This report documents the proceedings of the AfricaAdapt 2011 Climate Change Symposium that include research, experiences and knowledge about how to coordinate efforts to address climate change in Africa in anticipation of negotiations at COP-17 to be held in Durban, South Africa.

It includes summaries of and links to presentations, experience notes and comments offered by participants, as well as photos, videos and reports from the symposium's interactive plenary sessions. The topics covered include community-led responses to climate change and the role of media in translating and sharing information about climate change.

The report highlights ten overarching conclusions and lessons learned from the research presented. These include the need for improved research into indigenous knowledge and deeper links between adaptation, mitigation and low-carbon development; creating more African forums for knowledge sharing; and strengthening the availability of non-Anglophone researchers and practitioners.

AfricaAdapt is a network dedicated to promoting and facilitating the sharing of knowledge on climate change adaptation in Africa.

This report aims to identify strategies that the agricultural sector can adopt to mitigate and adapt to climate change, ensure food security, and improve the livelihoods of poor smallholder producers.

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for poor people in developing countries, and improving agricultural productivity is key to achieving food security and meeting most targets set as part of the Millennium Development Goals. In Sub-Saharan Africa, climate change is adding to existing development challenges, making it essential that mitigation, adaptation and rural development strategies are developed together.

By focusing on the example of smallholder farmers in Kenya, the authors suggest "triple win" agricultural practices that promise the greatest payoff in terms of increased resilience of the agriculture sector to climate change mitigation, adaptation, productivity and profitability. They include irrigation, soil and water conservation, integrated soil fertility management and improved livestock feeding.

This paper reports the results of a systematic review of the impacts of climate change on crop productivity in Africa and South Asia. The study, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), assessed eight food crops — rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, yam, plantain and sugarcane — that make up more than 80 per cent of agricultural production in these regions. Its findings aim to inform DFID's policies, allocation of resources and other practices according to the need for a stronger focus on evidence-informed decision-making on agriculture in a changing climate. The report provides background information; a detailed account of the review protocol and methodology; the data extraction strategy; data collection; meta-analyses; a synthesis of results; and key findings for all crops organised by region. It recognises that climate change will worsen environmental conditions that already affect crops, such as heat, drought, salinity and submergence in water.

This report, published by the WHO, collates data obtained over 8 years by WHO assessment teams working in 26 African countries. The teams analysed different aspects of national regulatory systems such as management, funding and quality control procedures. Poor regulatory systems in impoverished nations are often blamed for allowing the spread of counterfeit drugs in the developing world.  The report says that although mechanisms for drug regulation existed in every country, and there were guidelines for quality-control inspections, these were often not well executed because of a severe lack of resources and staff.

This report assesses how much African countries are benefiting from and participating in the global technology market. This is based on trends in technology transfer and a comparison between flows of technology between various regions of the world and among African countries between 1990 and 2008. The report recommends simple steps that African countries can take to speed up the uptake and use of foreign technologies without stretching their budgets or changing their institutions.

This report explores the role of agricultural growth in reducing and preventing undernutrition — deficiencies in energy, protein, and essential vitamins and minerals.

It describes how agricultural growth increases the capacity of households to produce more nutritious food and to buy more nutritious food by boosting income levels. Agricultural growth also improves nutrition through a broader effect on the economy, such as increasing government revenues to fund education, health, infrastructure, and nutrition intervention programmes.

The report gives an overview of the relationship between nutrition and growth, examines different growth patterns and their nutritional outcomes, and identifies factors that influence this dynamic — such as a country's stage of economic development.

A new paradigm for agricultural development is needed, says the report, where agricultural growth leads not only to increased production and reduced poverty, but also to improved nutrition. It concludes with recommendations for future research, and aims to provide policymakers with knowledge about development and investment strategies that can improve nutritional outcomes.

This report provides an overview of fisheries and aquaculture, future challenges and the technological tools available to help manage them. It reveals the key role of this sector in meeting global fish demand, as well as its importance as a source of cash and high-quality protein — particularly in poorer countries.

A section devoted to case-studies reviews current scientific knowledge of the impacts of a changing climate. It also highlights a range of issues including standards and certification, development of aquaculture in South-East Asia and the use of geographical information systems to manage aquaculture.

Elsewhere, the document outlines efforts to control illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by establishing trade measures and improving the collection of global records about fishing vessels.

The report also pinpoints challenges ahead, including biodiversity protection and a greater demand to address concerns about public health and environmental protection.

This report presents evidence that people with mental health conditions meet major criteria for vulnerability and should be targeted for protection by development programmes. Mental illness such as schizophrenia, depression or bipolar disorder are common but largely neglected.

The WHO makes the case that because of their vulnerability, people with mental health problems need to be given opportunities for education and work, and to be included in decisions that affect them.

It argues that mental health should be built into sectoral and broader plans for development, with government agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders playing a key role in ensuring this. To make implementation a reality, interventions and mainstreaming efforts should be funded adequately, and recipients of development aid should be encouraged to address the needs of people with mental health conditions. The report recommends actions as a starting point towards these aims.

This report, published by the Meridian Institute describes the growing interest of developing countries including Brazil, China, India and South Africa, in nanotechnology. The ways nanotechnology applications could solve health, sanitation, and pollution problems and provide faster, cheaper information and communication technology are outlined. The challenges of using and developing nanotechnology for and in developing nations including the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders are also discussed.

The Meridian Institute says nanotechnology can play a role in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals. As a result, rich nations should dedicate a reasonable portion of their overseas development assistance to nanotechnology.

This report investigates large dams and small-scale irrigation investment opportunities in Africa. It aims to inform national and community-led efforts to assess irrigation potential and tailor solutions to local contexts. It suggests, for example, that Mali would benefit most from small-scale irrigation, while the Gulf of Guinea has the greatest potential for expanding dams within the continent.

This study explores strategies for effectively adapting small-scale agriculture to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors provide background information on the region's agriculture and climate, an overview of adaptation analysis tools and policy frameworks. They suggest a mix of farm practices for successful and resilient adaptation.

This report, published by Thomson Reuters, uses a collection of data to provide an overview of the patterns of research activity in Africa. The authors note the drain of talent away from the continent and suggest that this is partly due to a chronic lack of investment in research.

The authors identify networks of collaboration both within and beyond the continent but conclude that it is unclear whether these networks reflect long-term research links, or current research interests.

This publication from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), brings together a series of academic papers originally presented at an ILRI workshop, Coping with feed scarcity, in 1999.

The authors present case studies of undernutrition in ruminant livestock in tropical developing countries, and discuss implications for feed evaluation and socio-economic issues such as gender roles.

This report, from the Network for the Coordination and Advancement of Sub-Saharan Africa-EU Science & Technology Cooperation (CAAST–Net), aims to promote cooperation in science and technology between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The authors argue that Africa must build up a domestic knowledge base and Europe must help transfer technology. In this regard, they evaluate European-African partnerships and African participation in both the EU Framework Programmes and the European Development Fund.

This report by the Food and Agriculture Organization considers how to increase conservation agriculture — including no tillage, permanent soil cover and crop rotation — to improve food security, boost incomes and protect the environment in Africa.

The report pinpoints key factors to achieving this, including giving farmers access to the right tools and seeds through incentives and subsidies.

This report, published in English and French, looks at the unique responsibilities of African regional institutions in leading the continent on climate issues.

The report makes six recommendations for action by regional institutions: provide technical advice to African climate negotiators; help develop a coherent continental framework for action against climate change; play a 'bridging' role between pan-African organisations and national ones; improve the availability of climate data on the continent by sharing information; and compare strategies for adaptation to inform policymaking.

This report, published by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), describes twelve projects to illustrate successful scientific partnerships between developed and developing countries.

The projects cover research into water-borne disease, natural disasters, brain drain and forest management, and include partnerships with researchers in Chad, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The report reveals how high-quality local and global scientific knowledge can lead to local development benefits. For example, collaboration between developed-country researchers and their counterparts in locations where infections are likely to arise can halt epidemics at the local level, benefiting the global sphere.

The authors suggest that future research budgets must take into account the global and cross-diciplinary nature of research and encourage scientific cooperation.

They say that approximately 85 per cent of global research and development resources are invested in countries within the Organisation for Co-operation Development (OECD), compared with just five per cent given to developing countries.

This report, prepared for the UN Economic Commission for Africa, reviews the status and prospects for remote sensing in Africa.

The authors argue that a real and immediate need exists for real-time remote sensing data to improve early warning, vulnerability assessment, mitigation, response and relief of disasters. This means, they say, supporting African countries to acquire data — including launching their own satellites, as well as improving bandwidth infrastructure and building capacity for analysing and processing geoinformation.

The authors highlight the continent's limited connectivity as a particularly challenging hurdle to overcome, as well as a lack of training and expertise in remote sensing. They briefly outline international donors' efforts to improve the situation and suggest improving collaboration and networking.

This report from GeneWatch UK describes the use of genetically modified (GM) crops as agrofuels and makes policy recommendations on their use.

Civil society groups have raised concerns over the sustainability of using food supplies to produce biofuel. Industry and government have responded by investing in genetically modified 'second generation' biofuels to try and increase energy output from a broader range of plant sources.

The author says that assessments of GM biofuels must consider their impact on biodiversity, food supply and land use, how much they can realistically reduce carbon emissions and their technical feasibility.

GeneWatch UK recommends an independent appraisal for second-generation GM agrofuels. It suggests that gaps in research and regulation must be addressed, particularly those regarding environmental concerns such as factory waste streams containing GM organisms.