Karité, People and Climate (KARIPEC)

project summary

Shea nuts have traditionally been a source of livelihoods and income for millions of poor African women. Those nuts are exported and transformed into shea butter which is then used in the chocolate and cosmetic industries. However, shea production is currently threatened: decreasing rainfall and increasing temperatures in the Sahel coupled with a decrease in fallow periods affects the regeneration of shea trees. Suitable habitats for shea are projected to shrink due to the combined action of climate, wildfires, livestock, and human pressure. This represents a risk for the sustainability of the shea value chain as well as the livelihoods of the millions of people depending on it.

The overall objectives of KARIPEC are to (i) develop a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of climate change on the shea resources and the livelihoods that depend on them in Burkina Faso, and (ii) suggest pathways to decrease vulnerability and increase adaptation to climate change for the female shea collectors and their trees.
The project is based on surveys and interviews with female shea collectors, experiments with tree seedlings under controlled environments, collection and analysis of superior shea trees in order to achieve the following specific objectives:

1. Identify the factors contributing to the vulnerability of shea collectors.
2. Quantify shea trees' responses to heat, drought, and elevated CO2, and model impacts on distribution under changed climates.
3. Design and initiate a national breeding program in shea, aiming at simultaneously increasing shea kernel quality, yields, and resistance to climate change.
4. Identify desirable development pathways and factors that have contributed to success and failure of past shea interventions, suggesting feasible use of KARIPEC results.
5. Effective dissemination and dialogue with a forum of actors working in the shea sector to discuss research orientation and design as well as identifying feasible points of intervention for development of the sector in the face of climate change.

KARIPEC trains 3 PhD candidates as well as 6 MSc students from Burkina Faso. Findings will be communicated to national and international stakeholders through workshops, policy briefs, a photovoice exposition and publications in high-ranking scientific journals.