EbA-enhanced Climate Field Schools for Climate Resilience

 The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) 

 su-re.co 

US$249,991

Bali and East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

• 200 farmers participated in the climate field schools
• 450 hectares of farms managed by farmers who joined climate field schools
• 30 tons CO ₂ e of greenhouse gas reduced by biogas digesters

Farmers in Indonesia, particularly in East Nusa Tenggara (ENT) and Bali, are economically dependent on coffee. In ENT, approximately 300,000 households are engaged in its production, compared to approximately 120,000 in Bali. Recent vulnerability assessments indicate that climate change will negatively affect these provinces. This initiative integrates ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) principles into the conduct of climate field schools among farmers who produce coffee, an essential export commodity and a linchpin of rural livelihoods in Indonesia. The project will promote using climate-smart technologies, ecolabelling mechanisms, and proactive policies to ensure uptake and deepen impacts.

This project's direct beneficiaries are the smallholder coffee farmers of Bali and Flores. To enhance their adaptive capacities, project implementers are actively collaborating with the following target groups: farmer or producer organisations in Bali and Bajawa in Flores, government agencies critical to the promotion of EbA-enhanced Climate Field Schools, such as the Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (BMKG) (Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency) and the Ministry of Forestry and Environment, and stakeholders involved in sustainability standards in Bali and Indonesia. They are also collaborating with other strategic partners, such as provincial departments of agriculture, commodity research institutes, climate change agencies, tourism industry stakeholders, institutions, think tanks, and other non-governmental organisations, to achieve project objectives.

Recent vulnerability assessments show climate change will negatively impact Bali and East Nusa Tenggara. A risk assessment in ENT has revealed that declining rainfall will significantly impact the province and its islands. A similar study in Bali found that La Nina affects crop development. Coffee, particularly Arabica, will suffer from climate change as it is a crop with specific environmental requirements. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, increased drought occurrence, and strong winds can all harm coffee. Given that farmers in these provinces rely on coffee for a living, uncontrolled climate change impacts and extreme variability would result in failed cropping and harvesting, lowering their earnings and harming the overall well-being of their households.

EbA principles will be incorporated into the Climate Field Schools (CFS). They will be delivered in two formats: 1) training of trainers, including local CFS facilitators, and 2) training of farmers. Both will cover weather and climate modules, principles of agroecology, EbA principles, and the potential of biogas technology. The modules will also incorporate local and traditional ecological knowledge as sources of climate information and agronomy. 

Shade tree management will be introduced as an essential component of coffee agroforestry, with farmers implementing agroforestry, agroecology, and EbA principles taught during the field schools. The project will also implement climate-smart technology such as biogas digesters to provide a sustainable energy source instead of firewood, reducing health hazards connected with indoor house pollution and producing organic fertiliser. The use of biogas will also foster circularity in the energy systems. 

By promoting climate-smart and resilient production, the initiative catalyses increasing knowledge and critical understanding of climate services, agroforestry, and agroecology in the context of coffee sustainability. This would broaden the focus of climate-smart agriculture's production system to include the value of people and healthy ecosystems, making coffee more than simply a commodity but also a vehicle for the sustainable management of forest and upland ecosystems.