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Course Title: Emerging Threats To Human Security In Africa
Climate Change: Mitigation And Adaptation
Rita Effah |September 25 2013
Course Summary
Climate is an important resource in African economies. On the other hand it has
the potential to negatively impact the lives and livelihoods of resource dependent
communities. However, climate systems in Africa are poorly understood.
While climate change is seen as a global threat, new studies show Africa is one of
the most vulnerable continents to climate variability and change due to multiple stress
and low adaptive capacity.
This course will introduce the concept of climate change, causes and impacts. We
will examine mitigation and adaptation response strategies to combat climate variability
and change in Africa. In addition, how these strategies could be scaled up to increase
the buffer potential of vulnerable communities and countries in Africa.
Course Objectives
At the end of this course you should:
• Possess a broad understanding of the science of climate change and how human
activities are important drivers (causes) for the current global temperature rise
• An enhance understanding of the impacts of climate change on vulnerable
communities and countries in Africa
 Be able to distinguish between mitigation and adaptation strategies both aimed at
tackling climate change
 Understand how climate change on its own or in conjunction with other drivers
could lead to threaten human security
 Understand some of the international frameworks, treaty and politics around
climate change and the role of African negotiators
Course Outline
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Climate Change: The Science, Causes, Impacts and Vulnerability
International Mechanisms
Climate Change Mitigation: Best Practices
Climate Change Adaptation: Best Practices
Break-out Activities
1. Early Icebreaker Activity
Ask participants to answer the following questions on a slip of paper at the beginning of
the session before any presentations. Collect and tally the answers to get a sense of the
opinion of the room going into the discussion.
I.
Do you think climate change is real?
II. Do you think humans have caused it?
III. Do you think climate change constitutes a national security threat?
2. Scenarios of the interconnection between climate change and human security
Scenario 11:
Drought in South Africa and the U.S. leads to higher prices of corn. Increased food
prices lead to a disgruntled urban population in Kenya who take to the streets in protest.
Kenyans react negatively to the presence of Somali refugees in their midst, as the
refugees are seen as competing for limited foodstuffs and carrying out violent attacks in
urban areas and in the northeastern part of the country. Protests against the government
are marred by violence against refugees in Nairobi.
The Kenyan government orders 100,000 Somali refugees in urban areas to travel to the
major refugee camp in Dadaab in the North Eastern Province of the country near the
Somali border. Dadaab already houses 500,000 refugees and is completely dependent
on imported food donations administered by the World Food Programme and nongovernmental organizations. The high price of corn leads to a decline in food donations,
resulting in a shortage of supplies for Dadaab. During the March to May rainy season,
heavy rainfall creates flooding, increasing the risk of disease and malnutrition.
Questions:
I.
Is this a national security problem?
II. What actions should the UNHCR take, if any, to support relief and contain further
crisis?
III. Should the UNHCR help prevent in the future such crises? If so, how?
IV. Does climate change potentially play a role in this crisis? If so, how?
3. Dengue Fever and Climate Change Game2
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Scope: Vector-borne diseases and climate change.
Focus: Education of dengue risk factors, especially those related to climate
change, and the consequences of human behavior that impact its spread.
Instructions:
Human versus Mosquitoes (click on link)
Recommended Reading: (Click on link to download)
Climate Change: Causes, Impacts and Vulnerability:
1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2007:
Synthesis Report, 2007.
1
Joshua Busby, 2013. Climate Change and National Security. Robert S. Strauss Center for International
Security and Law.
2http://www.climatecentre.org/downloads/File/Games/humans%20vs%20mosquitos/Humans%20vs.%20
Mosquitoes_Rules.pdf
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf
Boko, M., I. Niang, A. Nyong, C. Vogel, A. Githeko, M. Medany, B. OsmanElasha, R. Tabo and P. Yanda, 2007: Africa. Climate Change 2007: Impacts,
Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L.
Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds.,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, 433-467.
Le Treut, H., R. Somerville, U. Cubasch, Y. Ding, C. Mauritzen, A. Mokssit, T.
Peterson and M. Prather, 2007: Historical Overview of Climate Change Science.
In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working
Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B.
Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa African Climate Policy Centre
2011. Working Paper 1. Climate Science, Information, And Services In Africa:
Status, Gaps and Policy Implications.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa African Climate Policy Centre
2011. Working Paper 2. Vulnerability And Climate Change Hotspots In AfricaMapping Based On Existing Knowledge.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa African Climate Policy Centre
2011. Working Paper 9. Agricultural Water Management in the Context Of Climate
Change in Africa.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa African Climate Policy Centre
2011. Working Paper 20. Climate change and Health Across Africa: Issues and
Options.
Joshua Busby, Todd Smith, Kaiba White, and Shawn Strange. CCAPS Working
Paper No. 1 2010. Locating Climate Insecurity: Where Are the Most Vulnerable
Places in Africa?
Oli Brown, Anne Hammill and Robert Mcleman. Climate change as the ‘new’
security threat: implications for Africa. International Affairs 83: 6 (2007) 1141–
1154. http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/climate_security_threat_africa.pdf
Adaptation Strategies
1. LDC Expert Group 2012. Best practices and lessons learned in addressing
adaptation in the least developed countries through the national adaptation
programme of action process, Volume 2.
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/publications/ldc_publication_bbll_2012.pdf
2. Adger, W.N., S. Agrawala, M.M.Q. Mirza, C. Conde, K. O’Brien, J. Pulhin, R.
Pulwarty, B. Smit and K. Takahashi, 2007: Assessment of adaptation practices,
options, constraints and capacity. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and
Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P.
Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, UK, 717-743.
Mitigation Strategies
1. IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to
the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
[B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)], Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
2. Case study summary: Cabeólica Wind Farm, Cape Verde.
http://www.ashden.org/files/Cabeolicawinner.pdf
3. Gaia Association, Ethiopia Ethanol stoves for refugee homes
http://www.ashden.org/files/GAIA full.pdf
4. The Mitigation of Climate Change in Agriculture (MICCA) project in the South Uluguru
Mountains, Tanzania. Climate-smart practices with adaptation and mitigation
potential in smallholder farmer systems
Videos
1. Cabeólica: Harnessing the Wind in Cape Verde - YouTube
2. Gaia Association Ethanol Stoves for Refugees-YouTube
3. Tiwizi - Community Unites for Adaptation to Climate Change
Breakout Activity| Dengue Fever and Climate Change Game3
Instructions
Game Goal:
Mosquitoes: Must bite (attack: point at human) or lay an egg in the breeding grounds
(defend: point at breeding ground).
Humans: Clean up the mosquitos’ breeding grounds (attack: point at breeding ground)
or protect themselves (defend: cross arms over chest).
Setup:
For 7 players, divided equally between humans (4) and mosquitoes (3)
Breeding Ground Setup
 For 3 mosquito players there should be 3 breeding grounds. Players have 9 Egg
tokens, and can decide how many Egg tokens to place in each of the 3 breeding
grounds. Plus additional 2 Eggs to lay. The team can decide which player(s) get
to keep these Eggs (the eggs can be distributed between more than one player
or all given to one player).
 14 “Health/Blood” tokens for human team to be distributed among all humans.
Game Start: Humans should distribute their Blood/Health tokens between themselves
as they see fit. Mosquitoes should distribute their Egg tokens between themselves as
they see fit.
Game Play:
Humans are attempting to grab eggs from the breeding grounds without getting bit by
mosquitoes.
During each turn, Mosquitoes have to pick one of two options:
1. Bite one human and take one of their blood tokens.
2. Lay their eggs in the breeding grounds.
Mosquito Team Actions
1. Biting
Action: Mosquitoes bite humans by tagging them
If a human is bit, they give one of their blood tokens to the Mosquito who bit them. A
mosquito may only bite one human a round, but multiple mosquitoes may bite one
human. A human must give up one blood token to each mosquito that bites him or her.
3http://www.climatecentre.org/downloads/File/Games/humans%20vs%20mosquitos/Humans%20vs.%20
Mosquitoes_Rules.pdf
*Can be delineated by using playing cards
*All eggs and blood tokens can be represented as pebbles or stones
If a human is bitten before they get to a breeding ground, they give up one of their
blood tokens and go back to the human’s safe zone. Their turn is over.
2. Egg Laying - Action: Mosquitoes lay eggs by running to the breeding ground, placing
an egg, and sitting down there till the end of that turn
To lay eggs, Mosquitoes need some blood from a human.
Mosquitoes may lay eggs only if they have not passed the breeding line, and have not
bitten a human that turn.
To lay an egg they may sit down next to a breeding ground and place any Blood tokens
they are carrying in that breeding ground. That Blood token becomes an Egg token
adding to that breeding ground’s pile of eggs. Player must stay where they are sitting till
the end of that turn.
Human Team Actions
1. Clean Up - Human team players may Clean Up the breeding grounds by grabbing 1
egg per player from mosquitoes (attack: point at breeding ground). Then they must then
return to the Human Safe Zone and place these egg(s) there. Players must stay in Safe
Zone till end of the round. This is the end of their action that turn.
If a human gets bitten after grabbing an egg, they can keep the egg, but must give a
Blood token to the Mosquito that bit him/her and return to the Safe Zone till the end of
that turn.
If a human gets bitten before grabbing an egg, they do not get to keep that egg, and
must give over a Blood token to the Mosquito that bit him/her and return to the Safe
Zone till the end of that turn.
Cleaning Up a Breeding Ground - If a breeding ground has no eggs, after the round is
over the human team picks one Mosquito to sit out the rest of the game. This Mosquito
is no longer in play as it’s breeding ground no longer exists.
2. Defend your health - To defend themselves, the human team players can return to
their safe zone without doing any other action. If they choose to, they may take no more
actions this turn. This is the end of their action that turn.
Penalty Rule - If no human gets tagged by a mosquito and no human collects an egg,
(the human team takes NO ACTION that turn) the Mosquito team gets to bite one
human in their sleep and takes 1 of their Blood tokens.
Game End: If Humans remove all eggs from all breeding grounds first, they win! OR If
the Mosquitoes kill all the humans first, they win!
Icebreaker
Answer the following:
I.
Do you think climate change is real?
II.
Do you think humans have caused it? If Yes, How? If No what causes climate
change
III.
Do you think climate change constitutes a national/human security threat? If yes
How? If No what constitutes a human security threat
Scenario 14:
Drought in South Africa and the U.S. leads to higher prices of corn. Increased food
prices lead to a disgruntled urban population in Kenya who take to the streets in protest.
Kenyans react negatively to the presence of Somali refugees in their midst, as the
refugees are seen as competing for limited foodstuffs and carrying out violent attacks in
urban areas and in the northeastern part of the country. Protests against the government
are marred by violence against refugees in Nairobi.
The Kenyan government orders 100,000 Somali refugees in urban areas to travel to the
major refugee camp in Dadaab in the North Eastern Province of the country near the
Somali border. Dadaab already houses 500,000 refugees and is completely dependent
on imported food donations administered by the World Food Programme and nongovernmental organizations. The high price of corn leads to a decline in food donations,
resulting in a shortage of supplies for Dadaab. During the March to May rainy season,
heavy rainfall creates flooding, increasing the risk of disease and malnutrition.
Questions:
I.
Is this a national security problem?
II. What actions should the UNHCR take, if any, to support relief and contain further
crisis?
III. Should the UNHCR help prevent in the future such crises? If so, how?
IV. Does climate change potentially play a role in this crisis? If so, how?
4
Joshua Busby, 2013. Climate Change and National Security. Robert S. Strauss Center for International
Security and Law.