Climate change adaptation, knowledge co-production and livelihoods diversification in Namibia

This research explores climate change adaptation in the context of smallholder farming in North-Central Namibia (Newsham & Thomas 2009).

One under-researched issue for adaptation policy in North-Central Namibia is the extent to which the agro-ecological knowledge that farmers have developed over centuries constitutes adaptive capacity. This knowledge system has fostered resilience in the face of considerable climate variability. It is a way to respond to uncertainty, an alternative basis for decision making. This is especially pertinent, given that current projections of future climate trends in Namibia are too uncertain to serve as a robust basis for policy decisions.

This knowledge is not always drawn upon by the agricultural extensionists charged with implementing adaptation policy. Yet where it is incorporated, there can be a useful co-production of knowledge, which is more locally relevant and more legitimate as a form of knowledge transfer, because the transfer operates in both directions.

This research contributes, then, to understanding better the conditions in which these types of knowledge co-production are more likely to emerge, complementing a growing literature on ‘hybrid’ forms of knowledge, farmer decision-making and livelihoods in Southern Africa (cf. Reed, Dougill and Taylor 2007; Stringer et al. 2009; Thomas and Twyman 2004).

Duration: (2008-2009)

Funding: (UK Research Councils NERC, EPSRC, and ESRC)