CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW
2.6 Perceptions of climate change
38 study using qualitative methods, particularly resource and hazard mapping, vulnerability matrix and FGD.
39 Hageback et al. (2005) showed that there was a strong correlation between climatic data and farmers’
perception of climate change in Danagou watershed in China. Another study conducted in China by Byg and Salick (2009) showed that local experience and knowledge has contributed to the advancement of understanding of climate change and its impacts. On the contrary, Rao et al. (2011) in Kenya‘s semi-arid parts discovered that climate data could not be correlated to the communities perception of climate change. The main barrier to anthropogenic climate change perception is the natural variability of the climate (Hansen et al., 2012). It is very difficult for an individual to discern long-term climate change, given the notorious variability of local weather from year to year and day to day (Hansen et al., 2012).
Africans are aware of changes in weather patterns but their understanding of global climate change is poor (Acquah and Onumah, 2011; Koske and Ochieng, 2013). The low level of climate change awareness in sub-Saharan Africa can be attributed to limited climate change awareness programmes and the fact that Africans face many life stressors (for example, conflicts and poverty) as a result climate change is rarely seen as the most significant threat to them (Koske and Ochieng, 2013). For example, South Africans understand climate change to be ‘changing weather’ this influences the extent of adaptation (Taderera, 2010). Indigenous groups with no or limited information on climate change attribute changing conditions to a change in their rituals and cultural practices (Debela et al., 2015). For example, a study conducted in Maphephethe by Mzimela (2015) found that community members attribute drought conditions to the non-practice of a ritual known as Nomkhubulwane (prayer to the water Goddess). This misconception about climate change may result in no adaptation or maladaptation (Debela et al., 2015).
Local communities have the right to be informed about climate change impacts because they are capable of generating their own strategies to counteract the negative impacts (Van Aalst et al., 2008). Indigenous knowledge/locals perceptions should be integrated into climate change policies and programmes and not prioritized at the expense of modern/western scientific knowledge, these forms of knowledge should rather complement each other (Ajani et al., 2013). Sustainable/successful adaptation rests on the integration of both locals perception of climate change and scientific ideas (Amadou et al., 2015).
Indigenous knowledge contributes invaluable knowledge in climate change studies in the following ways: “it creates a moral economy; indigenous knowledge is increasingly exhibiting a resemblance with scientific methods as many ideas in indigenous knowledge that were once regarded as primitive and misguided, are now seen as appropriate and sophisticated; indigenous knowledge systems provide mechanisms for participatory approaches; and indigenous knowledge systems can facilitate understanding and effective communication and increase the rate of dissemination and utilization of climate change adaptation options” (Ajani et al., 2013:27). This is further supported by Stefanović (2015), who asserts that it important to understand climate change perceptions in order to make climate
40 projections accessible and understandable to the local inhabitants. Understanding locals’ perception is also important to prompt the need for adaptation and to facilitate support for climate change adaptation policy (Debela et al., 2015). A study by Bryan et al. (2009) as cited by Amadou et al. (2015:49) highlighted the role of perception in understanding the significance of education and awareness building and in identifying available options to enable people to adapt to climate change.
2.6.3 Women’s climate change perception
Previous studies reveal that gender and education influence people’s climate change perception (Crona et al., 2013). One such study is by Thomas et al. (2007), it revealed that gender affects the type of climate risk perceived by farmers in three South African rural communities. The way in which gender affects perception has been an interest in ecofeminism literature (Crona et al., 2013). Of the growing number of studies on perception, very few explore gender and climate change perception and of those that do, they disaggregate data sets along sex differences (Bee, 2016; Lujala et al., 2015; MacGregor, 2010). As a result, these studies have reinforced the shortsighted view of gender as comparative differences between males and females, neglecting intersectionality and hence not capturing the complexity of men and women’s lives (Bee, 2016). To bridge this gap, the researcher focuses only on women’s perceptions using a marital lens.
Research has shown that women are more fearful of the risks associated with climate change (Kellstedt et al., 2008). While men are not, and according to Djoudi et al. (2016) and McCright and Dunlap (2011) this phenomenon is termed the ‘white male effect’ and is used to describe conservative white males who are more accepting of a wide range of risks, have a posture of extreme risk skepticism and are climate change deniers. These men dislike change, insecurity and simplify complex issues (McCright and Dunlap, 2011). Furthermore, climate change poses a threat to the industrial capitalist system that has historically served them well and therefore as a defensive response they deny climate change to protect this system (McCright and Dunlap, 2011) and their cultural identity as hierarchical and individualistic white males (Kahan et al., 2007; Stevenson et al., 2017). Visschers (2017), in support of McCright and Dunlap (2011) states that individuals skeptical about climate change want to keep the social order and economy as it is.
Women’s heightened risk perception can be attributed to their gendered division of labour (Kellstedt et al., 2008) because they are underemployed in primary industries, and therefore unlikely to consider economic tradeoffs in assessments of environmental risks (Kellstedt et al., 2008). To date, studies examining climate change perceptions have been place based (Crona et al., 2013). Crona et al. (2013) assert that place based studies are important because firstly, climate change vulnerability and impacts will be regionally and locally uneven. Secondly, people are natural observers, their knowledge can
41 provide understandings of climate change and thirdly, place based studies show that ecology and culture matters in how people perceive climate change.
This study contributes to the growing trend of examining perceptions of climate change based on traditional knowledge of weather systems by cross-checking women’s perception with historic quantitative meteorological data to ascertain relevance for climate research. The researcher also presents downscaled General Circulation Models- GCMs. According to Ishaya and Abaje (2008) climate models provide estimates of the likely change in the climate based on future scenarios of human development.
However, they are uncertain because the climate system has many unknowns and GCMs can never achieve a perfect simulation (Cheung, 2014). In addition, GCMs are not good at providing information on changes at the local level, hence the value of indigenous groups for this information (Ishaya and Abaje, 2008). The process of gathering and analyzing information with women in this particular study should build local knowledge on climate change issues and adaptation strategies. The concept of adaptation will be explored next.