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In this paper we examine whether there are significant gender differences in the adoption of climate‐smart agricultural (CSA) practices in sub‐Saharan Africa. Using individual‐level data from four sites in Kenya, Uganda and Senegal, our empirical analysis provides robust evidence that men have a higher likelihood of adopting high‐return CSA practices including modern chemical fertiliser, improved high‐yielding varieties and drought/pest tolerant livestock practices. In contrast, women tend to have a higher likelihood of adopting low‐risk and low‐return traditional CSA practices such as water harvesting, crop covering, rangeland management and pest management. Our subsample analysis shows significant heterogeneity in the gender gap across countries. The results of the decomposition of the observed gender gap show that personal values and norms, access to weather and production information and farm characteristics are important factors that explain the gender differential in the likelihood of CSA adoption. Our findings imply that equalising access to key resources such as plots of land, information and decision making power will be crucial to close the gender gap in the adoption of CSA practices. This is particularly important given the differential impacts of climate change between men and women in sub‐Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing resource depletion and promoting ecosystem‐based management are considered key climate change adaptation policies. Therefore, the resource status of an identified climate refugia in a semi‐enclosed bay on the Kenya–Tanzania border was evaluated for sustainability. Both fisheries stock and catch assessment methods found low production and excess effort. Stock recovery in closures (up to 45 years) determined the best‐fit r and K values, which established a maximum sustainable production (MSY) of 2.98 ± 0.45 (SEM) tons/km2/year. Stock estimates in the bays' fishing grounds indicated that biomass was below the MSY and predicted to produce 1.8 ± 1.0 (SEM) or 1.1 ton/km2/year below the optimal MSY. However, landed fish at five studied fishing villages varied greatly from 0.22 to 2.9 tons/km2/year. MSY in the refugia was therefore considerably lower than estimates in nearby ocean‐exposed locations, which has been estimated at 5–7 tons/km2/year. Therefore, low to modest capture rates of fish will be required to allow the recovery needed to achieve sustainability and restore the refugia's ecology. The refugia's highest stocks and near‐MSY yields were captured in the national reserve. Therefore, broader implementation of the reserve's gear‐restriction policies should restore fisheries. High spatial variability in yield patterns indicate interactions between fisheries management, compliance, trade connections, and governance. In climate refugia, reducing cumulative impacts will require knowing and managing for lower fisheries production limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the utility of Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD) in Isiolo County, Kenya. TAMD is a new adaptation monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework that was tested in Kenya for the first time from April 2013 to March 2014. The article outlines the experiences of testing the feasibility of the framework and its use in assisting policy makers at sub-national level in adaptation planning, monitoring, and evaluation. It draws out the experiences and lessons of using an ex ante approach in adaptation M&E in a situation where adaptation actions are in the planning phase, using a scorecard and theories of change to measure climate risk management processes, and potential adaptation/development benefits. It also highlights how climate change adaptation M&E approaches can be simplified in order to get buy-in from sub-national governments and communities so as to mainstream M&E in planning approaches for sustainability in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]