CREATE-ing Sustainable Livelihoods in Rural Senegal: A nexus based strategy forbuilding desertification resilience through capacity building and appropriate technology

CREATE-ing Sustainable Livelihoods in Rural Senegal

Godoy Recasens, Robert ; Higgs, Matthew Louis

4. Term

Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning, Master

2018

Land degradation and desertification cause major social and ecological losses in Sub-Saharan Africa, and conventional aid has had limited success. This thesis explores how appropriate technology and capacity building can enhance climate resilience in remote rural communities through an integrated, nexus-based approach. Using a case study in Senegal’s Diourbel region where the NGO CREATE! operates, data were collected via interviews, transect walks, and field observations across nine sites. By analyzing activities, strategies, and the Senegalese context, principles of appropriateness were derived and applied to theoretically assess the viability of interventions. The analysis indicates that improved cook stoves, conservation agriculture, woody species intercropping, farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR), and solar water pumps meet these principles and together can form a holistic resilience-building loop; additional practices on CREATE! sites—poultry rearing, community savings and loan programs, and formalized tree planting—also contribute. Despite past shortcomings in development aid, the study suggests that locally grounded, connected actions can meet basic needs, strengthen climate resilience, and support sustainable livelihoods, empowering communities to lead their own development.

Jordforringelse og ørkendannelse medfører store sociale og økologiske tab i det subsahariske Afrika, og traditionelle bistandsindsatser har haft begrænset effekt. Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan passende teknologi og kapacitetsopbygning kan øge klimaresiliensen i fjerntliggende landsbysamfund gennem en integreret, nexus-baseret tilgang. Med udgangspunkt i et casestudie i Diourbel-regionen i Senegal, hvor NGO’en CREATE! arbejder, indsamles data via interviews, transektvandringer og feltobservationer på ni lokaliteter. Ved at analysere aktiviteter, strategier og den senegalesiske kontekst udledes principper for “appropriateness”, som anvendes til en teoretisk vurdering af interventioners levedygtighed. Resultaterne peger på, at forbedrede komfurer, konservationslandbrug, indblanding af træarter, landmandstyret naturlig regenerering (FMNR) og solvandpumper opfylder de identificerede principper og tilsammen kan skabe en helhedsorienteret resilienssløjfe; derudover indgår praksisser som fjerkræavl, fælles opsparings- og låneordninger samt formaliseret træplantning. Trods tidligere udviklingsfejl viser analysen, at lokalt tilpassede, sammenhængende indsatser kan dække basale behov, styrke klimaresiliens og understøtte bæredygtige levevilkår, så lokalsamfund kan drive egen udvikling.

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Godoy Recasens, Robert:

• CREATE-ing Sustainable Livelihoods in Rural Senegal: A nexus based strategy for building desertification resilience through capacity building and appropriate technology. (2018)

Higgs, Matthew Louis:

• CREATE-ing Sustainable Livelihoods in Rural Senegal: A nexus based strategy for building desertification resilience through capacity building and appropriate technology. (2018)