Unlocking Adaptation Potential: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions

This report by the Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI) examines the alignment between Senegal's national climate change adaptation policies, specifically its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and locally led adaptation (LLA) strategies. While the report finds that community-driven actions are often aligned with national priorities, it identifies significant barriers in financing, decentralized governance, and the integration of local knowledge into national policy development.

• Senegal has established a harmonized framework to integrate climate adaptation into economic and social development, linking the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE) 2035, the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the NDC 2030.
• There is a significant gap in the integration of community-led adaptation practices into national priority sector options, driven by financial barriers and a failure to decentralize climate governance to the territorial level.
• Senegal faces a massive climate adaptation funding gap; of the USD 14.5 billion required by 2030 for NDC measures, USD 12.725 billion is dependent on technical and financial partners, as the national budget cannot cover the costs.
• Locally led adaptation (LLA) is actively occurring in Senegal and aligns with NDC priorities, though it often lacks support from the central government and faces obstacles in accessing direct climate finance.
• Case studies demonstrate specific successful local adaptation models: Daga Birame uses a climate-smart village model for agriculture; Dionewar Island employs nature-based Maltese groins to combat coastal erosion; and Widou Thiéngoly has implemented an early warning system for heatwave-related health impacts.
• The effectiveness of local climate action is hindered by a lack of technical and scientific capacity to demonstrate 'climate additionality' and accountability, which are required to justify projects to funders.

APA

Sy, I. (2023). Unlocking Adaptation Potential: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions. Africa Policy Research Institute. https://afripoli.org/unlocking-adaptation-potential-insights-into-senegals-climate-change-policies-initiatives-and-local-actions

Chicago

Sy, Ibrahima. Unlocking Adaptation Potential: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions. Africa Policy Research Institute, 2023. https://afripoli.org/unlocking-adaptation-potential-insights-into-senegals-climate-change-policies-initiatives-and-local-actions.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sy |first1=Ibrahima |title=Unlocking Adaptation Potential: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions |publisher=Africa Policy Research Institute |date=2 August 2023 |url=https://afripoli.org/unlocking-adaptation-potential-insights-into-senegals-climate-change-policies-initiatives-and-local-actions |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sy2023unlocking, author = {Sy, Ibrahima}, title = {{Unlocking Adaptation Potential: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions}}, institution = {Africa Policy Research Institute}, year = {2023}, month = aug, url = {https://afripoli.org/unlocking-adaptation-potential-insights-into-senegals-climate-change-policies-initiatives-and-local-actions}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }