Analysis of farm households’ perceived climate change impacts, vulnerability and resilience in Ghana

Abstract

Analysis of climate impacts, vulnerability and resilience is crucial to understand how humans relate with global environmental changes. Against the backdrop of lack of comprehensive information on assessment on these indicators within Ghana's context, this study used cross-sectional data from 300 farmers from two districts of Ghana to analyze climate change through a subjective approach. The data was analysed using ordered probit regression. The result established that, majority of the farm households perceived significantly high impacts of climate change on their livelihoods; low to very low climate vulnerability; and high to very high resilience to climate change. The factors that explained the level of climate impact were age, credit access, number of unemployed households, household per capita expenditure, and number of times of flood a farmer experienced in recent times. The estimated climate vulnerability level of the farmers was significantly influenced by education, credit, membership of farmer based organization (FBO), unemployed household members, non-farm income, environmental warning and droughts. Also, climate resilience of the farmers was significantly influenced by the location, credit access, FBO membership, consumption expenditure, drought and source of domestic water. The result established that a broader consultation and strategy is required to address the consequences of climate change and to improve the resilience of farm households in Ghana.

Keywords

• Climate change
• Ghana
• Impacts
• Resilience
• Vulnerability