Decentralized Governance and Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study on Mali

This study explored ways in which Mali’s 25-year old decentralized governance system empowers local government to help communities adapt to the changing climate. The findings suggest that local development plans hold promise as a vehicle for engaging communities and integrating adaptation into local development planning, but that more needs to be done to strengthen the process. Centered in the southern regions of Mopti, Koulikoro and Sikasso, where most livelihoods derive from farming and livestock, the study also found that decentralized governance creates particular opportunities to facilitate problem-solving across villages and build external linkages to NGOs, donors and others. Such relationships are important as households increasingly compete for water and land for grazing and farming, and trees for charcoal and fuelwood. With higher temperatures and decreasing rainfall likely in these regions in the future, effective management of natural resources is vital to maintaining livelihoods and minimizing conflict.