Climate change, ecosystem services and adaptation in East Africa’s semi-arid regions: early diagnostics of critical knowledge gaps for landscape conservation

This brief presents an overview of a Regional Diagnostic Study (RDS) that reviews existing risks and adaptation responses, and identifies major knowledge gaps needed to develop responses that can ensure widespread, sustained and equitable adaptation across the East Africa semi-arid regions. The RDS reveals several interesting observations related to the current role of nature-based or ecosystem-based responses within what is termed the “adaptation-development spectrum”.

This RDS was carried out as part of ASSAR (Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions) project which seeks to deepen understanding of climate vulnerability and adaptation in semi-arid regions, and to help transform current adaptation practice to a mode that achieves proactive, widespread adaptation embedded in development activities