Climate change & Resilience

According to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, the UN body responsible for evaluating scientific work on climate change), published in August 2021, “climate change will become more pronounced in all regions over the coming decades. With global warming of 1.5°C, there will be more heat waves, longer hot seasons and shorter cold seasons. With a rise of 2°C, extreme heat will more often reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and public health.”

In sub-Saharan Africa, starting in Burkina Faso, climate change has no impact on agricultural production or food security. Potential consequences include rainfall scarcity and maldistribution, flooding, drought, etc.

To counter this, Solidar Suisse implements projects to strengthen the resilience of rural populations to the adverse effects of climate change. To this end, we are building producers’ capacities through training in water and soil conservation/soil defense and restoration (CES/DRS) techniques such as Zaï, stone cordons, manure pits, half moons, and agroecology through the production of “Bokashi” organic fertilizer. In addition, adapted farming equipment is distributed to growers to improve their efficiency and yields.