Study examines how African farmers are adapting to mountain climate change

"Mountains are the sentinels of climate change," said Julia Klein, a Colorado State University professor of ecosystem science and sustainability and co-author of the study. "Like the Arctic, some of the first extreme changes we're seeing are happening in mountains, from glaciers melting to extreme events. There's greater warming at higher elevations, so what's happening in mountains is foreshadowing what's going to happen for the rest of the world." 

Global studies have shown that temperatures are rising more rapidly in mountain regions than at lower elevations, but there has been a lack of climate data for African mountains. To start to fill this gap in information, researchers interviewed 1,500 farmers across 10 African mountain regions to understand how the climate has changed, the impacts those changes are having on local livelihoods, and how farmers are adapting. 

Mountain regions in Africa are home to 228 million people, but many more rely on water and food from these areas. 

"Many people in Africa depend on the water and crops provided from these mountain systems -- in the mountains but also in the lowlands and cities," said lead author Aida Cuni-Sanchez. "We must find solutions for these farmers as climate change impacts will only get worse over time." 

Cuni-Sanchez, an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the University of York (UK), was inspired to study this topic using a participatory approach based on her postdoctoral research at Colorado State University. During that time, Cuni-Sanchez joined the Mountain Sentinels, a network of academics, Indigenous rights holders, mountain communities, and non-governmental organizations focused on mountain sustainability. The Mountain Sentinels network is funded by the National Science Foundation and has members in 56 countries, including 10 African countries. 

The study found similarities in climate changes and impacts across mountain ranges in all eight countries studied -- Cameroon, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Tanzania. Farmers reported increased temperatures, reduced fog, changes in rainfall amount and distribution, and an increase in extreme climate events. The most widespread climate-related impacts were lower crop yields and livestock production, increased pests and diseases, reduced human health and water availability, and more soil erosion. 

Farmers adapted by changing planting dates, adopting new crop varieties, increasing use of soil conservation techniques and inputs, like fertilizer and pesticides, and using more veterinary care. Some also were working to diversify their income sources. 

Most adaptation was incremental -- farmers made small changes to their normal processes rather than changing livelihoods -- and wealthier households were better able to adapt by trying more than one strategy.  

Violent conflicts hindered adaptation in some areas of Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where market access, mobility, and economic opportunities for alternative livelihoods were limited. 

Access to credit, technical skills and markets would help farmers better adapt to climate change, the authors stated, as well as increased knowledge exchange among local communities and external actors. For example, some programs promote climate adaptation by distributing drought-resistant seeds but do not support farmers when they have questions, so the seeds are discarded or abandoned after planting.   

"People are taking actions to adapt the best they can, but they are facing some challenges, often government policies that have negative unintended consequences for mountain people," Klein said, adding that policies often are made by people living elsewhere who may not understand the local social or cultural context. 

For example, in Rwanda, the government promotes the cultivation of maize and beans but discourages cassava and sorghum, crops perceived by local farmers as being more drought tolerant.

"In most African mountains, there are no meteorological stations or long-term records of crop yields. Just because changes have not been recorded, it doesn't mean they did not take place," Cuni-Sanchez said. "We approached farmers' perceptions and their Indigenous knowledge as living records of past changes, and we show that there have been numerous climatic changes and impacts in all mountains studied. We hope that our approach inspires researchers and practitioners working in other data-deficient regions, as climate change is affecting us all."

This approach is a core principle of Mountain Sentinels, which centers the knowledges of local and Indigenous mountain communities and helps to co-create solutions to their challenges.

"We need to think about every data point as a human being, as a family, trying to provide for themselves and for the next generation," said Klein, founder of the Mountain Sentinels network. "It's our responsibility to these people to act." 

The paper, published in Nature Climate Change, and an accompanying policy brief recommend involving community members in co-designing solutions that work for them. The policy brief, by Cuni-Sanchez and the Basque Centre for Climate Change, outlines several priorities for moving forward locally driven and culturally appropriate adaptation strategies in African mountain regions.