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CLIMATE AND RESILIENCE

PMSD Toolkit

​Description of the sector/context and its distinctive elements 

  • In areas which are prone to recurrent natural disasters (e.g. floods or droughts), there is an inherent instability in the system, and a different perception of risk that needs to be factored into the use of PMSD.
  • Agricultural market systems can themselves strengthen or weaken resilience (e.g. by encouraging water intensive crops in areas of declining rainfall). This has a strong link to market system selection – to choose sectors that are not going to increase vulnerability.
  • At a broader level, market systems themselves can be more or less resilient. Facilitating participatory processes which increase trust and potential collaboration between actors may increase the resilience of the market system itself to outside shocks of any sort (e.g. political, climate, health, economic).
  • Climate information systems can themselves be framed as market systems. This approach is codified in the Participatory Climate Information Services (CIS) Development guide.

Key adaptations to PMSD use cases

  • Program design / market selection: The climate vulnerability or risk of a given market system should be a criterion in the market system selection process. Understanding of the main risks and how they affect different groups  (e..g men, women) is a prerequisite for this. Disaggregating the risks (likelihood and impact) on different groups is essential. Wherever possible, sectors should be selected that actually decrease the vulnerability of target groups – and at a minimum, sectors supported should not increase vulnerability.
  • Facilitating interventions: If risks are understood (e.g. declining rainfall), then all areas of the market map can be critiqued and interventions facilitated based on their potential influence on these critical risks. Steps can be made to increase the voice of marginalised groups most vulnerable to climatic and other shocks, so that they have increased agency to influence the course of events and so that interventions and collaborations that get developed reduce their vulnerability. In contexts where sudden onset shocks are likely, the market can be mapped to reflect what happens when the shocks occur, identifying key vulnerabilities within the market system itself. This can be used to plan interventions now that reduce the vulnerability of key parts of the market system to the anticipated shocks (allowing flow of incomes, products, services to keep going despite the shocks).
  • Market analysis / mapping: Climate information systems are one special case. They are framed around the flow of climate information along a core chain: from a CIS producing actor, through a series of intermediates, to an end user, usually a farmer. There are still enabling environments and supporting services present, although they will take different forms. It’s important to clarify which information service you are mapping – seasonal or daily forecasts vs. 10-day bulletins vs. hazard warnings.