Facing Climate Change: A case study of peri-Urban Livelihoods in Upper West Ghana
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2020-07-08
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en
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Households within communities located in the Global South experience an increased impact of climate change on their livelihoods. The aim of this research is to explore and describe how climate change issues influenced the livelihood systems of these households within the past 15 years and in which way they are able to build climate change resilience. Research has been done within a village located in a peri-urban zone in the Upper West of Ghana, which gives the possibility to expose the interplay between climate change processes and other processes like urbanization and modernization. Using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews as research methods, this research outlines the livelihood and adaptation strategies used by the households to deal with climate change and therefore, the capacity and potential of these households to battle climate related issues. It appears that households certainly facing the negative consequences of climate change, experiencing an increased failure of crops due to the increased variability of the rainfall pattern, droughts, rising temperatures and strong winds. Therefore, farmers apply fertilizers and chemicals, use early maturing crop varieties and strive for mechanization of the farming process. Other ways to generate income have been the keeping of livestock, the sale of firewood and burning of charcoal and working in the commercial sector. Using both farm and non-farm strategies to deal with climate change, households show the ability to include these strategies into their livelihood system. Nevertheless, the income security of households has decreased and therefore, households often cannot afford implementing these strategies. Therefore, it shows communities are anticipating to current shifts brought by processes of modernization and urbanization.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen