Rockefeller convening presentation by ISAR's Dr. Daphrose Gahakwa

1. CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND
AFRICAN AGRICULTURE GRANTEE CONVENING
24-25 February 2011
Project title: Strengthening ISAR’s Capacity to Develop
Climate Change Adaptation Interventions and Policy
Recommendations that Ensure their Adoption
Grantee: Institut des Sciences
Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR)
Presenter : Dr. Daphrose Gahakwa
Time allocated – 10 minutes
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2. Brief Background of the Institution
 ISAR is a public institution, established in 1962 with a
mandate to carry out research in agronomy, livestock and
environmental sciences.
 Mission:
To generate and develop demand driven technology to
increase agricultural productivity for food security and
improved incomes while conserving natural resources base.
 Vision: Enhance food security, economic growth and
integrated agric research for development
 ISAR has got 14 research stations in different agro
ecological zones
http://www.isar.rw/
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3. Your other projects/programs on climate
change adaptation
• None directly implemented by ISAR
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4. Objectives of the Rockefeller
Foundation Grant
• Mainstream awareness and understanding of CCA
concepts throughout Rwanda in order to prepare ISAR
staff to be a champion for climate change adaptation
• Deliver agro-meteorological data analyses to customers
and develop policy recommendations that address CCA
at the organizational, local, national and regional levels
in order to facilitate the passage of policies that promote
food security and well being for the region’s population
• Capture demand of farmers and other stakeholders
and translate their needs into the development of relevant
interventions in order to increase uptake of effective
climate change adaptation technologies 3

5. Key Activities Related to the Grant
• Establish a National Steering Committee on Climate Change Adaptation at ISAR
• Create a community of climate change adaptation champions within each research
program;
• Capacity development (Automatic Weather Station acquisition and postgraduate
training in agro-meteorology, climate science and modeling skills);
• Organize short-term training in agro-meteorology, climate science and modeling
skills—using train the trainer approach;
• Assess success of technologies through field surveys at the start (baseline) and end
of the project and document lessons learnt;
• Develop a competitive grant scheme that funds field testing for climate change
adaptation technologies;
• Contract a climate change research expert for improving local capacity.
• Contract an expert in policy to undertake policy analyses and recommendations
on climate change adaptation in Rwanda
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6. Highlight on the Progress to date
Creation of the National Steering Committee of the CCA
Project; 9 institutions involved
Acquisition and Installation of 10 AWS at 10 ISAR stations;
One MSc student at Nairobi University
Create a community of climate change adaptation champions
within each research program: 34 Heads of Research programs
committed;
A competitive grant scheme that funds field testing for
climate change adaptation technologies has been developed
and launched;
Field surveys at the start (baseline) to assess successful
technologies;
Logistics: Transport and computers facilities
Vehicle (Toyota 4x4 double cabin);
Laptop (4) and Desktop Computers and accessories (2);
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7. Early Findings (optional)
• Meteorological data collection:
197 WS up 1994 with complete climate data,
only 20 WS are operational to date
Data gaps from 1994-1999
Complete data for Kigali city
• Baseline Survey have been conducted: Farmers in the
eastern province have changed cropping patterns due
to drought, in the north frequent floods;
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8. Early Findings (optional)
• Annual average temperature in Rwanda has increased
gradually from 1971 to 2007, increase of 0.9 C in 27 years
• Average value was 19.8 °C in 1971 and 20.7 °C in 2007.
22.0
21.5
21.0
Température (°C)
20.5
20.0
19.5
19.0
18.5
1971
1973
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
Années
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9. Key Challenges
• Meteorological Data gaps between 1994-2000 at most of
the stations;
• Skilled personnel:
– in using current models such GCM, LEAP, DSSAT,
APSIM, IMPACT, etc;
Weak involvement of climate change aspects in
different research programs and institutions
• The contractual experts not readily available;
• Draw strategies to make a two years climate change
adaptation research for development project sustainable;
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10. Lessons Learnt
• Farmers are aware on climate change phenomenon
• Determining the impact of climate change on livelihood
requires skills;
• Climate change is affecting rain-fed agriculture;
• Determining and predicting the impact of climate
change on agricultural sector and population livelihood
requires multidisciplinary skills
• climate change impacts alone are difficult to separate
them from impacts of soil fertility changes, technologies
changes, land area change
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11. Emerging Opportunities for Collaboration
• ISAR Participates in the Elaboration of National Communication
relative to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change at REMA
2 new projects in Rwanda coordinated by REMA
• Supporting Integrated and Comprehensive Approaches to Climate
Change Adaptation in Africa – Building a comprehensive national
approach in Rwanda
Supported: Gov. of Japan, 1 year (ending with 2011)
• Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change by Establishing Early
Warning and Disaster Preparedness System and Support for
Integrated Watershed Management in Flood Prone Areas
Donor: GEF, 4 years (2010-2014)
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12. Next steps
• Analyze long-term climate data from established
climate stations and mobilize funds for Climate
Change adaptation and resilience based on results
• Provide two small grants to projects that will test the
success of technology linked to climate change
adaptation;
• Contract experts in climate modeling and policy
formulation in relation to climate change adaptation
and resilience
• Sensitize agricultural researchers to include climate
change in their research agenda
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