Climate & Resilience

As the climate changes we must adapt

Higher temperatures, extreme weather events—such as floods and droughts—and erratic rainfall patterns have a profound impact on smallholder farmers, who are vulnerable to even the slightest shift in climatic conditions. Their livelihoods and wellbeing teeter on their ability to obtain basic commodities: food, water, and shelter.

Powering farmers to become resilient to climate change is one of the main cross-sectional strategies at the heart of iDE’s work. As we leverage market ecosystems to boost agricultural productivity, we also deploy tactics to help farmers adapt to changing climates such as promoting technologies like drip irrigation and solar pumps, linking farmers to information sources about the weather, helping communities determine priorities, and training people about climate change resilience and community-led management of natural resources.

Saving water for a dry day

“Before this pond there wasn’t even one vegetable planted," says Lemecha Bobe, a farmer in Ethiopia. "Now a new thing is formed." Bobe first learned about excavation ponds during a meeting on natural resource management held by iDE. In the past, fetching water for his crops was very time consuming and a drought had once devastated his plot. His pond now acts as a buffer against unpredictable rainfall as it stores water throughout the year. Bobe said building the pond was hard work but can now grow a variety of nutritious foods, which previously he would have purchased.

iDE Pc ETH Lemecha Bobe Callout 3X2 — Lemecha Bobe, Ethiopia

Climate change disproportionately affects the most vulnerable households, often in remote locations. Building resilience to economic shocks and stresses is at the heart of iDE's mission to end poverty as natural disasters not only threaten people's lives but also their future livelihoods. The work we do around climate and resilience involves understanding the natural environment and how people can use natural resources sustainably to achieve economic prosperity. At iDE we believe our Infinite Model provides a roadmap for how individuals who seek to participate in the market can move through a process of growth, establishing profitable livelihoods.

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SANITATION IN FLOOD-PRONE AREAS

In partnership with the University of Colorado, we surveyed 1,472 flood-prone households in Cambodia to explore links between climate vulnerability, latrine functionality, and fecal sludge management. We figured out how to target climate-vulnerable households, enabling us to understand barriers to sludge management products and services. iDE has also joined the Global Resilience Partnership. Hosted by Stockholm University, the partnership is made up of more than 60 organisations which work together to ensure people and places persist, adapt and transform in the face of shocks, uncertainty and change. Learn more here.

iDE PC CAM Flood Latrines Callout 3X2 — Latrines for flood-prone households

Climate & Resilience Training and Natural Resource Management

How to best steward our natural resources now and for the future

By managing our natural resources more effectively, through training on best practices, we are able to run projects sustainably and stay within environmental limits.

Climate-Smart Products

Technology that boosts profits and is good for the environment

As the climate changes, these resource-smart technologies have become increasingly important.

Measuring Market Resilience

Using an index to understand the durability of markets

The Market System Resilience Index (MSRI) enables us to track the resilience of the wider market system, specifically in rural contexts, helping us better understand and adapt our market creation approach to local contexts.