<h3>Introduction</h3>
In recent years, global attention to community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change has grown, both in political discourse and in practice, as many traditional, top-down adaptation approaches have failed to adequately address the needs of local communities and have ignored the importance of local interventions in adaptation efforts.
CBA is a &ldquo;community-led process, based on communities&rsquo; priorities, needs, knowledge, and capacities, which should empower people to plan for and cope with the impacts of climate change&rdquo; (Reid et al., 2009). CBA is generally described as a bottom-up approach, but enhancing community resilience is more complex than simply increasing income or assets, or expanding the production and use of advanced agricultural technology. It also includes knowledge development, local institutions, flexible management, and participatory decision-making (Gubbels, 2013).
<h3> Why Is CBA Important?</h3>
Interest in and attention to CBA is motivated by several considerations, among them:&nbsp;
Climate justice: Local communities are on the front lines of the adverse impacts of climate change, and it is unfair that the individuals least responsible for climate change face its worst consequences (Reid et al., 2009). The CBA approach is therefore aimed at improving the long-term well-being of poor and marginalized groups. Less resilient in the face of climate change, these groups tend to live in areas that are more vulnerable to climate disasters and rely heavily on natural resources that are most affected by climate change for their lives and livelihoods. As part of CBA, training can be given to these groups on climate-resistant livelihood options and techniques and more efficient use of limited water resources. Community-based approaches help address the root causes of communities&rsquo; poor resilience by realistically monitoring the basic gaps that communities feel need to be addressed (Kirkby et al., 2017).
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Multiple benefits: A 2012 study by Care International that performed a cost-benefit analysis of CBA activities in some African countries found that GBP1 invested in Kenya on local adaptation initiatives could generate GBP1.45&ndash;3.03 of wealth for communities (Nicholles &amp; Vardakoulias, 2012). In Niger, each sterling pound invested on local adaptation generates GBP4&ndash;6. Local adaptation actions and measures similarly increased revenues from agricultural activities by an average of 40% (Nicholles &amp; Vardakoulias, 2012). The study also found marked improvements in health and education levels, a tendency to make decision more inclusive of women, and a reduction in deforestation and land degradation in these African countries (Nicholles &amp; Vardakoulias, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Addressing relative deficiencies in traditional adaptation approaches: Top-down adaptation measures tend to be bureaucratic, elitist, costly, and unsustainable (Kirkby et al., 2017), and focus mainly on hard adaptation strategies, such as infrastructure projects and technology (building flood walls and other structures, technology transfer, and improved communications) (Ross et al., 2015). The CBA approach relies on soft adaptation strategies, which include equally important issues such as building social capital, transforming local behaviors and practices, and improving the skills and resilience of local populations (Shammin et al., 2021).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Increased effectiveness and sustainability of adaptation plans: Top-down adaptation measures are typically formulated by foreign bodies and implemented at the national level, and so are unlikely to be sustainable. When local solutions and traditional knowledge are taken into account and communities are empowered, adaptation measures become more effective, sustainable, and resilient because they create a sense of local ownership of these measures. When adaptation projects are suited to the local context, beliefs, and values, they are more likely to be socially accepted and less likely to encounter public resistance (Kirkby et al., 2017).</li>
</ol>
While community-based interventions are important, successful and sustainable climate adaptation also requires action at the national, regional, and global levels and collaboration across different sectors and initiatives (humanitarian assistance, economic development, disaster risk reduction, food security, and more), with the participation of key stakeholders (national and local governments, the private sector, civil society organizations, academia, and the media (Gubbels, 2013).
<h3> How Do Local Communities in Developing Countries Contribute to Climate Adaptation?</h3>
With financial and technical support from international governmental and non-governmental organizations, local communities in developing countries have contributed to a wide range of climate adaptation programs, including:&nbsp;
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Emergency preparedness and early warning: Some communities on Sri Lanka&rsquo;s southern coast use a traditional system&nbsp;called litha to predict rainfall patterns and the optimum time for planting based on lunar cycles (Reid et al., 2009). In Nepal, a study compared rainfall patterns recorded by farmers using their traditional rainfall calendars with actual rainfall data recorded in weather stations and found significant convergence between them (Gill, 1991).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Disaster risk reduction: Many local organizations in coastal areas of Asia and Africa are working to restore degraded ecosystems and plant mangroves along coastlines to prevent their erosion. Trees are also being planted around farms and along river banks and steep slopes to protect against floods, storms, and hurricanes (Shammin et al., 2021).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Development of climate-resistant infrastructures: In Nepal, local people have devised strategies for storing rainwater for irrigation (Shammin et al., 2021). In the Philippines, the Homeless People&rsquo;s Federation is working with academics and architects to build homes that can withstand hurricane winds and reduce emissions, and local governments are consulting with the union on planning shelters for those displaced by hurricanes (Topping &amp; Mohieldin, 2022).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Water resource management: In the Isiolo district of Kenya, participatory resource maps were drawn using geographic information systems to identify which water sources and grazing lands should be used during the dry season and which should be maintained as reserves for periods of drought (Shakya, 2016).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Guaranteeing food security: Bhutanese farmers have used their traditional knowledge to develop four local rice strains to sustain their livelihoods (Shammin et al., 2021). Hydroponics, or farming without soil, is one mode of community climate adaptation in Bangladesh: farmers who face waterlogged fields in the south of the country cultivate food crops on floating islands made of rice straw, water hyacinths, and other aquatic plants (The New Humanitarian, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Promotion of sustainable agriculture: The joint&nbsp;forest&nbsp;management approach allows local people in India, both individuals and groups, to participate in the management of millions of hectares of forests for 20 year-periods, with the possibility of an extension, in agreement with the state forestry foundation. This approach encourages tenants to sustainably manage and replant trees, and stop overgrazing and wood smuggling in exchange for revenues from non-wood products (Bhattacharya et al., 2010).</li>
</ol>
<h3> Toward Climate Adaptive Communities in Egypt</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A review of Egypt&rsquo;s key official documents on climate change&mdash;namely, the National Climate Change Strategy 2050 (Ministry of Environment, 2022), and Egypt&rsquo;s updated National Contributions Plan 2022 (UN Climate Change, 2022)&mdash;show an interest in raising awareness of the risks of climate change in Egyptian society. The documents formally acknowledge the importance of community participation by all groups when developing crisis management plans, with a focus on the role of local institutions and communities, and the need to consider gender in climate change planning efforts. They also highlight the need to prepare studies to evaluate the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable groups.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
Nevertheless, these points are typically articulated as general guidelines and are not coupled with specific mechanisms and measures to enhance community participation in climate adaptation efforts. While CBA initiatives in Egypt are currently limited in scope (Froehlich &amp; Al-Saidi, 2017), CBA can be made a more common approach by taking specific measures, including:
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Formulate local adaptation plans of action: It would be useful for the process of formulating the national action plan for climate adaptation in Egypt to go beyond regional and national consultations to include local input from villages and areas most vulnerable to climate change. This input could identify local vulnerabilities and needs, guided by traditional knowledge and subjective experiences developed by local communities over time (Relief Web, 2011). Climate adaptation can also be integrated into local development and disaster risk reduction plans (LDC Expert Group, 2012) while allocating the financial resources needed to implement adaptation actions at the local level.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Facilitate access to and dissemination of climate knowledge: Develop agricultural early weather warning systems that include the provision of agricultural weather bulletins in local vernaculars and an easy-to-understand language, and climate information within a short time frame, to enhance the ability to respond to climate change in a timely manner.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Local capacity development: Farmer field/climate schools, based on the idea of shared learning and the provision of farmer-oriented training programs, can play an important role in promoting climate-smart farming practices and preserving natural resources, as well as educating communities about methods for quantifying climate change impacts, recording climate data, and using it in agriculture and fishery decisions.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Innovative social protection programs: These include financial incentives for local people implementing practices aimed at preserving the environment and forests and reforesting land, similar to the payment for environmental services program in Mexico (Campos et al., 2013). It also includes encouraging microfinance institutions to offer insurance schemes against environmental risks such as floods (Shammin et al., 2021).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Support resilient, sustainable livelihood options: Provide educational initiatives and training to local communities on how to cultivate, care for, and maximize yields from drought-resistant and early ripening crops, which provide a more stable source of income for poor households (UN Environment Program, 2021).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Encourage climate-smart farming practices: Establish heirloom seed banks in collaboration with agricultural research centers to store local seed types and select the crop varieties best adapted to local conditions and most resistant to a changing climate, as is the case in Nicaragua (The Climakers, 2021).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Integration of adaptation efforts at national and subnational levels: Implement a project to strengthen climate information partnerships between information providers (for example, national meteorological services) and users (organizations working on food security), thereby helping to raise awareness of climate risks and enhance the ability to respond to them in a timely manner. Participatory scenario planning workshops could also be organized as an innovative way to exchange and share seasonal climate information among meteorologists, farmers, local governments, and local NGOs.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Disseminate and universalize local good practices: Organize visits among farmers to encourage shared learning and gleaning lessons and best practices on climate adaption that can be adopted locally, with the possibility of training for joint local initiatives to conserve soil and water and sharing responsibility for collecting weather data (Reid et al., 2009).&nbsp;</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Develop systems for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of local adaptation efforts: Develop a set of indicators to measure local adaptation capacity, such as surface area planted with drought-resistant crops, the productivity of rain-fed crops, and farmers&rsquo; incomes in rainfed lands. This would keep the authorities apprised of the state of the environment at the local level, as well as help identify community priorities and integrate them into the national adaptation action program (Mfitumukiza et al., 2020).</li>
</ol>
<hr>
References
Bhattacharya, P., Pradhan, L., &amp; Yadav, G. (2010). Joint forest management in India: Experiences of two decades. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 54(8), 469&ndash;480.
Campos, M., Herrador, D., Manuel, C., &amp; McCall, M.K. (2013). Adaptation strategies to climate change in two rural communities in Mexico and El Salvador. Boletin de la Asociaci&oacute;n de Ge&oacute;grafos Espa&ntilde;oles, 61, 433&ndash;436.
Froehlich, P., &amp; Al-Saidi, M. (2017). Community-based adaptation to climate change in Egypt: Status quo and future policies. In W. Leal Filho (Ed.), Climate change research at universities (pp. 235&ndash;250). Springer.
Gill, G. (1991). &ldquo;But how does it compare with the real data?&rdquo; RRA Notes, 14.
Gubbels, P. (2013). West Africa learning event: Community based adaptation (conference report). CARE International.
Kirkby, P., Williams, C., &amp; Huq, S. (2017). Community-based adaptation (CBA): Adding conceptual clarity to the approach, and establishing its principles and challenges. Climate and Development, 10(7), 577&ndash;589.
LDC Expert Group. (2012). National adaptation plans: Technical guidelines for the national adaptation plan process. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Mfitumukiza, D., Roy, A.S., Simane, B., Hammill, A., Rahman, M.F., &amp; Huq, S. (2020). Scaling local and community-based adaptation. Global Center on Adaptation.
Ministry of Environment. (2022). Decisionmakers summary: National strategy for climate change in Egypt 2050 (Mulakhkhas Suna&lsquo; al-Qarar: al-Istratijiya al-Wataniya li-Taghayyur al-Manakh fi Misr 2015). [in Arabic]
Nicholles, N., &amp; Vardakoulias, O. (2012). Economic analysis of community-based adaptation. New Economics Foundation.
Reid, H., Alam, M., Berger, R., Cannon, T., Huq, S., &amp; Milligan, A. (2009). Community-based adaptation to climate change: An overview. Participatory Learning and Action, 60.
ReliefWeb. (2011). Climate change: Community-based adaptation in action.
Ross, H., Shaw, S., Rissik, D., Cliffe, N., Chapman, S., Hounsell, V., Udy, J., Trinh, N.T., &amp; Schoeman, J. (2015). A participatory systems approach to understanding climate adaptation needs. Climatic Change, 129, 27&ndash;42.
Shakya, C. (2016). Seven ways to build resilient local economies in fragile contexts. International Institute for Environment and Development.
Shammin, M.R., Haque, A.K.E., &amp; Faisal, I.M. (2021). A framework for climate resilient community-based adaptation. In A.K.E. Haque, P. Mukhopadhyay, M. Nepal, &amp; M.R. Shammin (Eds.), Climate change and community resilience (pp. 11&ndash;30). Springer.
The Climakers. (2021). Nicaragua: Addressing climate change in the agricultural sector, in times of covid-19 pandemic: Experiences of seed banks.
The New Humanitarian. (2013). Community-based adaptation to climate change.
Topping, N., &amp; Mohieldin, M. (2022). Why we need to globalize locally-led climate resilience. World Economic Forum.
UN Climate Change. (2022). Egypt&rsquo;s first updated nationally determined contributions.
UN Environment Program. (2021). In pictures: How Africa is using nature to adapt to climate change.&nbsp;

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