The Determinants for Climate Change Adaptive Capacity and Resilience of Rural Communities in Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships between the different sources of climate change vulnerability in rural communities, the interplay between factors of social vulnerability and structural vulnerability, and their influences on climate change adaptive capacity and resilience. The study took place in rural farming communities in Egbema district of Ohaji/Egbema local government area of Imo State, Nigeria between the month of March 21, 2021 to February 6, 2024. Three communities from the district of Egbema were purposively selected based on their social, cultural, and biophysical characteristics that expose them to climate change impacts. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 240 household heads selected using simple random sampling technique. The study considered ten social vulnerability indicators from social, economic, and demographic characteristics of the respondents. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS version 27. The data on social vulnerability indicators were used to calculate Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) values. The result of the study shows that education had low influence on social vulnerability given that above 60% of the household heads attained at least secondary education level and the SoVI value of 0.18 is considerably low. However, other factors such as sex (0.90), age (0.66), disability (0.90), income (0.88), alternative housing (0.90), and mode of transport (0.40) increased social vulnerability. The finding shows that demographic and economic factors with SoVI values of 0.66 and 0.59 respectively contributed 87.4% of social vulnerability in the study area. The study therefore concludes that social vulnerability is exacerbated by political, socioeconomic and cultural factors. Government needs to improve infrastructure to increase community resilience whilst also facilitating household adaptive capacity on local and regional-scales to reduce climate disaster risk rather than just relying on household actions alone.