Unleashing the nexus between climate change and food security in rural South Africa: role of three community radio stations in the Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Bamigboye, Foluke Bosede
- Date: 2023-04
- Subjects: Climatic changes , Food security , South Africa -- Rural conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27325 , vital:66939
- Description: This study investigates the role of Forte FM, Mdantsane FM and Rhodes Music Community Radios in disseminating the different kinds of messages on the nexus between the impacts of climate change and food security in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Therefore, the study aims to investigate how these community radio stations play their informative, educative and entertainment roles regarding climate change and food security awareness programmes to their listeners. The study employed the qualitative research approach and convenience, and non-probability samplings techniques were subsequently used to select samples for this study. In-depth interviews were conducted individually for Forte FM, Mdantsane FM and Rhodes Music community radio programme managers respectively, who serve as the key informants. One focus group discussion each was held with residents of Golf Course, Mdantsane and Grahamstown areas where these radio stations broadcast from, with eight participants in each focus group. The total number of participants for the focus group discussions was 24 participants. The collected data were coded into themes using NVivo 12 software to generate the theme nodes and case nodes as key findings, analysis and then interpreted. The findings of this study confirmed that these three community radio stations do contribute to climate change communication through their programmes that focus on climate change and food security related issues. Another vital finding from the study showed that listeners do benefit immensely from these climate change and food security related programmes of the under-study community radio stations. Hence, listeners physical, social, and cognitive well-being of their climatic environment have been greatly impacted. In the same vein, the findings of this study further revealed that the rural communities who are mostly affected by the impacts of climate change on food security have been well informed and enlightened on the suitable ways to enhance a sustainable food security and climate adaptation system through Forte FM, Mdantsane FM, and Rhodes Music community radio stations. Significantly, this study has been able to come up with two suggested models and the conceptual frameworks, which are the Local Action Adaptive Communication (LAAC) Model and the Indigenous Behavioral Change Conceptual (IBCC) Model. These models are focused on increasing listeners interests, adaptation, and behavioral change on climate change issues. The models are also aimed at ensuring better climate change and food security communication Author. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-04
Insights into the drivers and impact of climate change and climate change adaptation in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: the case of Amathole District Municipality
- Authors: Gwala, Lindokuhle
- Date: 2022-11
- Subjects: Climatic changes , Climatic factors , Global environmental change
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27832 , vital:69945
- Description: Climate change is a threat to communal livestock production, causing increases in the rate and intensity of droughts, floods, pests and diseases, and thus subjecting communal livestock production to vulnerability. Communal farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture and are usually too poorly resourced to cope with the frequency of climate-related events that may be expected in the future. Response and adaptation is vital to ensure the sustainability of livestock production, particularly since it is the main source of survival in communal areas. The Eastern Cape Provincial Policy on Climate Change was introduced in 2010 to facilitate a coordinated approach that assists farmers to respond, adapt and mitigate climate change. The study examines the implementation of the policy to identify farmers’ perceptions of the response rate prior to, during and after climate change disasters. In addition, the study establishes the characteristics of livestock production in the study area, seeking to ascertain how communal livestock farmers CLFs are adapting their practices to ensure sustainable livestock production in the face of climate change. In order to make informed decisions on coping strategies, farmers require access to information on climate change. The study therefore examines the communication channels used by farmers to access such information. Since food security is under threat, the study also assesses the effects of climate change on food security among the CLFs. Multi stage sampling was used to select 388 communal livestock farmers in three local municipalities in Amathole District Municipality. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in five communities randomly selected in the three local municipalities, with data collected by means of a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, principal component analysis and regression methods were used to analyse the data. The study reveals that communal livestock farmers perceive a poor response rate from extension services before, during and after disasters, and that they have poor access to support materials. All of the respondents practised uncontrolled breeding, attributed to a lack of infrastructure such as fencing. Most farmers kept cattle for income generation. The major constraints of cattle production were diseases and pests. CLFs employed dipping, rotational grazing, water tanks, veld burning and the sale of animals as the main strategies to cope with climate change. CLFs access climate change information through multiple channels. The main sources were other farmers and media such as radio and television, although language barriers hampered full understanding of information conveyed about climate chnage. Farmer-to-farmer contact was a central aspect of the CLFs’ lives that could be better employed in the dissemination of climate change information. The results suggest a positive relationship between diversity of species kept and food security. Assets, the social safety net (mainly grants) and adaptive capacity indicators positively and significantly impacted households’ resilience to food insecurity. The study recommends that the capacity of communal livestock farmers on effective mitigating strategies be improved, making use of mass media; that more work be done by extension services to prepare farmers for adverse events and that relief materials disseminated during periods of disaster be tagged “national emergency” to speed up distribution and use. There is an urgent need for adequate and timely provision of climate change information that will help CLFs to make more effective use of their resources in the face of climate change. Agricultural extension services should address challenges associated with breeding practices, disaster response and adult illiteracy to promote better adaptive capacity and ensure food security among this vulnerable cohort. , Thesis (MSci) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-11
A framework for communicating climate information to rural small-scale farmers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa using systems thinking approach
- Authors: Pindura, Tineyi Herbert https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7233-6222
- Date: 2022-02
- Subjects: Farms, Small , Agriculture -- Environmental aspects , Climatic changes
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22809 , vital:52784
- Description: In the Eastern Cape of South Africa, rural small-scale farmers live in uncertain times characterized by climate change and variability, which intensify social, political and financial inequalities. Therefore, there is a need to increase the understanding and interpretation of climate information to minimize crop production risk, reduce rural small-scale farmers’ vulnerability to climate, and maximize opportunities. Increasing the resilience among rural small-scale farmers requires appropriate and viable practical approaches. By using systems thinking approach (and the Raymond Mhlaba Municipality in the Eastern Cape as a study area), this research disseminates the complex nature of current climate information frameworks. Through inputs from farmers (through a Farmers Research Group methodology) and climate data, this thesis developed a new framework for communicating climate information (herein referred as the climate information communication systems framework) to rural small-scale farmers. The proposed climate information communication systems framework successfully integrates scientific and traditional knowledge. The framework constitutes certain stages, where the farming system and crop identification is the first stage. The second stage is the requirements stage, which has two relationships: scientist to crop requirements and farmers to crop requirements. At the scientist to crop requirements level, users will examine crop requirements by combining climatic data and crop simulations, while at the farmers to crop requirement, rural small-scale farmers use the scientific information to plan for the farming season. The farmer then decides the planting and growing period as well as the harvest timing. The study suggests that building links between rural small-scale farmers, extension officers, and scientists makes sharing information easier. The proposed climate information framework design illustrates that stakeholders now have a personal relationship with climate information transmission and can influence the different actions to reduce the effect of climate change unpredictability. The study established that climate change and variability influence recent agricultural output trends. Recent temperature and rainfall trends could have resulted in low crop productivity in the study area. The study also reflected that women are a critical resource in agriculture and rural economy and that middle-aged men and youth are less interested in farming. The findings also showed that women are more receptive to climate information; hence, to promote access and use of climate information remains vital to consider gender-specific aspects for appropriate decision-making in the agriculture sector. The study also recommends enhancing the Farmers Research Group technique. In the past, the scope of this methodology has been narrowly focused, and it must be explored to incorporate additional types of climate information and more debate about how climate is related to the decisions farmers for implementation or consideration. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-02
Investigating the feasibility of using remote sensing in index-based crop insurance for South Africa’s smallholder farming systems
- Authors: Masiza, Wonga https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6224-3812
- Date: 2021-10
- Subjects: Precision farming , Agricultural engineering , Climatic changes
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23000 , vital:54890
- Description: Crop farming in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is largely practiced by resource-poor farmers under rain-fed and unpredictable weather conditions. Since agriculture is the mainstay of SSA’s economy, the lack of improved and adapted agricultural technologies in this region sets back economic development and the fight against poverty. Overcoming this constraint and achieving the sustainable development goal to end poverty, requires innovative tools that can be used for weather risk management. One tool that has been gaining momentum recently is index-based crop insurance (IBCI). Since the launch of the first IBCI program in Africa around 2005, the number of IBCI programs has increased. Unfortunately, these programs are constrained by poor product design, basis risk, and low uptake of contracts. When these issues were first pointed-out in the earliest IBCI programs, many reports suggested satellite remote sensing (RS) as a viable solution. Hence, the first objective of this study was to assess how RS has been used in IBCI, the challenges RS faces, and potential contributions of RS that have not yet been meaningfully exploited. The literature shows that IBCI programs are increasingly adopting RS. RS has improved demarcation of unit areas of insurance and enabled IBCI to reach inaccessible areas that do not have sufficient meteorological infrastructure. However, the literature also shows that IBCI is still tainted by basis risk, which emanates from poor contract designs, the influence of non-weather factors on crop yields, imperfect correlations between satellite-based indices and crop yields, and the lack of historical data for calibration. Although IBCI reports cover vegetation and crop health monitoring, few to none cover crop type and crop area mapping. Furthermore, areas including high-resolution mapping, data fusion, microwave RS, machine learning, and computer vision have not been sufficiently tested in IBCI. The second objective of this study was to assess how RS and machine learning techniques can be used to enhance the mapping of smallholder crop farming landscapes. The findings show that machine learning ensembles and the combination of optical and microwave data can map a smallholder farming landscape with a maximum accuracy of 97.71 percent. The third objective was to identify factors that influence crop yields and crop losses in order to improve IBCI design. Results demonstrated that the pervasive notion that low yields in smallholder farms are related to rainfall is an oversimplification. Factors including fertilizer use, seed variety, soil properties, soil moisture, growing degree-days, management, and socioeconomic conditions are some of the most important factors influencing crop yields and crop losses in smallholder farming systems. This shows why IBCI needs to be part of a comprehensive risk management system that understands and approaches smallholder crop farming as complex by linking insurance with advisories and input supplies. Improved inputs and good farming practices could reduce the influence of non-weather factors on crop losses, and thereby reduce basis risk in weather-based index insurance (WII) contracts. The fourth objective of this study was to assess how well the combination of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical indices estimate soil moisture. As stated earlier, soil moisture was found to be one of the most important factors affecting crop yields. Although this method better estimated soil moisture over the first half of the growing season, estimation accuracies were comparable to those found in studies that had used similar datasets (RMSE = 0.043 m3 m-3, MAE = 0.034 m3 m- 3). Further interrogation of interaction effects between the variables used in this study and consideration of other factors that affect SAR backscatter could improve the method. More importantly, incorporating high-resolution satellite-based monitoring of soil moisture into IBCI could potentially reduce basis risk. The fifth objective of this study was to develop an IBCI for smallholder crop farming systems. The proposed IBCI scheme covers maize and derives index thresholds from crop water requirements and satellite-based rainfall estimates. It covers rainfall deficits over the vegetative, mid-season, and late-season stages of maize growth. The key contribution of this system is the derivation of index thresholds from CWR and site-specific rainfall conditions. The widely used approach, which calibrates IBCI by correlating yields and rainfall, exposes contracts to basis risk because, by simply correlating yield and rainfall data, it overlooks the influence of non-weather factors on crop yields and losses. The proposed system must be linked or bundled with non-weather variables that affect crop yields. Effectively, this means that the insurance must be linked or bundled with advisories and input supplies to address the influence of non-weather factors on crop losses. This system also incorporates a crop area-mapping component, which was found to be lacking in many IBCI systems. In conclusion, an IBCI that is based on crop water requirements, which incorporates crop area mapping and links insurance with non-weather crop yield-determining factors, is potentially capable of improving crop insurance for smallholder farming systems. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2021-10
Coastal urban climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction assessment: the case of East London city, South Africa
- Authors: Busayo, Emmanuel Tolulope https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-9274-2145
- Date: 2021-05
- Subjects: Climate change mitigation , Climatic changes , Emergency management
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20938 , vital:46756
- Description: The increasing incidences of climate change and its registered negative effects have disturbed the entire world, with the coastal areas being the worst hit. Given the fact that coastal areas are becoming centres of global population settlement. An attempt to explore climate change-related disasters and risks is an important aspect in building communities' adaptation and resilience, especially for the most vulnerable global south. Consequently, climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) have become fundamentally linked to offering sustainable solutions to address climate change and related disaster risk problems witnessed frequently in recent years. However, the assessment of synergy between CCA and DRR for coastal areas remains fragmented, vague and limited, especially for Sub-Saharan Africa and thus the need for exploration. Furthermore, the urban populace and planning stakeholders are grappling with the challenges of seeking ways to integrate adaptation measures into human livelihoods and planning systems. Also, considering complex issues inhibiting sustainable planning, for example, poor communication of climate risks affecting coastal areas, little records of hazards disclosure and disaster history, inundation and/or sea level rise etc warranted further investigation. Accordingly, the synergies between CCA and DRR in addressing various climate change-related disaster risks, especially for the coastal areas and cities was explored in this study. To this end, given the complexity of CCA and DRR, trio-theories were adopted, which included Resilience Theory (RT), Social Vulnerability Theory (SVT) and Protective Motivation Theory (PMT) as the study’s theoretical underpinnings using East London Coastal City as a case study. Consequently, a multi-method approach was employed using a review of literature, bibliometric analysis, field survey, geographic information system (GIS), and remote sensing. The first objective reveals that there is a need for convergence and harmonisation of CCA and DRR policy, programme, and practice to improve sustainable planning outcomes. Accordingly, the study proposed the adoption of a problem analysis model (PAM) for place function sustainability and local or community level resilience building. The second objective revealed that the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction has not been fully operationalised at the local and global scales. However, in South Africa, there are efforts to streamline DRR across manifold sectors through the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF). Therefore, disaster risk managers and climate change adaptation stakeholders at the local level need to embrace the position of the SFDRR to possibly offer sound and sustainable results to the most vulnerable. In addition, a bibliometric analysis on climate change adaptation from 1996 – 2019 highlights the need for more African countries' engagement and cross-collaboration between developing and developed countries in CCA research to advance sustainable solutions and improve resilience. The third objective revealed the need for more awareness, flexibility, and adaptability among stakeholders at various levels as fundamental ingredients for CCA and DRR sustainable planning outcomes. The fourth objective highlighted that floods were recorded as the most predominant hydro-meteorological hazard (n=118, 81.9percent) in the East London, coastal city. Finally, the fifth objective portrayed that many communities, populace, buildings (types), and areas are exposed to flood disaster risks, especially, communities such as Nahoon Park Valley, Sunrise on Sea, Beacon Bay, Buffalo, Gonubie, and East London are among the most vulnerable. The study recommends that early action and warning systems should be adopted, and allocation proper building codes to boost awareness to reduce the potential flood disaster risks. Moreover, the study reveals the significance of local flood disaster risk mapping in advancing CCA and DRR to ensure the implementation of coherent spatial planning for sustainable planning outcomes. The overall lessons learnt from this study are vital in contributing to the attainment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) such as goal 11: sustainable cities and communities, and goal 13: climate action, including the seven targets and four priorities for action of the Sendai framework at a local level. The study results are deemed critical in guiding city planners, decision-makers, disaster risk managers, local communities among others towards the development of a more resilient coastal community. In general, the study calls for the integration of CCA and DRR initiatives to be premised on PAM for sustainable planning outcomes to achieve sustainable development goals and reduction of fatalities from climate-related disasters. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2021-05
Assessment of the human health implications of climate variability in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Orimoloye, Israel Ropo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5058-2799
- Date: 2018-05
- Subjects: Climatic changes , Global temperature changes
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/25360 , vital:64224
- Description: Impacts associated with climate variability and extreme heat are already obvious in varying degrees and expected to be disruptive in the near future across the globe especially in the urban regions. Urban areas have distinctive features that leave their residents and properties vulnerable to extreme climate events. Global temperatures continue to change, reaching new levels almost every year for the past two decades. However, even though the causes are debated it is evident that climate variability is real. Climate variability and disaster risk are threats to human health that adversely reinforce each other. Better knowledge on the association between climate change, variability and extreme weather-related illness is needed and can aid strategies to reduce vulnerabilities. The impacts of climate variability on the health of residents in East London (EL) area in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa were explored through four interdependent research segments. The first section examined the climate variability and urban surface thermal characteristics implication on human health using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. Remote sensing was used to assess the Land Surface Temperature (LST) and estimated Radiation (R) of East London area from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images for 1986, 1996, 2006 as well as from Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) for 2016 spanning a period of 30 years. Rapid urbanization and land cover changes in this area have contributed significantly to this drastic change in the natural land surface characteristics (increased land surface temperature and surface solar radiation). For instance, vegetation cover declined by about 358.812km2 while built-up areas increased by 175.473km2 during this period which correlates with the area thermal characteristics changes. Radiation levels also increased over the years with values exceeding the global solar radiation index. Exposure to increased surface radiation poses risks of heat stroke, skin cancer and heart disease to the local population. Consequently, this study provides pertinent information on human health sustainability and epidemiological case management. The second part explored past temperature and humidity trends (1986-2016) and projects future trends (2017-2030). The historical data of meteorological variables were obtained from the archives of the South African Weather Service and analyzed using the ordinary least square regression model in GRETL (GNU Regression Econometric and Time-series Library) statistical software. This study discovered a local consistency between models and the observations add to existing knowledge and this is crucial in knowing the shifts in climatic change as well as recognizing variability and its conflicting effects on human health, environment, agriculture, ecological sustainability and socioeconomic status in the region. The third segment assessed the potential impacts of climate variability on health using existing heat indices during the study period. The results demonstrated that in East London from 1986 to 2016 during summer and autumn (December to May) of various years exceeded high heat index values. It is obvious that summer and autumn months are more vulnerable to heat extreme and humidex. The humidex and Heat Index (HI) increased annually by 0.03percent and 0.9percent respectively throughout the study period. The increment in the various indices showed highly significant ill-health and environmental impacts on humans especially with prolonged exposure. The last segment appraised the association between climatic elements and epidemiological incidences of the study area between 2012 and 2016. The epidemiology incidences data were obtained from the archives of the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in East London area and National Tertiary Service Grant (NTSG) database for the period. The results have showed that there exists significant effects of climate variability on the health of East London residents and these have been identified to have negative impacts on health of the people in the area. This study also revealed noticeable impacts of extreme heat on human health and a positive correlation between meteorological components (HI and temperature) and epidemiological cases (cardiovascular, skin cancer and diarrhea) during the study period. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2018
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- Date Issued: 2018-05