Sitting in Hanoi at the 6th International conference on Community-based Adaptation, I am struck by how advanced the responses to climate change in Vietnam seem to be. The government has many plans and strategies, NGOs are doing solid work, and communities – well, communities are doing things for themselves. Then we are also hearing about exciting initiatives all over the world – participatory video to lobby the government on required policies in the Solomon Islands, child-centred adaptation in Somaliland, social mobilisation in La Paz, and actions by indigenous peoples all over the world. It’s enough to make a person feel positively hopeful. And it’s a very different feeling to the one I had at COP17 in Durban in December last year. How do we revitalise the international negotiations process on climate change, so that it brings us real reasons for hope, and not fears of harm?
Penny, the link to this page was posted on LinkedIn by Christo Fabricius. I have worked on CBNRM myself for 15-20 years, beginning while I was a World Bank staff member. Beginning then, I set up a global network on CBNRM, namely CBNRM Net (www.cbnrm.net), which today is an international NGO/network registered in Norway. I also manage a group, “CBNRM”, on LinkedIn. Finally, I work on CBNRM through two consulting firms I own, Supras Ltd (www.supras.biz). The concern with climate change appears to be only gradually dawning upon the CBNRM group of people. I would welcome your advise – and, if interested – your contribution to bringing this issue to the front of the CBNRM agenda. Email: lars@supras.biz.
Kind regards, Lars Soeftestad
Hi Lars, thanks for your comment, good to make contact. I think there is room for a lot of synergy between the community-based adaptation and the CBNRM groups, would love to discuss this with you. I’ll be in touch via email.The CBA people can learn a lot from CBNRM too, especially on the difficulties with building effective local institutions and ways to overcome these. There seems to be a growing realisation of the importance of good institutions at multiple levels to advance climate change adaptation.
Thanks for sharing Penny. Was having a similar conversation yesterday with someone who was bemoaning the demand for him to go to become involved in another big global event (Rio +20). With his national organisation being part of an international NGO network, the challenges of balancing the ongoing need for grass-roots mobilisation (“real, rewarding, visible”) with international processes (“opaque, exclusionary, depleting”). Please do give me a shout when you get back – I would love to pick your brain on issues related to networks of networks on CC resilience in Asia. Best wishes.