• Vulnerability study process
  The vulnerability studies were led by the research consortia, in particular by the post-docs recruited for 10 months. Once the vulnerabilities had been identified, adaptation options for each sector were identified. The methodology for the identification was developed by the consortia with the support of Climate Analytics and presented to the monitoring committee. Half-way through the process of the vulnerability studies, the research consortia presented and discussed the preliminary results of the vulnerability studies to the relevant actors at a workshop. In January 2019, during the final workshop of the vulnerability studies, the final results of the studies and the identified adaptation options were presented and validated with the various actors. Radio and TV programmes were produced to reach local communities. Finally, policy-briefs were elaborated to communicate the results to the key actors – the ministries working on a national level and the relevant decentralized structures.

Integration of scientific results in the process of NAP formulation – January to April 2019

The scientific results of the vulnerability studies have been integrated in the NAP process through different workshops and reports.