Climate change and biodiversity loss driven by human activities, have combined and increasingly threaten nature, human lives, livelihoods and well-being around the world. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are gaining increasing attention as a means to harness the power of nature to help solve these twin crises. The International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN), the pioneer in NbS, estimates that nature-based solutions can provide over a third of the world’s climate mitigation needs while benefiting people and nature. At Virgon Africa, we are dedicated to supporting our clients in the design, implementation, and evaluation of Nature-based Solutions – based on global standards. We support organsiations to mainstream NbS in their policies and strategic plans and help communities and non-governmental organizations to improve actions on the ground.

Climate variability and change can have significant impacts on regional, national, and local development efforts. Vulnerability is a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. It is the degree to which a human or natural system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, the adverse effects of climate change, including associated climate variability and extremes. While undertaking vulnerability assessments, we go beyond impact assessments to determining a system’s sensitivity and ability to adapt to climate change. We employ a multi-dimension vulnerability framework that captures people (individuals, livelihoods and populations); institutions (social organizations, economic firms and sectors); and places (land, ecosystems, water, and air). Additionally, we include the following aspects in the vulnerability assessment: sectors; time frame for analysis; and geographic scope.

In order to reduce climate variability and change impacts and promote climate resilient development, Virgon Africa works with organizations and projects to enable them understand the climate vulnerabilities of the people, sectors, and places that they care about. While a vulnerability assessment is important for responding to future climate risks, our vulnerability assessment framework also help clients improve the management of current climate risks.

Climate risk results from the interaction of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Hazard is the potential occurrence of climate-related physical events or trends that may cause damage and loss. Exposure indicates the presence of assets, services, resources and infrastructure that could be adversely affected. Vulnerability is the propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected. At Virgon Africa, we assess climate risks across citizens, sectors and systems. The key climate risks and hazards are floods, droughts, landslides, earthquakes, lightning, hailstorms, sand and dust storms, heat waves and forest fires. Climate change is projected to increase temperatures and impact water availability, with some areas expected to experience flooding due to increased intensity of rainfall, as well as the continued aridity and increased frequency of droughts for others. Based on the results of the climate risk assessment, we help our clients identify the main climate threats and enable them develop a strategic direction for adaptation planning.

Virgon Africa applies climate change impact assessments to identify and quantify the expected impacts of climate change. Through these assessments, we are able to synthesize the current scientific knowledge of the expected effects of climate change on a focus area, such as a resource, economic sector, landscape, or region, for decades to centuries into the future. In assessing climate change impact, we have track record in employing both ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches in simulating a range of different socio-economic and physical processes.

We support our clients – governments, the private sector, civil society organizations and communities develop climate action plans to reduce the trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions and boost resilience to mounting climate impacts. Over the years, we have supported the following mitigation and adaptation efforts:

• Community-based natural resources management
• Restoration of degraded landscape
• Agroforestry
• Apiary establishment and value addition
• Climate information services
• Renewable energy technologies
• Sustainable land management (SLM) practices
• Waste management
• Plastic recycling
• Environmental education