The Role of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture in Enhancing Food Security and Climate Change Resilience in East and West African Cities
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2012-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Global Change System Research for Analysis and Training (START), START International Inc.
Abstract
This!research!report!is!a!synthesis!of!both!peer1reviewed!and!grey!literature!on!
Urban! and! Peri1Urban!Agriculture!and!Forestry! (UPAF)! in! eight!East!and!West!
African!Cities.!The!research!is!premised!on!the!understanding!that!considerable!
research! on! UPAF! in! Africa! has! been! conducted! since! the! 1990s! but! not!
synthesized!to!garner!knowledge!on!its!role!in!building!resilience!in!urban!areas.!
Evidence! suggests! that! UPAF! has! transitioned! from! a! coping! measure! to! now!
enhancing! resilience!as!well!as!adaptation! to!and!mitigation!of! climate! change.!
This! research! provides! knowledge! and! information! with! respect! to! how!UPAF!
can! contribute! towards! food! security,! improving! urban! livelihoods! and!
enhancing!ecosystem!services!as!well!as!its!limitations.!!Evidence!suggests!that!
the! strategies! for! climate! change!mitigation!and!adaptation!must!be! integrated!
into! a! multi1sector! approach,! but! the! role! of! UPAF! in! sustaining! eco1system!
services! has! not! been! given! adequate! attention.! The! research! analyzed!
secondary! data! combined!with! selected! field! and! ground! verification! visits! in!
two!of!the!eight!cities!in!order!to!draw!generalizations!from!micro1!to!meso1scale!
ecosystem!service!provision!through!UPAF!in!African!cities.!The!focus!areas!are:!
supporting! ecosystems! services;! provisioning! services;! and! regulatory!
ecosystem!services.!!