Climate-Smart Agriculture and Urban/Peri-Urban Agriculture in the Great Lakes Region

Urban Farm DB summary

This literature review examines the intersection of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in the Great Lakes region of Africa — Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo — a region undergoing rapid urbanization amid growing climate change vulnerability. It examines how CSA practices such as agroforestry, composting, water-efficient irrigation, and resilient crop varieties are being adopted and adapted within diverse UPA systems, synthesizes evidence on their impacts on food security, nutrition, environmental sustainability and socio-economic wellbeing, and analyzes the governance, policy and institutional factors enabling or constraining uptake. The review identifies critical research gaps, including the need for long-term impact assessments, locally adapted CSA strategies, effective governance models, and a better understanding of land tenure and nutritional outcomes, and outlines future research directions and policy recommendations with particular attention to Kenya's evolving urban landscape and devolution framework.