Climate change in East Africa : towards a methodological framework on adaptation and mitigration strategies of natural resources

Developing countries are extremely vulnerable to climate change, due to their strong economic dependency on rain-fed agriculture. Land-use policies can offer a less vulnerable future by design and application of relevant mitigation and/or adaptation strategies. Effectiveness of such strategies depends on local conditions. Therefore, hotspot regions are defined, where specific issues related to agriculture will be assessed. Mitigation strategies in East Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular include reforestation, while adaptation covers aspects such as crop diversification and water use efficiency. An analytical framework is developed in which a science-policy interface is the main focus. On one hand policy-makers and stakeholders can be involved in such a framework for policy design, while scientists on the other hand deliver data and modeling tools. The model chain in the framework is integrated by an evaluation step where policy options are compared for efficiency on several development targets. The framework will be tested in 2010 in hotspot regions in East Africa.