DFID, IDRC Introduce Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia at COP 18

2 December 2012. Doha, Qatar. In partnership with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), Canada’s International Development Research Center (IDRC) hosted a parallel event to the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the UNFCCC that introduced the new Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA).

Isabelle Proulx, CARIAA Team

Through interactive sessions, facilitated by Alexander Alusa, Climate Change Advisor to the Prime Minister of Kenya, participants discussed the CARIAA model and its approach and application, in anticipation of CARIAA’s open call for consortia to be launched in early 2013.

CARIAA is a US$70 million programme, initiated by DFID and IDRC, that will run from 2012 to 2019. It aims to increase the resilience of vulnerable populations and their livelihoods, in one of the following climate change “hot spots” in Africa and Asia: densely populated river basins, large deltas, and semi-arid regions. The experience and lessons learned through the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme (2006-2012), DFID’s and IDRC’s earlier joint climate change effort, have provided insight and guidance for CARIAA’s mission.

During the event in Doha, Qatar, Isabelle Proulx, CARIAA Team, introduced the programme, highlighting that the target areas, large deltas, glacier-fed river basins and semi-arid zones, have been chosen because of their vulnerabilities to climate change. She noted that CARIAA’s strategy is to create knowledge and put it in the hands of the people that are affected by climate change. Proulx noted that three interdisciplinary consortia, which will have up to five members, would be funded and expected to draw from a large base of institutions, and to engage communities. She underlined that the expectations are that the funded projects will promote research uptake and generate new knowledge.

[CARIAA website]