Building a Strategy to Overcome the Psychological Barriers to Climate Change Management in Rural Communities of Fako Division, Cameroon

This study seeks to build a strategy to overcome the psychological barriers to climate change management for rural communities in Fako Division. We employ a five point likert scale in which 100 inhabitants (adults) were surveyed purposefully surveyed in four rural communities (Malende, Bakingili, Bokwai and Miselele) of Fako Division (25 for each community) to identify the observed barriers. Based on the mean values derived from the 5 point likert scale, the study revealed that ignorance (mean=3.27) was the highest psychological barrier while denial stood as the least (mean=2.25). We then, as a recommendation, proposed a strategy for overcoming these psychological barriers which suggests that the government, the councils, NGOs, traditional authorities and the local population should collectively work together to identify people’s socio-economic needs and improve climate change management by empowering the population through workshop sensitisation, seminars and the use of the local media to reduce ignorance. Also, we suggest that they should motivate and create a number of incentives which would assist in reducing these observed barriers so as to ensure that developmental activities should respect stricto senso, issues of climate change management.

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Barriers to Effective Climate Change Management in Zimbabwe’s Rural Communities

African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-45106-6_251 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 2405-2431

Author(s):

Louis Nyahunda ◽

Happy Mathew Tirivangasi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Rural Communities ◽

Change Management ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Rural People ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Management Measures ◽

Climate Change Management ◽

Natural Resource Base

AbstractThe daunting effects of climate change are more visible and acute among rural people in most developing countries. Smallholder farmers in rural communities are more encumbered by climate change impacts and they have been reeling with climate induced shocks for some time. Their vulnerability to climate change impacts is aggravated by high dependence on the climate volatile natural resource base, high poverty levels, lack of adaptive capacity, low educational levels, and lack of technoscience-based technologies among other key compounding factors. In the light of this, Zimbabwe is still crawling to implement and administer effective climate change management measures aimed at disaster risk reduction and management, vulnerability reduction, social resilience, and capacity building because of political and socioeconomic quagmires trapping the country. Consequently, rural people are the hardest hit by these developments. Climate change management connotes a human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases and adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities through mitigation and adaptation. Nevertheless, rural people are on record of engaging in a plethora of activities to manage climate change and its actual or potential risks. However, their efforts are marred by an avalanche of setbacks which serve as barriers to climate change management. Against this backdrop, this book chapter intends to delineate the factors serving as barriers to climate change management in Zimbabwe’s rural communities.

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