Counting on Uncertainty: The Economic Case for Community-Based Adaptation in North-East Kenya

Locally Led Adaptation & Resilience

Disaster Risk & Humanitarian Action

The study makes a valuable contribution to the evidence base for policy and practical support to community based adaptation (CBA) in arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya. It also presents a model for economic analysis which can provide results at scale to test a range of possible climate and adaptation scenarios. Written in technical detail, with clear reference to methods, models and findings, the report is timely and useful for policy makers, technical staff, adaptation practitioners and economists working in Kenya’s ASALs and beyond, to understand the key messages and how they were derived.

Through an analysis of community based adaptation within the framework of CARE’s Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP), this study aimed to assess whether investing in community-based adaptation is economically efficient and effective – holding all else, i.e. future regional or national scale transformations, equal. To this purpose, two communities in Garissa County, North East Kenya, one pastoral and one agro-pastoral, were consulted to provide case studies within a broader objective to investigate the case for investing in community-based adaptation.

This study aims to promote support for strengthening the empowerment and adaptive capacity of the poorest and most vulnerable communities and thereby contribute to achieving adaptation and resilient development in Africa which responds to the future and uncertain impacts of climate change.