| Overview : Background São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) is vulnerable to climate-related hazards such as storm-induced flash flooding in rivers and coastal areas. Despite abundant average rainfall, STP has also been experiencing longer episodes of drought, which constitutes a new constraint on food production, particularly in the northern regions. This situation contributes to increased vulnerability of farming communities. Of particular concern are the vulnerable villages of São Tomé districts of Caué, Me-Zochi, Principe, Lemba, Cantagalo, and Lobata (CMPLCL), where rural community livelihoods are most affected by increased climate variability. To date, relief and rehabilitation (reactive actions) have been the focus of disaster management practices in the CMPLCL districts. A sustainable solution to this worsening problem will require a multi-pronged solution including i) developing capacities of the key institutions of relevance to rural development and livelihoods; ii) developing key community-based decision making structures to enhance farming communities’ livelihoods; iii) dissemination of climate resilient livelihoods farming methods in the most vulnerable communities; and iv) promotion of investments to boost communities’ livelihoods against climate risks. Key barriers that need to be overcome include: a) limitations in developing capacities of the key institutions of relevance to rural community livelihoods; b) scarcity of relevant information for planning climate resilient agricultural activities; c) low institutional capacity and coordination both in the private and public sectors; d) high levels of poverty, weak financial capacity of farmers and poor access to credit. In response, this LDCF financed project, implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD), the project will reduce the vulnerability of rural livelihoods to climate risks through climate risks management infrastructures and mechanisms; and design and transfer adaptation strategies to strengthen communities’ climate resilience in the 30 most vulnerable villages of the 6 districts of CMPLCL of São Tomé and Principe. In this sense, and because there is not electricity in some vulnerable community, the solar freezer can be an ideal solution for conservation of the some product. |
