Abstract
Forests are vulnerable to climate change and are also major sources of livelihood for many rural households in Africa. This study examines rural people’s perceptions of climate change impacts on forest-based livelihoods using rural communities of Vhembe District in South Africa as a case study. The study was based on the principles of perceived impact-based assessment, and sustainable livelihoods framework. Using the stratified proportionate random sampling procedure in combination with weighted Enumeration Area for the selected communities, 366 households were chosen and interviewed. Data analysis involved computing frequencies and conducting the Chi-square, binomial tests and binary logistic regression analysis. The respondents identified erratic rainfall, extreme temperature, extreme drought and flooding as key climatic events in their community. But not all identified key climatic events were perceived to constitute risk to forest products and forest-based livelihood. Only extreme drought was indicated to constitute risk to availability of forest products. In addition, the binary logistic regression showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the perceived risk of climate change to the availability of essential forest products across the three municipalities. Hence the need for forest development initiatives that target vulnerable forest products per community as a means of enhancing resilience of forest-based livelihood to climate change impacts in rural community development in South Africa.
Highlights
IntroductionHouseholds’ livelihoods in most rural communities in South Africa, like elsewhere in Africa, are highly dependent on forest resources (Charnley 2005; Clarke & Isaacs 2005; Davies, Oswald & Mitchell 2008; Malone & Rovere 2012; Hachileka 2009; Mertz et al 2009), with farming, animal husbandry, and harvesting and trade in forest resources being the dominant livelihood activities (Chamberlain et al 2005; Kyei 2011; Vhembe 2013)
The result of the analysis showed that the people do not perceive any of the essential forest products to be vulnerable (p > 0.05) to either of erratic rainfall and extreme temperature events
This study used perception-based analysis to examine the effect of climate variability and change on forests and sensitivity of forest-based livelihood to specific climatic events at rural community level in South Africa
Summary
Households’ livelihoods in most rural communities in South Africa, like elsewhere in Africa, are highly dependent on forest resources (Charnley 2005; Clarke & Isaacs 2005; Davies, Oswald & Mitchell 2008; Malone & Rovere 2012; Hachileka 2009; Mertz et al 2009), with farming, animal husbandry, and harvesting and trade in forest resources being the dominant livelihood activities (Chamberlain et al 2005; Kyei 2011; Vhembe 2013). Observed and predicted impact of climate change is projected to have an extensive range of consequences, many of which represent major threats, for example droughts, flash floods and decline in crop productivity, among others (Bryan et al 2009; Capstick 2012; Chinara et al 2013; Kalinda 2011; Mengistus 2011; Mertz et al 2009; Sarah et al 2012) This impact poses significant threat to forests, livelihoods and rural development which might result into increased intensity of poverty. In addition to being exposed to climate change impacts, forest-dependent rural communities in South Africa are faced with socioeconomic challenges such as high unemployment rate, poverty and low economic development opportunity (Vhembe 2013)
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