The Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) in collaboration with International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), is holding a three-day workshop to discuss climate change vulnerability and adaptive capacity in low-income urban settlements.

The research project focuses on developing a framework for understanding the nature of vulnerability in African cities, while simultaneously assessing and analysing relevant approaches to reduce vulnerability.

Participants from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Uganda would focus their discussions on adaptation and mitigation, especially in terms of budgeting for impact of climate change on such low-income urban households and communities in African countries.

Dr. Esther Ofei Aboagye, Director, ILGs, stressed that the research would contribute meaningfully to government’s agenda of finding strategies to reduce the impact of climate change on low-income urban households and communities.

She said the impact of climate change had manifested in various ways including perennial flooding and diseases like cholera, adding that it was important to adopt appropriate methods to addressing the challenge.

Dr. David Dodman, Senior Researcher, Human Settlement and Climate Change, IIED, said although there was rising global knowledge on climate change, it was important for researchers to focus on specific areas to harmonise the various research outcomes to address issues regarding vulnerability, adaptation, resilience and mitigation of the impact of climate change.

He said it was obvious that some communities had developed their own ways of dealing with the impact of climate change, however there was still vulnerability gaps that needed to be addressed.

Dr. Dodman said while some communities were managing in their own ways to adjust to the changes, others were hardly hit by poverty and diseases and there was the need for the relevant policies to address their needs.

He said the workshop would provide a platform for participants to exchange knowledge, experiences as well as methodological approaches with the aim of arriving at a modest and effective approach for assessing vulnerability that were relevant to cities.

IIED, a London-based independent non-profit organisation seeks to promote sustainable patterns of world development through research, policy studies and networking among countries.**