Climate change, food security, and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa (original) (raw)
Related papers
11.[21-29]The Implications of Climate Change on Food Security and Rural Livelihoods
Climate change has become a developmental issue across the world. This paper examines the implication of climate change on food security and rural livelihoods in northern Ghana. It focuses on the effect of climate change on the principal coordinates of food security and livelihoods of households in northern Ghana. Participant observations and key informant interviews were the main data collection methods employed. The main finding is that communities that hitherto never experienced floods and droughts are now faced with the realities of these natural phenomena and these are adversely affecting food security and household livelihoods. It is recommended that government and its development partners need to adopt a holistic approach to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change in northern Ghana if the MDGs are to be achieved.
Food security and natural resources management: Overview on climate change implications for Africa
In Africa, agriculture is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change because of its seasonality, the lack of resilience to disaster of the peasant farmers, the presence of major non-climatic stressors that influence sensitivity to changes in climatic conditions, and endemic poverty. This paper examines the implications of climate change for food security and natural resource management in Africa. It presents information on the current state of knowledge on the vulnerability, impact and adaptation of African agriculture and natural resources to climate change. Though the impacts of climate change on smallholder and subsistence farmers will be locally specific and hard to predict, research has shown clear crop physiological and agronomic evidence that climate change will significantly reduce productivity in some cases while increasing productivity in others. An increase in the frequency and severity of flooding will result in the loss of agricultural land and yield. Changes ...
Climate change has become a developmental issue across the world. This paper examines the implication of climate change on food security and rural livelihoods in northern Ghana. It focuses on the effect of climate change on the principal coordinates of food security and livelihoods of households in northern Ghana. Participant observations and key informant interviews were the main data collection methods employed. The main finding is that communities that hitherto never experienced floods and droughts are now faced with the realities of these natural phenomena and these are adversely affecting food security and household livelihoods. It is recommended that government and its development partners need to adopt a holistic approach to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change in northern Ghana if the MDGs are to be achieved.
2018
In East Africa, climate change is understood as a period of drought or floods. In real sense, it is the universal changes in the behavior of weather patterns based on statistical predictions for a long period of time. The region has experienced severe climatic changes of droughts, floods that negatively affect agricultural production causing food insecurity. This has caused both internal and regional migrations across East African borders especially by pastoral groups. These impelled migrations often cause insecurity. Literature searches have been used to gather information about what has been done and what should be done to safeguard communities from food insecurity caused by climate shocks. Results show that over 31% of the people are affected by undernourishment, an indicator of food insecurity and this has been to a great extent brought about by destruction of ecosystems which has enhanced climate change. Proposed mitigation and adaptation strategies include traditional and non-...
2012
Climate change has become a developmental issue across the world. This paper examines the implication of climate change on food security and rural livelihoods in northern Ghana. It focuses on the effect of climate change on the principal coordinates of food security and livelihoods of households in northern Ghana. Participant observations and key informant interviews were the main data collection methods employed. The main finding is that communities that hitherto never experienced floods and droughts are now faced with the realities of these natural phenomena and these are adversely affecting food security and household livelihoods. It is recommended that government and its development partners need to adopt a holistic approach to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change in northern Ghana if the MDGs are to be achieved.
Climate Change, Land, Water, and Food Security: Perspectives From Sub-Saharan Africa
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
The current and projected warming of the earth is unequivocal with humans playing a strong role as both perpetrators and victims. The warming on the African continent is projected to be greater than the global average with an increased average temperature of 3–6°C by the end of the century under a high Representative Concentration Pathway. In Africa, the Sub-Saharan region is identified as the most vulnerable to the changing climate due to its very low capacity to adapt to or mitigate climate change. While it is common to identify studies conducted to assess how climate change independently impacts water, land, or food resources, very limited studies have sought to address the interlinkages, synergies, and trade-offs existing between climate change, water, land, and food (WLF) resources as a system in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The climate change and WLF security nexus, therefore, seeks to address this shortfall in literature and subsequently serve as a relevant source of information...
The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 2019
1. Introduction and Background Agriculture remains a significant part of the economies of countries around the world as it contributes to national gross domestic product (GDP), foreign exchange earnings, and food security. However, despite these contributions, the agricultural sector globally, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, is besieged with many challenges, paramount among them being climate change-related factors such as irregular rainfall patterns, increasing temperature, the incidence of droughts, and decreasing soil fertility. Further changes are expected in agricultural production, prices, and infrastructure due to climate change which may, in turn, limit the amount and quality of food produced. In line with nutrition in a family, inappropriate or too little food could adversely affect the health of people and maybe attributed to additional changes in global climate such as increasing temperature, floods or droughts which are threatening human physical and psychological circumstances. In the end, the poor in society especially those in the Least Developed Countries are likely to have little access to healthy, nutritious food which would lead to poor health status and lower labor productivity. These two factors according to a 2005 report by the FAO contributes to a continuous vicious cycle of poverty and malnutrition (FAO 2005). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC (2007) defined climate change as 'any change in climate over time which arises as a result of both human activity and natural variability'. Its impacts are being felt by many people and ecosystems and have the potential to cripple the drive for sustainable growth and development globally (World Bank, 2008). Climate change according to Adger et al., (2003) is evident in increased temperatures, reduced precipitation, frequent droughts and scarcity of water. According to IPCC (2007), Africa is expected to experience the highest levels of warming with some countries, Ghana inclusive, also experiencing a decline in rainfall. These are expected to have adverse effects on agricultural production. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)of the United Nations (UN) defined food security at the World Food Summit in 1996 as 'when all people, at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life'. Components of food security according to the FAO include ample food production, the socioeconomic issues surrounding food availability, or the ability to translate hunger into an economic demand for food and to have access to nutritious effectively, safe and culturally preferred foods. Therefore, on both the supply side in terms of production and the demand side in terms of being able to trade for food, the stability of food systems is important. Food security includes the production of food, trading of food, the nutritive value of food, and also how individuals and countries maintain access to food overtime periods in the face of challenges. This