Welcome to Open Science
Contact Us
Home Books Journals Submission Open Science Join Us News
Household Level of Preparedness to Climate Change in Mandera County, Kenya
Current Issue
Volume 6, 2019
Issue 2 (June)
Pages: 36-63   |   Vol. 6, No. 2, June 2019   |   Follow on         
Paper in PDF Downloads: 22   Since Aug. 29, 2019 Views: 946   Since Aug. 29, 2019
Authors
[1]
Adan Abass Tawane, Department of Disaster Management and Sustainable Development, School of Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (SDMHA), Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), Kakamega, Kenya.
[2]
Edward Musungu Mugalavai, Department of Disaster Management and Sustainable Development, School of Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (SDMHA), Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), Kakamega, Kenya.
Abstract
Climate change is a threat to global development and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular. The high vulnerability of the continent to the impact of climate change results from the fact that Africa as a whole has a high dependence on natural resources, poor infrastructure, pervasive poverty and weak institutional capacity to respond and mitigate environmental disasters effectively. In Kenya, Mandera County is characterized by fragile and sensitive ecosystem and, has been facing droughts, floods, epidemics, livestock diseases and conflicts whose impacts have caused devastation. The objective of this study was to determine the level of preparedness of households to climate change in Mandera County, Kenya. This research relied on the Anthropogenic Theory of Climate Change which is widely used in disaster risk reduction. Cluster random sampling, multistage sampling and simple random sampling were employed in the sampling strategy. To measure their reliability, Alpha (Cronbach) technique was utilized whose co-efficient of internal consistency was established at 0.86. The study used a sample size of 384 household heads using the Fisher formula and 72 key informants. Out of the six constituencies, Mandera North, Mandera South and Mandera East were selected based on setups i.e. rural and urban. Majority of the household respondents were able to conceptualize the concept of climate change as shown by 80.2% (308) with the main source of knowledge being the media (radio) 33.3% (128). The main factors causing vulnerability to climate change in Mandera County were; poverty 20.6% (79), pastoral lifestyle 16.4% (63) and poor infrastructure 15.4% (59) respectively. Out of the 384 household heads, 96.1% (369) indicated that they do not have household disaster preparedness plans while 78.6% (302) cited that they did not receive early warning information about climate change. Similarly, only 2.3% (9) indicated that their community was prepared towards climatic change, 3.4% (13) stated that they take early action upon receiving early warning information on climate change induced disasters with 74.7% (277) citing lack of capacity to take early action. Indigenous knowledge mechanisms included; observation of livestock behaviour 19.5% (75), observation of migration pattern of birds 16.4% (63) and signs of trees shading leaves 13.3% (51). The main measure required to enhance preparedness to climate change was solar irrigation and agro-forestry 15.6% (60). The study established an existing gap between climate change awareness and preparedness in Mandera County.
Keywords
Climate Change, Early Warning Information, Community Coping Strategies
Reference
[1]
UNISDR, U. (2015). Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015–2030. In 3rd United Nations World Conference on DRR. Sendai, Japan: UNISDR.
[2]
IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007—impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. In: Parry M, Canziani O, Palutikof J, van der Linden P, Hanson C (eds) Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
[3]
Brown, O. and Crawford, A. (2008). ‘Climate change: a new threat to stability in West Africa? Evidence for Ghana and Burkina Faso’, African Security Review, Vol. 17 No. 3, September 2008; 39–57.
[4]
GoK (2010). Kenya: Millennium Development Goals Report, Government of Kenya, Nairobi.
[5]
Mutimba, S., & Wanyoike, R. (2013). Towards a coherent and cost-effective policy response to climate change in Kenya: country report. Heinrich Böll Stiftung, East & Horn of Africa.
[6]
Ome, E. M., &Casimir, A. (2015). The African State and Environmental Management: A Review of Climate and Human Security. Open Journal of Political Science, 5, 109-114. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojps.2015.52013.
[7]
Omwoyo, O., Mburu, S. W., Koskey, G., Kimiti, J. M., Maingi, J. M., & Njeru, E. M. (2015). Agrobiodiversity conservation enhances food security in subsistence-based farming systems of Eastern Kenya. Agriculture & Food Security, 5 (1), 19.
[8]
Kothari. C. R. (2007). Research Methodolog. New Dehi, India: New Age International Publishers.
[9]
GoK (2009), National policy for disaster management in Kenya. Ministry of State for Special Programmes, Government printers. Nairobi.
[10]
Mugenda, O. M and A. G. Mugenda (1999). Research Methods – Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) Press. Nairobi, Kenya.
[11]
Fisher, A., Lang, J. and Stockel, J. (2007). Handbook for family planning operation research design, The Population Council, New York.
[12]
Mugenda, O. M., & Mugenda, A. G. (2003). Research methods. Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Nairobi. Acts Press.
[13]
Cohen, R. (1995). Students Resolving Conflict, Peer Mediation in Schools. Glenview, IL. Good Year Books.
[14]
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297-334 (28), 307.
[15]
NEPADA (2015), Mandera South, Lafey and Mandera East Integrated Community Needs Assessment, Nairobi.
[16]
AFSOC (2013) Sessional Paper No. 8 of 201 on National policy for the sustainable development of Northern Kenya and other arid lands. Republic of Kenya, Nairobi: MDNKOAL.
[17]
Christy, JR., Norries, WB. And McNider, RT. (2009). Surface temperature variation in East Africa and possible causes. Journal of Climate 22: 3342-3356.
[18]
Mekasha, A., Tesfaye, K. and Duncan, A. J. (2014) ‘Trends in daily observed temperature and precipitation extremes over three Ethiopian eco-environments’, International Journal of Climatology, 34 (6): 1990-1999.
[19]
Omondi, P. A. et al. (2014) ‘Change in temperature and precipitation extremes over the greater Horn of Africa region from 1961 to 2010’, International Journal of Climatology, 34: 1262-1277.
[20]
McSweeney, C., New, M. and Lizcano, G. (2009) UNDP climate change country profile: Kenya. Available online: http://ncsp.undp.org/sites/default/files/Kenya.oxford.report.pdf.
[21]
MENR (2002) First national communication of Kenya to the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. National Environment Secretariat, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Nairobi. Available online: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/kennc1.pdf.
[22]
Daron, JD (2014) “Regional Climate Messages: East Africa”. Scientific report from the CARIAA Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) Project.
[23]
AEA Group (2008) Final report - Kenya: Climate screening and information exchange (ED 05603, Issue 2). Available online: http://www.dewpoint.org.uk/Asset%20Library/DFID/Climate%20Risk%20Assessment%20Report%20-%20Kenya.pd.
[24]
Awuor, C. (2009) ‘Increasing drought in arid and semi-arid Kenya’. In: Ensor, J. and Berger, R. (eds.) Understanding climate change adaptation: Lessons from community-based approaches, Practical Action Publishing, Rugby, 101–114 pp.
[25]
Funk, C., Eilerts, G., Davenport, F., &Michaelsen, J. (2010). A climate trend analysis of Kenya – August 2010 [Fact Sheet 2010-3074]. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved from http://www.fews.net/docs/Publications/FEWS%20Kenya%20Climate%20Trend%20Analysis.pdf.
[26]
Brieman, L. (2001). Random forests. Machine Learning, 45: 5–32.
[27]
Halkano, K., and Koske, K. (2014). An assessment of the response to the 2008- 2009 drought in Kenya, ILRI, Nairobi.
[28]
Barasa, B. M. O., Oteng'i, S. B. B., & Wakhungu, J. W. (2015). Farmer Awareness of Climate Variability in Kakamega County, Kenya. The International Journal of Science and Technology, 3 (7), 43.
[29]
African Climate Change Fellowship Programme (ACCFP). (2010). Gender, pastoralism and climate change: Vulnerability and adaptation in Northern Kenya. Final technical report. (October), p. 9.
[30]
Mohammed A. and. Bekele L. (2014), Changes in carbon stocks and sequestration potential under native forest and adjacent land use systems at Gera: South-Western Ethiopia, Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, 14 (2014), pp. 11-20.
[31]
Augustine Ayantunde, Shirley Tarawali and Iain Wright (2011), Rangeland-based livestock production systems in the arid and semi-arid tropics: Challenges and opportunities, International Livestock Research Institute, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
[32]
NAPAD (2015) Mandera South, Lafey and Mandera East Integrated Community Needs Assessment. Available at http://www.napad.or.ke/publications/NAPAD_Mandera_Needs_Assessment_Report(2015).pdf.
[33]
BRAC (2005).Examining the willingness of Americans to alter behaviour to mitigate climate change. Climate Policy, Climate Policy, 12 (1), 1-22.
[34]
Skalík, J. (2015). Climate Change Awareness and the Attitudes of Adolescents in the Czech Republic. Charles University E-journal for Environmental Education ISSN 1802-3061.
[35]
Leiserowitz, A., Smith, N. & Marlon, J. R. (2010) Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change. Yale University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/ClimateChangeKnowledge2010.pdf.
[36]
Weber, E. U. (2006). Experience-based and description based perception of long-term risk: Why global warming does not scare us (yet) Climate Change, 77, 103-120.
[37]
Pulwarty, S. (2007). Information systems in a changing climate: Early warnings and drought risk managemen. International Symposium on Integrated Drought Information Systems (ISIDIS).
[38]
Bailey, D. (2013). Livestock Markets and Risk Management among East African Pastoralists: A Review and Research Agenda. GL-CRSP Pastoral Risk Management Project Technical Report. Utah State University, Logan, UT.
[39]
Adhikari, U., Nejadhashemi, A. P., & Woznicki, S. A. (2015). Climate change and eastern Africa: a review of impact on major crops. Food and Energy Security, 4 (2), 110-132.
[40]
Kumssa, A., Jones, J. F., & Herbert Williams, J. (2009). Conflict and human security in the North Rift and North Eastern Kenya. International Journal of social economics, 36 (10), 1008-1020.
[41]
Ayoti O. (2008) Kenya has no policy on drought, Minister confesses. Available: http://desertificationwordpress.Com/2008/05/29/kenya-has-no-policy-on drought -google-africasciencenews-service.
[42]
UNEP/ GoK. (2000). Devastating droughts in Kenya: Environmental impacts and response.
[43]
UNEP (2007). Indigenous Knowledge in Disaster Management in Africa, United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi, Kenya.
[44]
Craparo, A. C. W., Van Asten, P. J. A., Läderach, P., Jassogne, L. T. P., & Grab, S. W. (2015). Coffea arabica yields decline in Tanzania due to climate change: Global implications. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 207, 1-10.
[45]
Detlof, K. (2015). Impact of climate change on human health in Namibia. The Desert Research Foundation of Namibia. Windhoek.
[46]
Schilling, J., Opiyo, F. and Jürgen, S. (2012). Raiding pastoral livelihoods: motives and effects of violent conflict in north-western Kenya. Pastoralism, 2 (1): 1–16, 2012.
[47]
Schaller, N., Kay, A. L., Lamb, R., Massey, N. R., Van Oldenborgh, G. J., Otto, F. E. L.,... & Bowery, A. (2016). Human influence on climate in the 2014 southern England winter floods and their impacts. Nat Clim Chang 6 (6): 627–634.
[48]
Huho, J and Rose C. Kosonei (2014), Understanding Extreme Climatic Events for Economic Development in Kenya, Journal Of Environmental Science, Toxicology And Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT) e-ISSN: 2319-2402, p- ISSN: 2319-2399. Volume 8, Issue 2 Ver. I (Mar-Apr. 2014), PP 14-24 www.iosrjournals.org.
[49]
Howden, T. (2008). Greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society 363: 789–813.
[50]
Osbahr, H., Viner, D. (2006), ‘Linking Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management for Sustainable Poverty Reduction: Kenya Country Study’.
[51]
Keller, G. B., Mndiga, H., and Maass, B. L. (2005). Diversity and genetic erosion of traditional vegetables in Tanzania from the farmers point of view. Plant Genetic Resources, 3 (3), 400–413.
[52]
Deborah, L., &Vandecar, K. (2015). Effects of tropical deforestation on climate and agriculture. Journal of Nature Climate Change.
[53]
Mingyuan, D., Seiichiro Y., Xianzhou Z., Yongtao H (2012). Climatic Warming due to Overgrazing on the Tibetan Plateau -An Example at Damxung in the Central Part of the Tibetan Plateau -Journal of Arid Land Studies 22-1, 119 -122 (2012).
[54]
O’Neill, Alexandru Rap and James Rydge (2009). The implications of the economic slowdown for greenhouse gas emissions and targets, Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. Policy paper October 2009.
[55]
Konisky, D. M., L. Hughes, & C. H. Kaylor, (2015). Extreme weather events and climate change concern. Climatic Change, vol. 134, no. 4, pp 533-547.
[56]
Eakin, H., and A. Luers. (2006). "Assessing the Vulnerability of Social-Environmental Systems." Annual Review of Environment and Resources no. 31: 365-394.
[57]
Adger, W. N., Eakin, H., & Winkels, A. (2009). Nested and teleconnected vulnerabilities to environmental change. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7 (3), 150-157.
[58]
Development Initiative (2017), Assessment of Kenya's preparedness to disasters caused by natural hazards: Floods, drought and disease outbreak. Available at https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Assessment-of-Kenyas-preparedness-to-disasters-caused-by-natural-hazards_report_7th-February.pdf.
[59]
Kapucu, N. (2008). Culture of preparedness: household disaster preparedness. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 17 (4), 526-535.
[60]
FEMA (2007), Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2008 – 2013, Washington, USA.
[61]
Walker R, Robinson P, Tebbutt J, Lin V, Bissett P, Burns R, Schauble J (2009). Emergency management risk communication project: Final report to the Department of Human Services. [http://www.health.vic.gov.au/environment/downloads/risk_communication.pdf].
[62]
Collette A. (2000). Natural Disaster Preparedness, Environmental Degradation And Sustainable Development In Kenya. African Study Monographs, 21 (3): 91-103, July 2000.
[63]
Adan A., Omuterema S. and Simuyu R. (2015), Drought disaster risk awareness among residents of Mandera County, Kenya: Implications For Drought Preparedness, International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES) volume 2 issue 7, July 2015 ISSN: 2349-8862.
[64]
Turner, G., Said, F., Afzal, U., & Campbell, K. (2014). The effect of early flood warnings on mitigation and recovery during the 2010 Pakistan floods. In Reducing Disaster: Early Warning Systems For Climate Change (pp. 249-264). Springer Netherlands.
[65]
ECHO (2011), Evaluation of DG ECHO's disaster preparedness and DRR actions in Southern Africa & Indian Ocean. Final Report.
[66]
Egeru, A. (2016). Climate risk management information, sources and responses in a pastoral region in East Africa. Climate Risk Management, 11, 1-14.
[67]
Elung’at, Z. (2014). Barriers to the Application of Famine Early Warning Systems to Drought Crisis Response: A case of Selected Humanitarian Agencies in Kenya. Unpublished Research Project. Univesity of Nairobi.
[68]
Tanaka, K. (2005). The impact of disaster education on public preparation and mitigation for earthquakes: a cross-country comparison between Fukui, Japan and the San Francisco Bay Area. California, USA.
[69]
Atreya, A., Jeffrey, C., Wouter, B., & Marilyn, M. (2016). Adoption of Flood Preparedness Actions: A Household Level Study in Rural Communities in Tabasco, Mexico. Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, Working Paper # 2016-10 Philadelphia.
[70]
Joerin, J., Shaw, R., Takeuchi, Y., & Krishnamurthy, R. (2012). Assessing community resilience to climate-related disasters in Chennai, India. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 1, 44-54.
[71]
McLeman, R., & Smit, B. (2006). Migration as an adaptation to climate change. Climatic change, 76 (1-2), 31-53.
[72]
Gray, C. L. (2011). Soil quality and human migration in Kenya and Uganda. Global Environmental Change, 21 (2), 421-430.
[73]
Mallick, B. and J. Vogt. (2012). Cyclone, coastal society and migration: Empirical evidence from Bangladesh. International Development Planning Review 34 (3): 217–240.
[74]
Ajani, R., S. Karuppannan, and J. Kellett. (2013). Climate migration and urban planning system: A study of Bangladesh. Environmental Justice 4 (3): 163–170.
[75]
Benita, Y., Leanne, F., and Dafna K. (2014). Social Networks as a Coping Strategy for Food Insecurity and Hunger for Young Aboriginal and Canadian Children, Societies 2014, 4, 463–476.
[76]
Ajibade LT, ShokemiOO (2003), Indigenous approaches to weather forecasting in AsaLGA, Kwara State, Nigeria. Indiling a Afr J Indigenous KnowlSyst 2: 37–44.
[77]
Killgerm Group (2012). The impact of climate change on pest populations and public health The National Pest Advisory Panel Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Chadwick Court, 15 Hatfields, London SE1 8DJ.
[78]
Hartikainen K., Kivimäenpää M., Nerg A.-M., Mäenpää M., Oksanen E., Rousi M. &Holopainen T. (2014) Elevated temperature and ozone modify structural characteristics of silver birch (Betulapendula) leaves. In Effects ofelevated temperature and/or ozone on leaf structural characteristics and volatile organic compound emissions of northern deciduous tree and crop species, pp. 81–116. PhD thesis, Publications of the University of Eastern Finland, Dissertations in Forest and Natural Sciences.
[79]
Rasulov B., Bichele I., Hüve K., Vislap V. & Niinements Ü. (2014) Acclimation of isoprene emission and photosynthesis to growth temperature in hybrid aspen: resolving structural and physiological controls. Plant, Cell & Environment 38, 751–766.
[80]
Larcher W. (2003) Physiological Plant Ecology. Ecophysiology and Stress Physiology of Fuctional Groups, 4th edn. Springer, Berlin. 513 pp.
[81]
Loreto F, Dicke M, Schnitzler JP, TurlingsTCJ. (2010). Plant volatiles and the environment. Plant, Cell and Environment 37, 1905–1908.
[82]
Li Z. & Sharkey T. D. (2013) Molecular and pathway controls on biogenic volatile organic compound emissions. In Biology, Controls and Models of Tree Volatile Organic Compound Emissions (eds Ü. Niinemets & R. K. Monson), pp. 119–151. Springer, Berlin.
[83]
Shields, S., & Orme-Evans, G. (2015). The impacts of climate change mitigation strategies on animal welfare. Animals, 5 (2), 361-394.
[84]
Speranza, C. I. (2010). Drought coping and adaptation strategies: Understanding adaptations to climate change in agro-pastoral livestock production in Makueni district, Kenya. The European Journal of Development Research, 22 (5), 623-642.
[85]
Abebe, D., Cullis, A., Catley, A., Aklilu, Y., Mekonnen, G. and Ghebrechirstos, Y. (2008), Impact of a commercial destocking relief intervention in Moyale district, southern Ethiopia. Disasters, 32: 167–189.
[86]
Maxwell T. & Roberts, J. (2007). Media coverage of climate change: current trends, strengths, weaknesses. United Nations Development Programme ~ Human Development Report 2007.
[87]
Practical Action and Mercy Corps (2010): Community based early warning systems in South and South East Asia, available at: http://flagship4.nrrc.org.np/sites/ default/files /documents / best-practice-learning-in-community-based-EWS.pdf.
[88]
Huppert H (2006). Extreme Natural Hazards: Population Growth, Globalization and Environmental Change. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2006) 364, 1875–1888 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2006.1803.
[89]
Tierney, K. J. (2001). Facing the Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness and Response in the United States.. Washington, D. C.: Joseph Henry Press.
Open Science Scholarly Journals
Open Science is a peer-reviewed platform, the journals of which cover a wide range of academic disciplines and serve the world's research and scholarly communities. Upon acceptance, Open Science Journals will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download.
CONTACT US
Office Address:
228 Park Ave., S#45956, New York, NY 10003
Phone: +(001)(347)535 0661
E-mail:
LET'S GET IN TOUCH
Name
E-mail
Subject
Message
SEND MASSAGE
Copyright © 2013-, Open Science Publishers - All Rights Reserved