Browsing by Subject "Adaptive Capacity"
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Item An assessment of determinants of adaptive capacity to climate change/variability in the rural savannah of Ghana(Springer, Cham, 2016) Yaro, J.A.; Teye, J. K.; Bawakyillenuo, S.The varied stressors posed by climate change and variability to the livelihoods of agrarian societies in many developing countries call for an examination of the determinants of adaptive capacity. Data collected through a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, is used to explain the determinants of adoption of five major adaptation strategies. The analysis reveals that while adaptive capacity in the northern savannah zone is generally low due to high levels of poverty and poor state presence, it varies spatially resulting from locational, individual and community socio-economic and institutional factors. Adaptive capacities are rooted in the nature of household and community assets as well as societal rules and policies. Both community level factors and characteristics of individual farmers condition the idiosyncratic variables defining the capacities to adopt specific adaptation strategies to climate change threats. Important farmer characteristics that determine critical adaptation strategies in the northern savannah include age, sex, assets, family size, size and type of land, skills/education, and perception of climatic changes. This paper recommends that local resilience building mechanisms be scaled up while modern mechanisms should be introduced for dealing with the impacts of climate change.Item Assessment of Smallholder Farmers’ Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change: Use of a Mixed Weighting Scheme(University of Ghana, 2020) Al-Hassan, R.M.; Mensah-Bonsu, A.; Osei-Asare, Y.B.Weighting scheme definition represents an important step in assessment of adaptive capacity to climate change with indicator approach since it defines the trade-offs among indicators or components and can be source of uncertainty. This study aims to assess smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity to climate change by using a mixed weighting scheme that reflect farmers’ perceived importance of adaptive capacity components to inform policy makers. To achieve that objective, the sustainable livelihood framework was adopted and indicator approach was used for the assessment. The mixed weighting scheme were defined by using both equal weights and experts judgement methods during the assessment process. The mixed weighting scheme index is compared to the case where equal weights are applied in the assessment process and an uncertainty analysis was performed on relative standard deviation through a Monte Carlo simulation. Primary Data were collected from 450 farmers in two communities in northern Benin with a structured questionnaire and through focus groups discussion. The results show that smallholder farmers in both communities do not have the same perceived importance of adaptive capacity components. The index scores show that farmers have in majority low adaptive capacity. When weighted product aggregation method is used, there is more uncertainty related to the index computed with the mixed weighting scheme, but it leads to the same characterisation when compared with the index computed with the equal weights. It is recommended that mixed weighting scheme should be preferred for the assessment of adaptive capacity and weighted product aggregation method should be used.Item Climate Change and Inclusive Growth in Africa: The Role of Adaptive Capacity(University of Ghana, 2018-07) Kyere, D.O.This paper examines the climate change effect on inclusive growth and the possible moderating role of adaptive capacity in climate change/inclusive growth in the long and short-run. The study employs temperature change anomalies (with 1951-1980 as the baseline climatological year) and CO2 emissions (metric ton per capita) as variables for climate change and a set of variables as indicators to measure inclusive growth. These set of indicators are adopted from the Asian Development Bank (2014) key indicators for inclusive growth which falls under five broad categories namely: Poverty and inequality; Growth and Expansion of Economic Opportunity; Social Inclusion to Ensure Equal Access to Economic Opportunity; Social Safety Nets; Good Governance and Institutions. Out of this, the study obtains a single variable using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and fitting the dataset to an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model we determine the long and short-run effects of climate change and adaptive capacity on inclusive growth and the moderating role of adaptive capacity. The studies establish that temperature change anomalies and increases in CO2 emissions lead to a fall in inclusive growth significantly. Thus, climate change has a negative impact on inclusive growth. The study also demonstrates that adaptive capacity contributes to inclusive growth significantly but only in the short-run. However, when the individual component of climate change is considered we observe a significant effect of climate change on mortality rate under 5 (per thousand live births) and contributing family workers (as a percentage of total employment) with adaptive capacity mitigating the negative impact of temperature change anomalies and carbon dioxide in relation to mortality rate. The study, therefore, indicates that climate change negatively affects climate sensitive indicators of inclusive growth and also these sensitive indicators responds appropriately to climate adaptation efforts and strategies.Item Climate Change and Income Inequality in Africa(University of Ghana, 2019-07) Zuanah, S.P.Policymakers and governments have raised concerns about the rate at which global climate change is occurring. The adverse impact of climate change on the environment and ecosystems has necessitated the formulation of mechanisms to address its effects. Empirical evidence has shown that climate change greatly affects health, water and food supply, and economic growth in Africa. However, given the emerging nature of climate change studies, little research has examined its impact on income inequality in Africa. This study therefore sought to examine the effects of climate change on income inequality in Africa and determine how climate adaptative capacity moderates such effects. The study used the two-step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to analyse secondary data for 37 African countries from 1995 to 2015. Using temperature change anomaly and Carbon dioxide as measures for climate change, the study found that rising temperatures have a negative and significant relationship with income inequality. The study also found agricultural productivity to be the main channel through which climate change affects inequality in Africa. As crop and livestock productivity decreases, income inequality in Africa increases. In examining the moderating role of adaptive capacity in the climate change and income inequality nexus, the study found that, Africa’s adaptive capacity does not moderate the threat of climate change on income inequality. The study recommends that adaptation efforts should be channelled specifically to the agricultural sector, particularly the poor small-scale farmers who are affected by the negative consequences of climate change in order to reduce the disparity in income distribution in Africa. Keywords: Adaptive Capacity, Africa, Climate Change, Agriculture, Income InequalityItem Exploring the Link between Adaptive Capacity and Nutritional Needs of Low-Income Households in Karaga District of the Northern Region of Ghana(University of Ghana, 2019-07) Dawuda, I.Climate change is projected to have an adverse impact on the health and wellbeing of households especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This could be through disruptions in food production and distribution systems leading to food insecurity or the proliferation of diseases vectors both of which contributes to the prevalence of malnutrition. The high prevalence of stunting in the northern parts of Ghana despite various nutrition and health interventions by government and other development partners over the years has led to the need to find out how the ability of households to adapt to climate change and variability affects its nutritional needs. Using the sustainable livelihoods framework, the study aimed at exploring the link between adaptive capacity and household nutritional needs of low-income households in Karaga district using stunting in children as an indicator of nutritional needs. The study employed a quantitative design with a survey of two-hundred and eighty-eight households with children under five years old, ten key informant interviews and a five-expert ranking of indicators. A binary logistic model was used to study the link between adaptive capacity and household nutritional needs. The study finds a significant inverse relationship between adaptive capacity and household nutritional needs. The study therefore recommends the strengthening of education on best practices for infant and young child feeding practices, improvements in non-formal, technical and vocational training and the establishment of an irrigation scheme in Karaga to help increase the adaptive capacity of households and reduce the prevalence of stunting.Item Smallholder Farmers’ Adaptive Capacity And Choice Of Adaptation Strategies Against Weather Risks In Northern Benin(University of Ghana, 2017-09) Yves, C.Z.Understanding smallholder farmers’ behaviour in terms of adaptation to weather risks provides the means to design policies that will help farmers address weather risks and have an effective impact on farmers’ livelihoods. This study is undertaken with this perspective by analysing how smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity affects their choice of adaptation strategies to weather risks. The research sought to, i) analyse farmers’ perceived vulnerability to weather risks, their adaptation responses and assess their perceived and adaptive capacities; ii) identify the factors that influence the choice of adaptation strategies; and iii) assess the link between farmers’ adaptive capacity and the effectiveness of their adaptation strategies. Data was collected through survey of 450 cereal farmers (maize, rice, sorghum and millet), and analysed with descriptive statistics, multinomial logit model and maximum simulated likelihood model. The results indicate that floods, drought, decreasing levels of, and increasing variability of rainfall, late onset of the rainy season are the major weather risks which farmers perceived themselves vulnerable to. Crop management, calendar management, improved seeds, irrigation and soil and water management were the adaptation strategies used, with crop and calendar management being the strategies adopted most frequently. Only 8% of farmers’ adaptation responses were to address vulnerability related to flood and drought even though they perceived themselves to be highly vulnerable to those risks. At least 60% farmers perceived that crop management, calendar management, and use of improved seeds have the potential to address weather risks compared to 25% for irrigation and 8% for soil and water management. Farmers’ adaptation intentions translated into adaptation except for improved seeds and irrigation strategies where only 38% and 32% of farmers who intended to use these strategies, respectively actually applied the strategies. On average smallholder farmers have moderate adaptive capacity to respond to weather risk except for rice farmers who have high adaptive capacity. Farmers’ adaptation intention correlate with strategies that do not require much additional investments; while estimated adaptive capacity determines the choice of strategy that require much additional investments. Other factors like age, experience, education perceived vulnerability to risks, access to credit, land tenure, access to climate information, access to extension services also affect the choice of adaptation strategies. On-farm adaptation strategies used by farmers are effective and have increased yields by about 5% to 35% depending on the strategy used. Farmers with high adaptive capacity achieved the highest impact on yields from the application of improved seed and soil, water and irrigation strategies. The findings suggest that supporting farmers to build their capacity to adapt to climate risks can be a means to reducing smallholders’ vulnerability to weather risks.Item Smallholder Farmers’ Vulnerability to Floods in the Tolon District, Ghana(University of Ghana, 2015-07) Jakpa, J.T.; Owusu, A.B.; Awere, K.G.; University of Ghana, College of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, Department of Geography and Resource DevelopmentFlooding is by far the most destructive type of weather conditions that strikes humans and their livelihoods around the world. Smallholder farmers in rural communities are predominantly dependent on rain-fed agriculture which exposes them to the vagaries of floods. Flood extremes have become more unpredictable and smallholder farmers are more vulnerable to them as a result of their limited adaptive capacity. Local level assessment of flood vulnerability is thus necessary in order to formulate policy measures towards strengthening their adaptive capacity. This study investigated the spatial pattern and factors that trigger floods in the study communities in the Tolon District. It also assessed the degree of smallholder farmers‟ vulnerability to floods in the district. The assessment was conducted in four rural farming communities in the district. The study finds that location of farms is the principal determinant of flood vulnerability and as such households in communities such as Tampia and Kpalisogu- Kura which are closer to the valley of the White Volta River are highly vulnerable to floods as compared to Yoggu and Kpalgun which are inland. Flood occurrence in the study areas are the direct result of continuous heavy rainfall episodes over many days; this triggers floods around the floodplains in communities near the river and in low-lying areas of inland communities. Again, there are little efforts at planning and developing measures that will help reduce farmers‟ losses from floods in study communities, this is attributed to limited knowledge, financial and material resources to adapt. Policy measures and development efforts should focus on improving adaptive capacities of smallholder farmers including providing livelihood options like food processing and craft work, and access to financial and technical assistance. KEYWORDS: Floods, smallholder farmers, vulnerability, exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity