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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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4 RISK AND VULNERABILITY CLIMATE CHANGEinvesting in hydroelectric power plants if the river’s flow is falling by10 per cent each year. Likewise, there is little point in pouring resourcesin<strong>to</strong> rain-fed agriculture if the rain is about <strong>to</strong> s<strong>to</strong>p falling. Effectiveclimate adaptation deliberately integrates better awareness of futureclimate impacts in<strong>to</strong> current planning and actions, whether these areoriented <strong>to</strong>wards minimising risk or maximising opportunity.Where changes in the climate are becoming clear, some communitiesare already taking action. A study in four villages in South Africaand Mozambique facing increasing droughts and floods and moreerratic rainfall confirms that poor people are already finding ways <strong>to</strong>adapt, by:• Building social institutions: Communities set up numerousassociations, communal food projects, co-operatives, andwomen’s groups <strong>to</strong> share risk and confront threats <strong>to</strong>gether.• Diversifying livelihoods: Communities sought <strong>to</strong> move in<strong>to</strong>new areas of activity, such as fishing, vegetables, or construction,while some entered the more commercial end of farming, byintroducing irrigation and selling rather than consumingtheir produce.• Looking beyond the village: For example, by building linkswith nearby <strong>to</strong>wns, sending more male migrants off <strong>to</strong> workin <strong>to</strong>wns and commercial agriculture, or by building complementarylinks with other farming areas. 106At the same time, there are clear limits <strong>to</strong> how successfully poorcommunities can adapt if they do not have wider support. Many peoplelack viable opportunities <strong>to</strong> diversify their livelihoods or have nomoney <strong>to</strong> pay for the technologies they need, such as irrigationsystems or insecticide-treated bed nets. Most have very little access <strong>to</strong>reliable climate information that would help them <strong>to</strong> plan moreeffectively, or have no means of learning how other communities in asimilar situation have adapted. Research among subsistence farmersin Zimbabwe found that nearly half of those interviewed said that theywould want <strong>to</strong> adjust their farming according <strong>to</strong> long-term forecasts,but their lack of cash and credit would prevent them from doing so. 107Likewise, a study by ActionAid of climate change in African citiesfound that the ability of urban slum dwellers <strong>to</strong> adapt <strong>to</strong> increasedflooding was weak, because they could not easily organise as a263

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