Adaptation to climate change in sub-Saharan African humanitarian situations
The project strengthened the capacities of displaced and vulnerable populations to adapt to climate change in Burundi, Sudan and Chad. Country-specific studies assessed the mainstreaming of environmental protection and climate change in humanitarian operations. In Burundi and Sudan, a “no regrets” strategy has been applied to improve the adaptability of households and communities in existing humanitarian programmes. The aim was to facilitate the population’s access to fuels, cooking facilities and sustainable water sources, and in the case of communities, the use of renewable energy needed for health and education services is improved. Technical assistance and knowledge transfer enhanced the capacities of governments and their partners to manage environmental and climate risks.
- Countries
- Burundi, Chad, Sudan
- IKI funding
- 3,499,522.00 €
- Duration
- 09/2018 till 04/2021
- Status
- completed
- Implementing organisation
- United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
- Political Partner
-
- Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Physical Development (MENRPD) - Sudan
- Ministry of Environment and Fisheries (MEF) - Chad
- Ministry of Water, Environment, Land Management and Urban Planning (MEEATU) - Burundi
- Implementing Partner
-
- UN Environment/OCHA Joint Unit (JEU)
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
State of implementation/results
- Project completed.
- Project has supplied about 48,500 households with energy saving stoves. Schools are also supported by the project and 200 institutional stoves were installed at schools. Especially women were trained in the use, production and marketing of improved cookstoves.
- Through restoration activities, about 2,907 hectares of land that had previously been deforested due to firewood collection have been recovered, with almost 3 million trees planted.
- Representatives of refugees and host communities were trained in tree planting and participated in awareness-raising sessions on the importance of forests for livelihoods and energy supply, as well as for climate change adaptation and environmental protection.
- Burundi:
- There is a positive change mainly due to the use of improved cook-stoves and briquettes as both tools are changing the behaviour of refugees as well as host communities around the camps. There is also a positive change in reforestation and watershed management.
- The project conducted the contour cleaning of the five camps and the planting of trees on flood-prone slopes on an area of 25.2 ha in Nyankanda and 4 ha in Kavumu.
- UNICEF Burundi constructed a school in Busangana (Province of Gitega) with ecological bricks. About 630 pupils and six teachers and administrator use the new facilities. The schoolyard is fenced off with hedges planted by the pupils.
- The solar project has also been completed and it targets 3,150 pupils in five schools and four health care with a capacity of 80 hospital beds and four maternity services.
- All ten targeted communities, 30 teachers and 20 medical staffs and assistants were informed about climate change impact and adaptation issues.
- Sudan:
- In East Darfur and White Nile States, UNHCR established, introduced, and promoted the use of ethanol as a green cooking fuel to replace firewood in refugee and the surrounding areas, thus reducing the dependency of refugees on fuel wood for cooking to conserve the surrounding environment and the natural resources for the host country, and to promote the use of green cooking fuel.
- UNHCR and in collaboration with Sudan's Forests National Corporation (FNC) invested in afforestation and rehabilitating the natural environment through reforestation activities by direct seeding, seedlings production and introducing cocoon tree planting technology in a well-constructed nursery to serve the refugees and host-community at Aljabalian area to supply them with seedlings of fruit trees.
- The tree planting activity was completed in both States of White Nile and East Darfur. The activity included community mobilisation, awareness raising on the intervention, and adoption and participation at all levels from land preparation to actual planting by both men and women in the target areas.
- In total 215,000 seedlings were planted on 1,500 fedans (equivalent to 630 hectares).
Latest Update:
12/2025
Project relations
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