Participants attending a presentation

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) organized a training course on agro-ecosystem resilience in a changing climate for improved agricultural livelihoods and food security in Colombo, from 12 to 15 June 2017.

The course is a part of the project “Mainstreaming Weather and Climate Information Application for Agro-ecosystem Resilience in a Changing Climate”, funded by Asia Pacific Network (APN). This project aims to create awareness and build capacity of government officials on mainstreaming weather and climate information to increase agro-ecosystem resilience through effective utilization of weather and climate information and adaptive technological solutions.

25 Officers from different departments of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Sri Lanka, attended the training. The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture from the University of Peradeniya, the Additional Secretary from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Director of Research and Climate Change from the Department of Meteorology, and the Assistant Director - Climate Change Secretariat from the Ministry of Environment spoke to the participants during the inauguration ceremony.

The participants had the relevant background and professional responsibilities to build agro-ecosystem resilience in their respective areas.

Since agricultural systems, whether they are farmlands, livestock, or aquaculture, are mostly rural, they are vulnerable to pests, diseases, and increased climate variability. With disaster impacts or other shocks, agricultural systems have very low resilience and need special protective measures to improve their coping abilities. Many crops, livestock and fish varieties show sensitivities to climate change and need special adaptation measures to build resilience.

Through group work and brainstorming, participants received an opportunity to understand the links between climate change, climate risk management, and project formulation in order to formulate interventions to build agro-ecosystem resilience at national and local levels.

In addition to a basic introduction to the terms and concepts, the participants were also acquainted with the theory of change, logical framework analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and mapping as part of project formulation for sustainable agricultural practices.

Participants during group work

The project is being implemented under APN’s core programme “Capacity Development Program (CAPaBLe intended to improve the capacities of scientists, policy-makers, and other relevant stakeholders in the Asia and the Pacific region and to identify and assess global change issues at the local, national and regional levels. The previous course took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Two more training sessions will be conducted. One in Nepal and one in Thailand later in 2017-2018.