Objectives:

• To identify site-specific climate hazards and their impacts on coffee production, and to capture the perceptions, experiences and observations of individual farmers in regards to current coffee production challenges on farms.
• To process information about site-specific climate change, climate hazards and impacts and identify urgent needs for adaptation.

Expected outputs: A summary of climate-related hazards and the main impacts on coffee production, as well as a list of suitable adaptation options.

Required time: One to three weeks, depending on the availability of extension staff and number of farmers interviewed.

Procedure:

• Define the number of farmers to be interviewed depending on the areal extension and climate diversity of your working area (e.g. 14 to 30 producers).
• Include producers located in different production areas, especially farmers located in marginal production areas (e.g. in very low or very high mountain levels) and a long productive history in the area (e.g. more than a decade), because they will supply more relevant information about current climate changes and impacts, but also future risks for the whole working area.
• Visit coffee farms and carry out both an inspection of the area and a quick, individual interview on production conditions and climate- related problems (see general guidance and recommendations for farmer interview and farmer diagnostic templates below).
• During the interview, identify the three most pressing problems. During the visual inspection of the farm, observe the general state of the production plot.
• During this initial questioning, it is best not to mention climate or climate change, so that the farmer is not prompted to mention it. If climate problems do not feature in his or her responses, this may indicate that climate change is not important or that there are other more pressing concerns, such as coffee prices. It could also be that identified problems are climate-related, but not seen as such by the farmer, e.g. increasing pests or diseases.
• During the interview, collect information on current climate change (e.g. temperature, rainfall, extreme events and any other important phenomena) based on observations by farmers and their three most pressing problems related to climate change.
• Make a visual inspection of the general state of the coffee production system/plot (see guidance for visual field inspection below).
• Identify vulnerability (e.g. old coffee plants or no cover crops) as well as adaptation options (e.g. good agriculture practices that are making the production system more resilient).
• Record all relevant information in the questionnaire.
• Systematize collected information and identify the main problems producers are facing. The findings gathered by farmer diagnostics can be systematized by ranking problems that the farmers have stated, e.g. three points for first problem mentioned, two for second and one for third (see example of ranking below).
• Since not all farmers prioritize the same challenges, the list of problems usually contains more than three.
• In a table or report, summarize the site-specific climate change hazards for coffee production, the impacts and suitable options for adaptation.
• The analyzed and consolidated information will help to identify the main climate-related problems from the viewpoint of producers and to recognize initial needs for adaptation.

A timeline is a chronological list of key events in the history of the organization and its area. It facilitates discussion and examination of past trends, actions, problems and achievements. It is useful to think back on these past events and experiences during resource planning and decision-making, and to look at how they influence present attitudes and actions.

Events on the timeline may include spiritual and cultural events, movements of people, introductions of new technology, natural disasters, political events or decisions, development projects and more.

In developing a timeline, participants make a record of events from as many generations back as they can recall. Group discussions about the timeline provide a good opportunity to ask elders about previous happenings and traditional responses

Objective: To help the organization better understand which natural and human-made events have influenced their lives and their surroundings.

Materials: Paper (pin board size) and markers.

Required time: One hour.

Procedure:

• Explain the objective of the timeline. Ask participants to identify events that have influenced individual activities and the activities of the organization. Start with someone identifying an important event in the past and try to determine the year that it happened. It does not have to be the earliest activity remembered. Record the year and event, and then ask for another event. Record the next event, as well as the years above and below the first. Help the group work back to the earliest events they can remember.
• Discussion may start off slowly. Use the following guiding questions to speed up the process:
  • When did people start migrating to the area and where did they come from?
  • When did hurricanes, floods, failed growing periods or other natural disasters occur?
  • Which development activities were implemented in the region?
• Record the events on a long sheet of paper. Write in big letters and in a language that everyone understands.
• If there are problems identifying specific dates for some events, try to relate them to wellknown events (e.g. the country’s independence).
• Once the timeline is finished, one of the participants should summarize the results.

A seasonal calendar is a tool for documenting regular cyclical periods (e.g. seasonal) and significant events that influence the organization. It provides a general picture of important environmental, cultural and socio-economic periods throughout the year.

Seasonal calendars are of particular value, as they allow local people to represent their understanding of seasons in congruence with cultivation. These are often different from ‘official’ seasons and the international calendar.

Objective: To develop a seasonal calendar for the organization.

Materials: Paper, masking tape or pins, pencils, pens and colored pens or markers.

Required time: One to two hours.

Procedure:

• Form four groups and make sure to mix young and old, as well as male and female participants.
• Draw a circle on four sheets of paper and mark the highest point of the circle as “beginning of the year/January”. Explain that the lowest point of the circle represents the middle of the year and that reaching the top again represents a new year. Divide the circle into 12 sections, one for every month. Hand out one prepared sheet of paper with the format to each group so that they can prepare their own seasonal calendar. It is advised to prepare these formats beforehand and to hand them out to each group after explaining the activity.
• Divide the four groups into the following topics and ask them to come up with events that correspond to their topic for every month of the year:
  • Flora and fauna: e.g. blossoming of trees, ripening of fruits and vegetables, bird migration, etc.
  • Agriculture: e.g. planting and harvest times, land preparation, fertilizer application, processing steps, etc.
  • Climate: e.g. rainy seasons, dry seasons, hurricane seasons, droughts, winds, high/low temperatures, etc.
  • Social events: e.g. public holidays, local customs on specific days, local markets.
• Participants can use writing or symbols to depict any event throughout the year. Make sure to include a legend and everyone’s name on each seasonal calendar.
• Once everyone has finished, ask one representative from each group to present their results, which should then be discussed and completed by the entire group

Producers will often have in-depth knowledge of plants and animals located in their environment. Some will also have strong knowledge about the relationships of plants and animals. The inventory allows for a rapid overview of plants and animals in the region of the organization.

Objective: To collect information on existing biodiversity.

Materials: Paper (pin board size), books on local plants and animals and markers.

Required time: One to two hours.

Procedure:

• Ask participants to work in the same four groups as before.
• Ask each group to prepare the following information:
  • Name of the plant/animal
  • Use and/or importance
  • Abundance or loss
  • Locality
• Hand out a prepared sheet with four columns (with the labels listed above) to assign each group one of the following focuses:
  • Trees and plants
  • Plants for agricultural use
  • Birds and animals
  • The coffee ecosystem
• If time allows, have the groups rotate so that each group has the chance to work on all four topics.
• Ask one member of each group to present the results and have the entire group discuss the findings.

Objective: To identify changes in the environment and community life that are linked to climate change.

Materials: Results from earlier activities and markers.

Required time: One to two hours.

Timeline: Get the participants to divide the information from the timeline activity into categories such as environmental/natural events (e.g. occurrence of natural calamities) or human-made events (e.g. economic activities). Mark all environmental or natural events with red circles. Select certain highlighted environmental aspects, such as hurricanes or water shortages, and get participants to determine whether intensity and/or frequency is increasing or decreasing. Record the results.

List of animals and plants: Ask participants to look at the inventory and identify the plants and animals that are now low in abundance. Ask them to discuss and record possible causes for their decline and the likely impact that the loss of it would have on their lives. Also ask them to identify species that may be new to the area and discuss their possible impacts.

Seasonal calendar: Ask participants to review the seasonal calendars. Discuss changes or uncommon events that have been observed with regard to seasonality in recent years. These can be events such as prolonged drought, increased rainfall, early/irregular flowering of trees, etc. Record the observed changes.

Objective: To determine how the organization perceives climate change, how these changes will affect their lives and how they would like their future to look instead.

Required time: Five minutes at the end of day one.

Procedure:

• Before leaving after day one, ask the participants to think of the future of their coffee production, as well as their homes, families and communities.
• Have them determine what is most likely to happen in the future if everything continues as it is at present.
• Then have them visualize their ideal future.
• Ask them to imagine wandering around their coffee farms and have them choose their most precious resources. These should be things that they can physically hold in their hands (e.g. water, soil, a specific tree, a coffee cherry, etc.). Have them identify up to three of these valuable items.
• They should then think of anything that would be a danger to the items in the future if everything continues as it is now. uu
• For day two, ask them to come back to the workshop with their three valuable items, as well as some challenges or problems that are or could become dangerous to them (e.g. a specific pest, lack of water, etc.)

The values of an organization may be widely spread, as values vary from participant to participant. It is therefore important to prioritize values that the entire group considers to be important.

Objective: To assist participants in determining which values are important to their organization as a whole.

Materials: Paper, pens, markers and masking tape.

Required time: One to two hours.

Procedure:

• Ask participants to recall the three valuable items they originally thought of at the end of day one.
• In pairs, ask them to share their three choices and their reasons for choosing each item. They should discuss their choices and, as a pair, narrow down their selection to the three most important items between them.
• When all pairs have finished, combine them into groups of four. Ask each group to repeat the activity, with each pair explaining their choices and, as a group, choosing a new top three.
• Combine the groups of four into eight and repeat the activity. Then form groups of 16, and so on, until there is only one group.
• Finally, ask the entire group to present their three shared values and the reasons for their selection. Review the items that have now become less important. Ask questions such as, “How did you decide on this?”, “Were there any major disagreements?”, and “What did you do when there were disagreements in the organization over valuable items?”

It is always important to allow producers to identify their own needs and arrive at possible solutions by themselves. Listing problems on a sheet (or multiple sheets) of paper is a simple, but systematic, way to help participants identify and further define the issues that concern their organization most.

Objective: To systematize the organization’s problems and challenges.

Materials: Paper and markers.

Required time: Half an hour to an hour.

Procedure:

• A list of problems can be created in several ways. It might include items generated from many sources, including meetings, brainstorms, individual discussions, small group exercises, transects or theatre sessions. The list should be kept at the organization and continually revised to include more information throughout the process.
• Based on the discussion during day one, have participants name the problems they identified that threaten their most valuable items.
• Record all problems or challenges mentioned.
• As a group, ask them to prioritize the top three or four problems from the list.
• Mark the chosen problems and valuable items in red and hang the list up where everyone can see it. Try to be as specific as possible.

The problem tree

A clear understanding of a problem is essential in order to find effective solutions. A problem tree (root cause analysis) enables producers to identify both causes and effects of a problem. It is important to have a broad overview of all factors contributing to a problem in order to avoid any biased assumptions that it is a direct result of climate change.

Objective: To determine whether or not prioritized problems are related to climate change.

Materials: Flip chart paper and markers.

Required time: Two hours.

Procedure:

• As an example, use one of the listed problems from earlier and clearly define what the ‘problems’, ‘causes’ and ‘effects’ are. Present the tree with leaves on the sample chart. Written within the trunk of the tree is a problem. Explain that your tree is sick and point out the problem it is suffering from. Point out that trees often become sick due to problems in the roots, from which it feeds. Explain that, in order to understand why the tree is sick, we must follow the problem back to its roots. Let the participants brainstorm possible causes of the problem by asking, “Why?” Draw a root for each cause and write the cause on the root.
• Repeat the question, “Why?” for each cause mentioned in order to identify secondary causes. Write these lower down on the roots, below the primary causes that were identified. Allow participants to continue until they cannot come up with any more causes.
• Ask them to identify effects or impacts of the problem by asking, “What happened?” Draw a branch for each effect and write the effect directly on the branch.
• For each effect, repeat the question, “What happened?” which will reveal secondary effects. Place these higher up in the branches, above the primary effects. Allow participants to continue until they cannot identify any more effects.
• After this demonstration, give each group (three to four groups, depending on how many problems were identified as very pressing earlier) one problem from the prioritized list and ask them to follow the same process, identifying the root cause(s) of the problem and the effects on their production and, ultimately, their livelihoods.
• Once the groups have completed their problem trees, ask them to present the results to the larger group and have them discuss.

This activity helps producers decide on a range of actions to address climate change. Central to this activity is the compilation of a table of options. In the far left-hand column of the table, list impact issues (e.g. erosion, flower abortion, etc.). Reserve the rest of the columns for listing actions (or options) for addressing climate change. The organization will then assess the appropriateness of each possible solution.

Objective: To assist producers in deciding which specific actions they will take to adapt to climate change.

Materials: Options assessment table (blank) and pens.

Required time: One hour.

Procedure:

• Explain the objective of the activity and form the same groups as earlier.
• Present the options assessment table and explain how to use it.
• Write the identified problems (climate change impacts) in the far left column.
• Discuss possible solutions or actions established in the sunray exercise and write them in the table.
• Ask each group to revise their solutions and discuss how feasible or effective they would be. Each group should fill in the options assessment table (it is advisable to have copies prepared before the activity).
• Explain that the issues should be given a value. If an action seems highly appropriate to the problem then mark the square with a ‘+’. If the action does not seem like an appropriate solution then mark it as ‘-’ and if its appropriateness is unknown mark it as ‘?’. Specific details or information on how that action will work should also be recorded in the square or off to the side. Appropriateness may also be marked with a high, medium or low value. Ask the participants to explain the reasons behind their decisions, as sometimes options may have been applied in the past and participants may already have insight into its effectiveness.
• Ask each group to present their assessment and recommendations. At the end of each presentation, discuss the results with the entire group.
• Record the final actions agreed on by the entire group.
• If time allows, repeat these steps again for another set of issues.

Objective: To summarize the results of the workshop and develop a proposal on the potential implementation of the adaptation options identified.

Materials: Paper (pin board size) with the format of the summary table and markers.

Required time: One hour.

Procedure:

• Discuss the activities listed in the options assessment table and collect further tasks that would have to be executed for each of the adaptation measures (tasks listed here do not have to be in any particular order). The participants should define these tasks as precisely as possible, thinking of every step that would have to be taken for implementation. Ask them to also think of necessary resources (including human resources) for each task.
• Ask the group to prioritize the activities. Depending on the dynamic of the group, it may be easier to have them prioritize activities while still in small groups and then present them to the others.
• Ask the entire group to revise and evaluate the activities listed. As they agree on each activity, insert them in the summary table below (Table 26).
• Repeat these steps for each activity that has been identified and prioritized.
• Explain that this summary table and its detailed results form an essential input for the assessment of climate change issues in the region.