UNLOCKING ADAPTATION POTENTIAL: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions

The report assesses Senegal's climate adaptation landscape, highlighting a disconnect between top-down national policies and effective, endogenous community-led actions. While case studies in agriculture, coastal zones, and health demonstrate that local initiatives are well-aligned with NDC goals, they suffer from a lack of direct funding and institutional recognition. The document argues for a paradigm shift toward Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) to enhance the sustainability and efficiency of the country's climate resilience efforts.

• Senegal's national adaptation framework is integrated across the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE) 2035, the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the NDC 2030, yet it fails to sufficiently incorporate community-led practices.
• There is a critical funding gap for climate adaptation in Senegal; the NDC requires USD 14.5 billion by 2030, with a heavy reliance on technical and financial partners for USD 12.725 billion of that amount.
• Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) is already occurring spontaneously in Senegal and aligns with NDC priorities, but it is often ignored by central government planning and suffers from a lack of direct financial access.
• In Daga Birame, a 'climate-smart village' model for agriculture was implemented using climate information services, solar-powered boreholes, and assisted natural regeneration, resulting in 128 hectares of protected forest.
• The Dionewar Island initiative utilized 'Maltese groins'—nature-based structures made from stakes and palm fronds—to combat coastal erosion, achieving a beach gain of 2.6 meters.
• In Widou Thiéngoly, the community implemented an early warning system for heatwaves to mitigate health risks for vulnerable groups, supported by an intersectoral approach involving agencies like ANACIM and NOAA.
• Climate governance in Senegal is characterized by a top-down approach where local actors lack the technical and scientific capacity to demonstrate 'climate additionality' required to access international funds.
• The report identifies several systemic barriers to LLA, including poor integration of climate risks in sectoral planning, inequalities in finance distribution, and the absence of a robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verifying (MRV) system.

APA

Ibrahima, S. (2023). UNLOCKING ADAPTATION POTENTIAL: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions. Africa Policy Research Institute. https://afripoli.org/projects/climate-adaptation/uploads/files/800798-APRI-Senegal-report.pdf

Chicago

Ibrahima, Sy,. UNLOCKING ADAPTATION POTENTIAL: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions. Africa Policy Research Institute, 2023. https://afripoli.org/projects/climate-adaptation/uploads/files/800798-APRI-Senegal-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ibrahima |first1=Sy, |title=UNLOCKING ADAPTATION POTENTIAL: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions |publisher=Africa Policy Research Institute |date=2023 |url=https://afripoli.org/projects/climate-adaptation/uploads/files/800798-APRI-Senegal-report.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ibrahima2023unlocking, author = {Ibrahima, Sy,}, title = {{UNLOCKING ADAPTATION POTENTIAL: Insights into Senegal’s climate change policies, initiatives and local actions}}, institution = {Africa Policy Research Institute}, year = {2023}, url = {https://afripoli.org/projects/climate-adaptation/uploads/files/800798-APRI-Senegal-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }