The University of Agriculture, Peshawar-Pakistan

Climate Change - Threats and Opportunities:
Climate change is defining human development challenges of our time. The earth's climate is changing in ways that affect weather systems, patterns of snow, rainfall, storms and agro-ecosystems.
Extremes in climate variation are increasing and threaten the security of our livelihoods and assets. Long-term changes result in both creating opportunities and threats to crops and farming systems and in the timing and amount of rains and stream flows affecting farm production. Therefore it is important to learn to live with these changes, make use of the opportunities and deal with the threats to prevent losses.

Genesis of the Climate Change Centre (CCC):
That climate is changing and is creating new challenges (risks and also opportunities) in the field of food production is a fact. Yet, what to do to be able to live with those changes to ensure food security and local resilience? Where should the farmers, researchers and extension agents see for seeking the right guidance for timely actions? The CCC has emerged from an ongoing dialogue around these questions among multi-stakeholders which concluded that there is no institutional facility in the country that provides services on options to deal with adaptation needs arriving from the climate change. The University of Agriculture Peshawar and Intercooperation Pakistan together agreed to establish a Centre at the University. This consensus was based on the premise that the University is rightly placed to mainstream climate change in research and education as well as coordinate efforts to act as a knowledge repository on mainstreaming adaptation. However the centre will not be limited to this. It will also serve as a service hub to find solutions and build capacity to adapt to unprecedented changes in the climate. This initiative is to prepare University and other relevant institutions to offer relevant support in preparing stakeholders to deal with impacts of these changes.

Role of the Climate Change Centre (CCC):
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is sheltering a population of more than 20 million people. The major portion of this population is dwelling in rural areas and depends on farming for their livelihoods. Along with crop production and horticulture, livestock farming is also a dominant occupation of the rural communities, particularly women. Changes in temperatures and uncertain hydrological patterns are expected to affect food security and access to water in this highly diverse and ecologically fragile province. Farmers are confronted with these changes and need to be supported in finding and developing adequate responses to these new challenges for ensuring their food security and resilience to weather extremes.

There is a need to ensure access to existing knowledge, to prioritize research agenda's in tune with challenges and devise a system that can deliver information to policy/strategy decision makers and to the farming community for appropriate action. The CCC will support farmers to voice their observations and concerns and to have access to relevant information. It will facilitate researchers at the University of Agriculture Peshawar (UAP) and private sector actors to have access to existing knowledge from the region and to mainstream climate change issues. The CCC will participate in specific studies and analysis to contribute to policy/strategy dialogue to adapt policies and programmes that envisage the adaptation to climate change. The CCC will also support information campaign to sensitize the public at large, schools and people representative bodies on Climate Change, its causes and effects. The entire initiative is aimed at the CCC becoming a service centre for adaptation to climate change.

In this endeavor Intercooperation (IC) Pakistan through SDC funded Livelihoods Programme Hindukush is providing initial technical and partial financial support to the UAP for the start of the CCC.

Services of the Climate Change Centre (CCC):
Of all adaptation needs, the agriculture sector has to prepare itself the most for coping with climate change since food crops are highly sensitive even to little change in temperature and rainfall conditions. For this purpose the sector has to benefit from local and global knowledge and to develop relevant technologies. Given this background, the main services of the CCC are:

Establish a system of information provision and advisory on climate change adaptation accessible to organizations engaged in agriculture related activities (including farmer corporate/platforms).
Serve as knowledge resource repository focusing on climate change adaptation in order to provide cutting edge information on CC adaptation.
Sensitize and enhance capacities of the relevant departments (including applied research and outreach) to enrich their teaching, research and development agenda for addressing/linking to climate change adaptation needs.
Serve as a bridge among multiple sub sectors of agriculture, Government, Non Government, Private sector for enhanced coordination.
Establish regional/global linkages and to facilitate relevant department for appropriate research and development coordination.
Create learning opportunities for the University staff, faculties and students in the theme of adaptation to climate change. This includes orientation trainings, linkages with other regional and international research institutions, data access and training opportunities.