Community Based Adaptation (CBA) can be a new mantra for Climate change adaptation !

   The recently organised Third International Workshop on CBA in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh in February 2009, organised jointly by the IIED, the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and the Ring Alliance of 13 policy research organisations from across the world (IRIN news). Since the climate effects are suffered by the poorest communities in the villages in developing countries, the focus of the strategies is now turning towards the community-based adaptation techniqes (CBA) and the process of distribution of funding and information becomes easier and effective.

Water-logging is a problem in Bangladesh! Hence they

depend on floating islands and water-hyacinths for growing food!!!

   The community-based adaptation is still a an aspriational term according to Saleemul Huq, Head of the Climate Change Group at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and he hope that lots of money being made available by the international community towards adaptation to climate change, to the poorest and most vulnerable.

   The CBA can be an effective process if it can be effectively implemented by identifying the end receivers of the climate change effects in third world countries. They are mainly traditional farmers in Asia and Africa where the effort to feed their own family and the country in general, have sacrifices everything of their own. Even at the midst of research developments and achievements, the technical support to the tradtional farmers in third world countries are nor effective, as such scientists around the world are still negotiating their terms with the stake holders and climate change businessmen in the five-star hotels and busy in dining with the most delicious food available on the surface of the earth, when millions starve in Africa and Asia!

     Hence, the Global Initiative on CBA launched at the workshop to promote the concept and share knowledge will be hopefully effective, as the initiative would not only build a support base of information for communities but would also serve the strategic purpose of advocating "specific quotas" for the most vulnerable in any new global funds for adaptation that may be agreed in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or other global processes, said Huq. The UK-based Institute for Development Studies has set up a website for exchanging information (http://community.eldis.org/cbax/) on CBA to inform NGOs and communities. Google Earth is also working with governments to map adaptation projects globally.

    The soul of the nature is in the villages, and the community based programmes are the only effective tools to understand the need of policies and plans to preserve the available water and other natural resources. The traditional methods which are cheap and best and long lasting can be identified and funding should be made available to create and maintain such traditional natrual resource preservation methods. The recent programs in India (by organisations like TERI, Goa) and Africa, which are success stories of community based programs and are not new to the world, on rainwater harvesting and watershed management, etc., have made immense impact in supporting the traditional farming and food production! Hence Community-based adaptation, CBA, can be a new mantra in the global climate change adaptation efforts!