Abstract
Increasing urban households’ capacities to withstand climate change will in many ways reduce the shocks connected with it. This study focused on urban households’ capabilities to withstand climate change in Nigeria, based on evidence from Yenagoa metropolis. The study adopted survey design, which involved direct physical observation of households’ environment and the distribution of a set of 400 structured questionnaires to systematically sampled households. Responses to the administered questionnaire constituted the data, which contains 19 households’ resilience indicators. The data was analyzed with a household climate resilience index (HCRI) and descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that households’ in Yenagoa have low coping abilities to change in climate, since HCRI value was 2.35 points on a 5 point scale. The twelfth resilience indicator, impact of government in the neighbourhood had the least rating, with a calculated resilience weight index of 1.47 points; while the nineteenth indicator, access to good communication facilities had the highest rating of 3.25 points on a 5 point scale. It was therefore recommended that government should provide more infrastructural amenities and design livelihood improvement programmes for urban households, to boost their capabilities to withstand change in climate.
Highlights
Today, cities and their entire systems are susceptible to the effects of climate change and calamities that may occur naturally or man-made
Increasing urban capabilities to withstand climate-related multiple stresses and other events will prove crucial for Nigerian cities abilities to sustainably carryout their functions and ensure improved living for residents
The communities (20) in Yenagoa were structured into four zones; thereafter, 100 households were selected from each zone, which comprised of 400 households
Summary
Cities and their entire systems are susceptible to the effects of climate change and calamities that may occur naturally or man-made. To improve the livability index of cities, the UN devoted SDG11 to achieve resilience and sustainability of cities This sustainability goal cannot be achieved without explicitly recognizing climate change as fundamental component [1], since it has exerted significant negative impacts (flooding, increase temperature, salt water intrusion, habitat destruction etc) on human, socioeconomic, ecological and geophysical systems. Many United Nations (UN) agencies, governmental and non-governmental organizations, researchers and urban planners believe that enhancing the abilities of cites to moderate the anticipated climate change stresses will help in strengthening the various subsystems in a city. This reasoning has made ‘resilience’ to gain much prominence over the years
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
