Initiative:

Climate Resilience

Senegal

With a large agricultural sector, Senegal is threatened by a host of climate change impacts, including drought, floods, increased temperatures, and sea level rise. In the face of these increasing threats to agriculture and food security in the country, the government has developed a 20-year strategy targeting food security and resilience, the Stratégie nationale de sécurité alimentaire et de résilience 2015–2035. Senegal is actively promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA), index insurance, and agro-advisories.

The CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience is aligned with key priorities in the country including strengthening climate information services, testing climate-smart agriculture in specific farm contexts, and issues related to climate security and governance. Partnerships and coordination with other climate-related action in Senegal are priorities for the Initiative. CGIAR, through CCAFS and other collaborations, has successfully worked with Senegalese national partners to disseminate CSA technologies, especially water management practices and downscaled climate information services. Initiative researchers and partners will continue to build on this work to help farmers and policymakers make informed decisions.

Here are some key highlights of ClimBeR’s work in Senegal from 2022 to 2024:

  • ClimBeR’s bundled climate information services (forecasts and agro-advisories) reached 29,205 farmers (70% women) via SMS, while 902,025 farmers (51% women) were reached through radio.
  • Between 2022 and 2024, ClimBeR’s technical assistance helped partners secure USD 754 million in climate finance, surpassing the USD 30 million target. This included USD 253 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for Senegal.
  • Seasonal climate risk profiles developed for Senegal that were enhanced to cater to country-specific applications and better address the needs of agricultural stakeholders and policymakers.
  • ClimBeR’s cross-scale evidence on crop diversification and water use efficiency was also shared in science-policy dialogues hosted by the Climate-Smart Agriculture Platform (CCASA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Livestock (MASAE). These dialogues fostered collaborative climate resilience research on key crop value chains and accelerated agricultural adaptation strategies.
  • ClimBeR’s CSA Investment Plan was utilized to evaluate Senegal’s Nationally Determined Contribution for 2020–2024 and to provide insights for the 2025–2029 NDC.
  • ClimBeR’s key demand, innovation and scaling partners have strengthened their climate security agenda. In Senegal, COMNACC has held consultations for the inclusion of climate security in DCC based on the SWOT analysis by CSE.
  • ClimBeR hosted by the Climate Smart Agriculture Platform (CCASA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock (MASAE), to foster collaborative climate resilience research on key crop value chains and accelerate agricultural adaptation strategies.
  • In Senegal, the Ministry of the Environment and Ecological Transition (METE), through the Directorate of Climate Change, Ecological Transition, and Green Finance, successfully launched the dashboard. By 2025, stakeholders aim to integrate adaptation monitoring, enabling real-time adaptation planning and climate finance tracking.

Social Equity and Inclusion

In Senegal, gender-specific climate and nutrition information services reached over 920,000 farmers—60% of whom were women building on the farmer networks developed by the Adaptation and Valorization of Entrepreneurship in Irrigated Agriculture (AVENIR) project. ClimBeR’s cross-scale evidence on crop diversification and water use efficiency was also shared in science-policy dialogues hosted by the Climate-Smart Agriculture Platform (CCASA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Livestock (MASAE). These dialogues fostered collaborative climate resilience research on key crop value chains and accelerated agricultural adaptation strategies.

Partnerships

Partnerships with the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), ANACIM, Jokalante, and MLouma have facilitated the co-design and advancement of climate information services in Senegal. A recent collaboration with the University of Chicago is exploring pathways to support both ANACIM and ACMAD countries in enhancing climate resilience through AI-driven forecasting.

ClimBeR has been working closely with various Initiatives and bilateral projects across its six focal countries- Guatemala, Kenya, Morocco, the Philippines, Senegal, and Zambia- in line with the CGIAR research portfolio’s integration strategy. These collaborations have helped align activities with complementary research areas, foster synergies, and enhance coordination to maximize CGIAR’s impact while ensuring efficient resource use and minimizing duplication. ClimBeR has extended climate resilience agro-advisories and nutrition advice, reach farmers in Senegal, through collaborations with AVENIR.

2025 and beyond…

In Senegal, ClimBeR supported national partners to access climate finance using CSA Investment Plans and through strategic and strong partnerships delivered bundled climate information services to smallholder farmers to help strengthen their resilience. Climate risk profiles offer streamlined access to country-specific climate risk profiles and hazard maps that can be used by policymakers to develop targeted adaptation solutions at the national level.

The diverse interventions implemented at multiple levels demonstrate its journey toward smallholder resilience through transformative adaptation. The Initiative’s science, innovations, and strategic partnerships will continue through the CGIAR Climate Action Science Program and other bilateral projects to foster collaborative climate research and accelerate climate adaptation policies and solutions.

Read about the Initiative’s work in other target countries:

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