By switching to dark mode you can reduce the energy consumption of our digital service.

Climate Adaptation Options eXplorer (ADx): Example Application in Greater Banjul Area

Climate Adaptation Options eXplorer (ADx): Example Application in Greater Banjul Area
Multiple Authors
Image of Greater Banjul Area

Photo by Gifty Ampomah (2012)

The Greater Banjul area in The Gambia faces several climate related hazards including sea-level rise and high temperature stress which may exacerbate environmental problems. ENDA Tiers-Monde are working in this region to identify climate vulnerabilities and potential adaptation measures: initial pilot work was done in the Old Town of Banjul in 2009/2010 and further work is taking place as part of the C3D+project in 2011/12. One component of this is ADx training.

Identification of adaptation options and decision criteria

This training was carried out with ADx version 2.1 in July and August 2012.

The domain expert on climate adaptation in the case area listed several potential adaptation options relevant to the area and to provide a useful test case for the ADx training:

  1. Construction of new drains and cleaning of existing ones to create passages for heavy run offs and to minimise flood risk during rainy seasons. This is to be coordinated by the Village and Ward Development Committees with funding and technical support to be solicited from government agencies (Municipal Authority, Roads Authority, National Disaster Management Agency etc.) and non-governmental organisations.

  2. Construction of concrete structures to reduce the incidence of structural collapse during flood events. Constructions should also be made at right locations and to conform to the acceptable standards.

  3. Halt encroachment on wetlands and cutting of mangrove vegetation. More mangroves can also be planted to protect shorelines and wetlands. The Village and Ward Development Committees are to lead the process with support of the Forestry Department and the National Environmental Agency.

  4. Provision of treated pipe borne water to community members as water from hand-dug wells is currently saline.

These adaptation options were formulated into this table according to attributes and characteristics by the training participants. This had the added advantage of providing an opportunity to reflect and review the initial adaptation options – in this example, we elected to include five options in place of the initial four.

XML files were then created from this table to create a set of decision criteria.

Following these preliminary steps, the ADx training could be fully implemented.

Using the ADX

In this example, the two engines currently available in ADx are used:Voting andAHP. Guidance on how to select methods for adaptation decision making is an emerging area of research: see for example theMediation project and the EU’sCLIMATE-ADAPT portal.

AHP prompts the user to enter criteria information. It is advisable to define criteria as specifically as possible. In this case study example we tested the tool with relatively general, but multidimensional decision criteria:

  1. economic cost of alternative
  2. social – creation of employment
  3. environmental
  4. climate – reduction of climate risks

AHP also allows participants to select a subset of options. However, in this case all five adaptation options were part of the decision exploration.

Results

This table shows the resulting printed output that can be obtained showing the combined results of the two decision methods used in this training example.

Related resources

Add your project

Exchange your climate change adaptation projects and lessons learned with the global community.