Mainstreaming climate change into water policies: a case study from Burkina Faso

Abstract

Climate change (CC) in Burkina Faso is projected to materialize by, among other things, an increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Not properly addressing the impacts of these projected CCs on water resources will yield enormous economic and social cost and compromise the country's development objectives. However, Burkina Faso's National Water Strategy (NWS) had not sufficiently addressed CC impacts, and recently development partners have started an initiative to help fill these gaps. The current study aims at documenting lessons learnt from this multi-partner process of integrating CC adaptation (CCA) into the NWS. The integration process was done using the climate proofing tool, an approach based on evidence of the vulnerability of water resources to CC. It consisted of (i) an initial assessment of the integration of CCA into the NWS and (ii) a formulation of a set of actions to reduce the vulnerability of water resources to CC. Lessons drawn from the CCA integration process are also presented. HIGHLIGHTS The initial National Water Strategy (NWS) does not sufficiently address climate change (CC) impacts.; The climate proofing for the development tool was effective in integrating CC adaptation measures into the NWS.; Climatic trends, exposure units and effects were identified.; A list of CC adaptation actions to be integrated into the NWS was established.; Lessons learnt from the process of mainstreaming CC into the NWS are presented.;

Keywords

• adaptation
• climate change
• climate proofing
• national water strategy
• water resources