The societal role oF Charcoal production in Climate-Change adaptation of the arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 41

We use these information sources to address the following questions:
• How do community-initiated drought-coping measures compare to those
promoted by development actors in the region?
• How does the conceptual framing of vulnerability and coping influence
development practice on the ground?
perspectives from the literature on charcoal production
and its potential role in coping and adaptation in asals
A fairly clear distinction is usually drawn between coping and adaptation in the
academic literature, with coping viewed as unfavourable in relation to adaptation.
According to an IPCC task force report, coping 'focuses on the moment,
constraint, and survival; while adapting focuses on the future, where learning
and reinvention are key features and short-term survival is less in question'
(IPCC 2012: 51) . A United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD) report on options for climate-change adaptation in the African
drylands further makes the following distinction: that coping strategies emanate
from experience of dealing with short-term and known hazards such as seasonal
variations; adaptive strategies are more long term, enabling people to respond to
evolving conditions not previously experienced (UNCCD, UNDP & UNEP
2009: 12). In support of this view, Taylor et al. (2010: 10-13) cite the following
example:
Selling off productive assets (like livestock) and/or boosting incomes
through artisanal charcoaling are two examples of 'traditional coping
mechanisms' common across much of semi-arid Africa. But while these
strategies may work well enough when drought occurs only once every
five or so years, they are a dead-end when it comes to dealing with the
contemporary reality of accelerating drought cycles.
Some authors have also warned of the risk of classifying coping measures
as adaptive measures, holding that coping measures are likely to undermine
opportunities for adaptation in the future through unplanned and un-strategic
use of resources (Taylor et al. 2010; IRIN 2013). Here we are interested in
understanding the extent to which this division is helpful in understanding
the livelihood strategies and ways of responding to the climatic stressors of the
ASAL communities in Makueni, Kenya.
In Kenya, charcoal is the primary energy source for 82 per cent of the urban
population. With an annual market value of over USD 400 million, the charcoal
market is equivalent to 43 per cent of the revenues from the tourism industry,
the top income earner in the country (PISCES 2011). Most charcoal production
takes place in ASALs, the region with the worst development indicators and
poverty incidence in Kenya (Office of the Prime Minister 2011). Rural