Livelihoods

By Bernard Giraud, President of Livelihoods Venture

Our partner Haidar El Ali, President of the NGO Oceanium has just been appointed Minister of Environment and Ecology of the Government of Senegal, formed following the recent presidential election of Macky Sall.

Beautiful symbol for all who are engaged in action for Africa to preserve its natural resources for the benefit of local people and future generations. Haidar is a man of vision and a tireless campaigner. Professional diver, he came to the ecology noting the havoc on the marine environment of certain fishing practices. Very quickly, he realized that nothing could change if the fishermen themselves were not sensitized and implicated. This philosophy of action "with and through" local communities is at the heart of the action and the success of Oceanium.

By Christian de Perthuis

Christian de Perthuis is professor of economics at Dauphine University in Paris, and Director of the Climate Economics Chair, a think-tank focusing on shaping economics to fight agains climate change. He is also a member of the Livelihoods Advisory Board. The short text that follows is the English translation of a lecture he made at the French Academy of Moral Sciences and Politics - to which the original transcript in French can be found here  Adaptation to Climate Change. 

In this lecture Christian raises the often neglected issue of adaptation to climate change, not just mitigation. Until fairly recently the international debate on climate change was very much focused on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Now that it is obvious that action against climate change will not be sufficient to avoid a certain degree of change to the climate as we know it, adaptation has emerged as a hot debate. As Christian points out, adaptation is not only an issue for poorer countries, but is also a great threat to richer economies. Enjoy the read.