STRATEGIES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AMONG RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN IMO STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was designed to ascertain the strategies for climate change adaptation among rural households in Imo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study ascertained the respondents’ level of awareness on climate change, ascertained their perceived causes of climate change, identified and documented the effective local adaptation strategies to climate change, and finally identified factors that militate against effective adaptation to climate change in the study area. All the rural households in the state constituted the population for the study. A total of 108 respondents, made up of 12 household heads selected from each of the nine villages purposively selected for the study were used. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires. Percentage distribution, mean statistic, charts, and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. The major findings showed that majority (78.3%) of the respondents were aware of climate change. It further showed that a greater proportion, (about 41%) of the respondents know very little about climate change. Most of the respondents, (about 62%) were aware of climate change through personal experience and observation. Further, most of the respondents (47.7%) described climate change as persistent short rainfall duration. About 71% of the respondents agreed that climate change had effect on agriculture, while about 49% of the respondents perceived that major effect of climate change on agriculture was declining crop yield. Some percentages (about 18.0%) of the respondents perceived women as the most vulnerable to climate change. The respondents perceived gas flaring (M= 2.07), violation of local customs (M = 2.01) and natural phenomena (M = 2.00) as the causes of climate change in the study area. Furthermore, they perceived growing of drought-resistant crop varieties (M = 1.14), use of pest/disease resistant crop varieties (M = 1.06), roof water harvesting (M = 1.00), sinking of more wells (M = 1.06), ground water harvesting (M = 1.07), planting deeper into the soil to avoid heat stress (M = 1.10), increased

weeding (M = 1.29), changing of planting dates (M = 1.05), and changing timing of land preparation (M = 1.01) as effective adaptation strategies to climate change in the study area. Perceived constraints to effective adaptation to climate change in the study area were limited access to improved crop varieties (M= 1.95), high cost of farm labour (M= 1.80), inadequate financial resources to adapt (M= 1.80), high cost of diversification of enterprise (M=1.78), lack of irrigation schemes (M = 1.66), high cost of constructing dams (M = 1.58), limited access to improved livestock breeds (M = 1.57), limited availability of land (M = 1.53), high cost of land (M = 1.53), poor extension service (M = 1.52) and lack of government policy on adaptation (M=

1.50). However, the constraints were grouped into: financial constraints with high cost of diversification of enterprise (0.85), inadequate financial resources to adapt (0.83), high cost of labour (0.83), high cost of improved crop varieties (0.78) and poor extension service (0.66) as factors that loaded under it; government failures with poor land ownership system (0.81), low income level (0.80), use of zero tillage encourages weed growth, pest and disease attack (0.73) and poor responses to crises related to climate change (0.67) and limited land availability (0.61) as factors loading under it; and finally technical constraints with lack of access to weather forecast (0.70), planting before the rains result to crop failure (0.68) and inadequate knowledge on how to cope (0.65) as factors loading under it. The study concluded that as a result of the little knowledge of the respondents on climate change owing to their reliance on personal observation and experience as major sources of information on climate change, the extension agency and mass media should be fully used in the dissemination of information on climate change in the rural areas.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background information

Climate change according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report of 2007 is already happening and represents one of the greatest threats facing the earth. The warming of the earth is now evident from air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of ice and snow and the rising global mean sea level.  It reflects abnormal variations in the earth’s climate and subsequent effects on parts of the earth such as ice caps over durations ranging from decades to millions of years. In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, climate change usually reflects or refers to changes in the climate (Kolbert, 2006).  According to Seiz and Foppa (2007), climate change is the result of many factors including the dynamic processes of the earth itself, external forces including variations in sunlight intensity and more recently human activities or anthropogenic factors. Of major concern in anthropogenic factors is the increase in the carbon dioxide (CO2) level due to emissions from fossil fuels combustion followed by aerosols, cement manufacture, ozone layer depletion, animal agriculture and deforestation (Steinfeld, 2006).

Climate  change  hazards  mostly  affect  the  poor,  destroying  homes  and  livelihoods  and affecting participation in development process itself. In both developed and developing societies, these hazards lead to food and water shortages and disease outbreaks (Tjaronda, 2007) among other effects/impacts. The poor are heavily dependent on the ecosystem services and therefore most severely affected by deteriorating environmental conditions. While climate change is not the only threat to natural resources flow, it will affect the viability of livelihoods unless effective measures are taken to protect and diversify them through adaptation and other strategies (Steinfeld, 2006).

Local communities have been observed to be the most vulnerable to climate change impacts. According to Brooks (2008) such changes that heighten the vulnerability of   the local people include desertification, coastal erosion, deforestation, loss of forest quality, sea level rise, woodland degradation, reduced fresh water availability, coral bleaching, the spread of malaria and dengue fever and impacts on food security. Research has shown that one-third of the Nigerian territory is under siege by the expanding frontiers of the Sahara desert with whole villages in the north disappearing under sand dunes, turning the affected villagers into refugees in their own lands (Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change, BNRCC, 2008). In the South, the Atlantic Ocean is threatening coastal cities including Nigeria’s financial and industrial hub, Lagos and the Niger Delta, while increased storms and floods have dissipated agriculture, infrastructure and human habitat in the East (Eze, 2008).

According to Offor (2008), rainfall in the Sahel has been declining since the 1960s. The result has been loss of farmlands, and conflicts between herdsmen and farmers over land resource; many different communities including farmers, fishermen and herdsmen are now confronted with difficulties arising from climate changes; people’s livelihoods are being harmed and people who are already poor are becoming even more impoverished; climate refugees are being created as the changes make some lands unliveable and affect water supplies (Eze, 2008). The exploitation of gas and oil in the Niger Delta area has also exposed communities to environmental and land pollution (Offor, 2008).

According to Kitano (2002) adaptation is the process of responding or adjusting to actual and potential impacts of changing climate conditions in ways that moderate harm or take advantage of any positive opportunities that climate may afford. It includes policies and measures to reduce

exposure to climate variability and extremes and the strengthening of adaptive capacity. Local adaptation strategies represent those practices and knowledge which local people in various regions have developed over the years, through indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) which have enabled them to adapt and mitigate extensively from climate variations (Nyong, Adesina and Elasha, 2007). These  strategies  vary  from  population  to  population  and  region  to  region  and  therefore  are ‘location-specific’.

Adaptation enables communities to live or cope with social and physical impacts of climate change. For example local farmers now delay their planting in order to reduce crop failure (Kelbessa, 2008). According to Building Nigeria Response for Climate Change (BNRCC) Report (2008), while ambitious mitigation activities are critical to tempering the progression of climate change, science shows that the volume of heat-trapping gases already emitted into the atmosphere has sufficient potentials to elicit climate change for decades to come. In other words, climate change and its many impacts will be with us for some time. However, anticipating and adapting to climate change impacts in order to minimize their human and environmental toll is a significant challenge for Nigeria and other most vulnerable countries.

Adaptation is sustainable when the strategies taken to mitigate climate change impacts are suitable  to  the prevailing conditions,  holistic and  can  serve  for  a  reasonable time period. According to Few, Osbahr, Bouwer, Viner, et al. (2006), climate risk management involves the systematic process of using administrative decisions, organizations, operational skills and capacities to implement policies, strategies and coping capacities of the societies and communities to lessen the  impacts  of  natural  hazards  and  related  environmental  and  technological  disasters.  This comprises  all  forms  of  activities  including  structural  and  non-structural  measures  to  avoid

(prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) adverse effects of climate change or climate- induced hazards.

1.2   Problem Statement

Though almost all the countries of the world are vulnerable to climate change and the risks associated with it, some areas have been found to be more vulnerable than others. Tjaronda (2007) posits that one hundred most vulnerable countries include all African countries (except South Africa), polar region, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and mega Deltas in Asia. These countries have their resilience eroded by poverty, low adaptive capacities, high population growths, high incidence of diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, and ineffective government response system among other problems. The harsher, more frequent natural disasters could tip them over the edge into chronic famine or forced migration. Besides, about 80% of the rural dwellers  depend  upon  agriculture as  their major occupation,  engaging  in  such  activities  as farming, hunting, fishing and livestock rearing (Ekong, 2003). These activities are found to be dependent on climate to thrive. Unfortunately, the current changing climate cannot adequately support these activities. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has recognized SIDS and Africa as being particularly vulnerable and added to the list are Least Developed Countries (LDCs). These countries form one group of one hundred nations who are the most vulnerable even though their CO2  emissions account only for 3.2% of the global total (in comparison, the USA emits 23.2%, the EU 24.7%, China 15.3%  and India 4.5%) (Tjaronda, 2007).

Africa’s vulnerability according to Nyong (2003) must be seen in the context of a current climate that is highly variable and difficult to predict. This variable climate adds to the wider

development  challenges  confronting  the  continent  as  earlier  mentioned.  It  is  expected  that climate change could even undo any modest gains that may have been achieved in the realization of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Nyong, 2003). Climate change will most likely add to and amplify these existing sources of vulnerability unless there is substantial socio-economic development in the continent leading to major improvements in adaptive capacities. The need to take urgent steps to address the issues of climate change is recognized in the New Partnership for African Development’s (NEPAD) action plan to implement Africa’s climate change strategy (Nyong, 2003). The presence of adaptive capacity enables the design and implementation of effective adaptation strategies so as to reduce the likelihood and magnitude of harmful outcomes resulting from climate change.

Local  people  have  been  observed  to  have  applied  certain  strategies  to  cope  with  the vagaries of environment, though mostly in their local ways, which can be referred to as Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS). According to Rajaskeran (1993), IKS are the systematic body of knowledge acquired by local people through the accumulation of experience, informal experimentations and intimate understanding of the environment in a culture. Unfortunately, these local adaptation strategies have not been properly documented. Although the adaptive capacities of the local people in developing countries are low, it is a fact that such capacities have sustained the people over the years in their respective territories.

Imo state is among the vulnerable States in Nigeria due to so many reasons. The State is among the oil producing states and most of the environmentally-unfriendly practices of oil companies such as gas flaring take place there. Also some communities live close to water bodies like rivers, lakes and streams which can rise as a result of climate change and cause

flooding  or  dry  up  resulting  in  untold  hardships  and  conflicts  for  livelihoods  of  the  rural dwellers. Again, many communities in the State are serious erosion sites. Nevertheless, these communities have lived in their conditions for a very long time and have as a result evolved certain strategies to adapt to these vagaries of weather. It was therefore pertinent to ask the following questions: What is the awareness level of the respondents to climate change? What are their perceived causes of climate change? And which measures had they taken to adapt to the effects of climate change? The study aimed to provide answers to the questions above.

1.3   Purpose of the study

The overall purpose of the study was to identify local adaptation strategies for climate change among rural households in Imo State. Specifically, the study was designed to:

(1) ascertain respondents’ perceived level of awareness on climate change; (2) ascertain their perceived causes of climate change;

(3) identify and document effective local practices adopted by the respondents in adapting to climate change; and

(4) identify factors that militate against effective adaptation to climate change in the study area.

1.4   Significance of the study

The findings of the study are hoped to enable diverse stakeholders including researchers and policymakers identify local adaptation practices employed in the study area to cope with climate change. These measures if found effective stand a chance of being replicated in other areas  with  similar  problems.  They  can  also  be  scaled  up  to  improve  their  efficiency  and

effectiveness in managing climate change. Findings from the study can also serve as a veritable input into the national framework for climate policies that will reduce human activities that exacerbate climate change. More so, this documentation will enable development agencies to identify  existing  gaps  and  know  where  to  apply  their  interventions  for  better  innovative adaptation to emerge.

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