CLIMATE CHANGE, POVERTY AND LIVELIHOODS: AN ASSESMENT OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND ADAPTIVE CAPACITY OF THE GWEMBE VALLEY PEOPLE IN ZAMBIA.
RESEARCH DESIGN: CASE STUDY
NAME: Moonga Lizzy
EMAIL: moongasally@yahoo.com
MATRICULATION: 2878994
TO: Prof. Dr . Mariele Evers
COURSE: UM3 Research Methods 1
SEMESTER: WS 2015/2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. BACKGROUND
2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
4. OBJECTIVES
5. METHODOLOGY
6. EXPECTED OUTCOME
7. REFERENCES
Background
Climate change according to Ellina Levina et al (2006) is the change in mean climatic state which is for a long period of time and its causes are attributed to the natural or external process of anthropogenic changes in the atmospheric composition usage of land. Livelihoods are ways of life; Sen (1999) defines poverty as an extreme deprivation of basic capabilities and well-being. He then elaborates that poverty can be in two ways and these being absolute and Relative. In absolute terms, he puts it that poverty is the inability of an individual, household, community or nation to meet the basic needs satisfactorily, while relative poverty is when perceived need in addition to basic need cannot be met too.
According to Mohamed et al (2011) Climate change has paused uncertainties to many subsistent farmers who depend on rains to grow their crops and rear animals. And it is for this reason that with current global climate change experiences, these farmers now not only prepare themselves for the onset of a specific rain season but also brace themselves to face the uncertainty regarding the onset of the season, duration and the intensity of impact which may arise from experiencing a drought, rainfall or flooding. Therefore with the experience of all these impacts over the last two decades, it signals that the earth is going through long-term climate changes in mean temperature and rainfall norms. Zambia for instances accounts for these climate change impacts through its experience of an increase in drought frequency and intensity in the last 20 years to which it recorded droughts in 1991/92, 1994/95 and 1997/98. These Climate change effects have recorded adverse impacts on the quality of life for vulnerable groups such as subsistence farmers (Wit, 2006).
Mohamed et al (2011) further argue that Climate change could lead to increased water stress, decreased biodiversity, damaged ecosystems, rising sea levels and potentially to social conflict due to increased competition over limited natural resources. It is for this reason that this research takes an interest in the study of the Gwembe valley region in Zambia in order to study the climate change, poverty and livelihoods situation among the Gwembe valley inhabitants and take an analysis of their indigenous knowledge and adaptive capacity to the local effects of the global climate change.
The Gwembe Valley is a trough lying in the middle of the Zambezi River Basin, sandwiched by the Zambezi escarpments on its North and South. According to Andrew Roberts (1976), this Valley is home to indigenous people known as valley Tongas of Southern Zambia whose population numbers to 278, 000 and have inhabited this area since the Early Iron Age. Currently, these people are no longer With the construction of the Kariba Dam in this area by the Zambian Government in 1960, they then got displaced and scattered such that they occupied areas like Gwembe, Sinazeze, mamba, Siavonga and Chirundu. However, this study will not tackle all these areas of the Gwembe valley, but will focus interest on the Gwembe region and the people who settled in this region after displacement.
Statement of the Problem
According to the Zambia Vulnerability Assessment committee report (2004), the Gwembe valley has low latitude, characterised by a mostly hot and dry climate with average annual rainfall ranging between 600mm-700mm which generally highlights it semi-aridity nature. As a result, the region has from time in memorial experienced chronic droughts which can be rated to range between moderate and severe. This has posed a huge challenge on the people of this area as their livelihoods are mainly based on subsistence agriculture and some kind of nomadic Pastoralism. Andrew Roberts (1976) also gives an account of the drought situation in the Gwembe valley as he puts it that in times of such severe droughts, there is huge trauma and deaths to both humans and livestock as they experience a lack of adequate food, safe drinking and palatable grass for livestock. Loss of Human life in the region was more before the colonial intrusion, but in the recent past, this has changed or rather reduced though there is still remains high rate of livestock deaths resulting from droughts .Despite the poor road network system which makes it difficult for the inhabitants to access other areas in search of food or other sources of income, Loss of human life and livestock has rendered the region with massive poverty as the human capital needed to manage production is lost and also livestock is the main source of income and wealth among the Gwembe people as they use their animals for ploughing and also selling to raise income.
Government’s interventions in this region are also minimal mainly because officers which the government try to send to this area to work in the various government departments Shan to go and live there due to the harsh climate of the region. On the other hand, the Jesuits Achieves (1931) illustrates this harsh climate of the region as they put it that, “ at the time the country got colonised, not even one colonial official could dare to live in the Gwembe Valley as they viewed it as punishmentâ€. Basically, the region is marginalised, and an outsider would term the region to be hopeless with an environment promises nothing.
Therefore, it is these many hopeless conditions which naturally characterise the Gwembe valley coupled with the current climatic variability posed by the changing global climatic conditions that this study aims to take an analysis of the indigenous knowledge the Gwembe people have practiced over the ages to remain resilient to the climatic hostility of the region and also assess their adaptive capacity as the situation is perceived to be worsening due to global climate change.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. what is the knowledge the Gwembe valley people poses in regard to climate change
2. what are indigenous practices they have been carrying out to survive the harsh climate
3. what are the main sources of livelihoods of the Gwembe valley people
Hypothesis
NULL HYPOTHESIS: Climate change has immensely impacted the Gwembe valley inhabitants.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS: Climate Change does not have a significant impact on the Gwembe Valley people.
IDENTIFICATION OF VARIABLES
Independent variable: Climate Change
Dependent variable: Livelihoods and Poverty among the Gwembe valley people
OBJECTIVES
Broad Objectives
To determine the Gwembe valley people’s indigenous knowledge and adaptive capacity to climate change.
Specific Objectives
4. To assess what knowledge the Gwembe valley people poses in regard to climate change
5. To analyse what indigenous practices they have been carrying out to survive the harsh climate
6. To identify the various livelihoods of the Gwembe valley people
7. To analyse their adaptive capacity and their current limitation in adaptation strategies
8. To assess the impact of increasing drought re-occurrences in the region.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
i. The study will be a partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of a two years masters Degree study at United Nations University Institute of Environmental Risks and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
ii. To draw lessons on local effects of climate change on poor rural Gwembe valley communities.
iii. To contribute to the knowledge base for future researchers and create tentative questions and hypotheses on how best effects of climate change can be reduced among rural marginalised communities
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The study will be conducted in a trans-disciplinary manner in order to bring aboard key stakeholders from specialist fields of Environmental, Agricultural, and disaster management, Socio-economic planning and local community. In identifying and selecting of these stakeholders, snowball sampling procedure will be used. Through stakeholders’ participatory consultative meeting, the study area and topic of study will be discussed in order to draw a map for the reconnaissance survey and also have preliminary information on the areas that are always severely affected by famine.
In the research process, hermeneutic survey research designs of both qualitative and quantitative approaches will be used as well as a climate vulnerability and capacity analysis (CVCA) process to analyse major climate hazards and their effects on livelihood resources.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY: The study period will be 1 year 3 months
STAKEHOLDERS: The main stakeholders in this study will include: Local Community, Meteorologists, Agriculturalists, Local government authorities and Area Development Committee.
DATA COLLECTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW: Data needed to be derived from this study area will be collected from primary and secondary sources. Primary sources will include; interview guides, photographs and recordings. The secondary data will also be collected from the literature review of policy documents, books, articles, journals and previous theses.
SAMPLE /TARGET POPULATION: Headmen households, households from general local community, Agriculture officers in the region, cooperatives (women groups) area development committees, local government officials
SAMPLING PROCEDURE
(a) Stratified Sampling Method: for the people ranging from 18to 50 years old in the Gwembe valley Community. This will be done in order to find out which age group is mostly involved and aware of climate change and its effects on their livelihood patterns and poverty status of the Region.
(b) Purposive sampling. For the Agriculture extension officers, District local authorities and Agricultural Department Staff because according to the research objectives, it will ensurer the collection of the most needed data.
RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS/WORK PACKAGE
a) Interviews (semi-structured, simple unstructured)
b) Observation
c) Questionnaires
d) Camera
e) map
Data Analysis Procedures
The Constant comparative analysis will be used in data analysis to enable uniformity in phrases and words which will emerge from respondents. The data will then be grouped and quantified by means of (manual) coding. Thereafter the results will be analysed and discussed and it is the more reason why hermeneutic research design will be used in this project to enable this kind of data analysis method and driving of the following procedures:
1. Interviews and questionnaires will be conducted by way of asking in-depth questions using the interview guides/questionnaires administered and responses noted by researchers.
2. Data consolidation approach will be used through harmonizing the responses recorded by the researchers for the purpose of presentation.
3. Data will be presented in a descriptive form.
4. Data collected will be compared by means of objective analysis through discussions and Literature reviewed.
Ethical Consideration
In conducting this research, the following ethical consideration will be adopted:
1. The data to be collected will be kept in confidence, privacy and anonymity of the source of data.
2. The questions related to religion, personal details, ethnic backgrounds and political affiliations will not be asked.
TIMELINE
Activity 1 month 2 month 3 month 4 month 5 month 6 month 7 month 8 month 9 month 10 month 11 month 12 month 13 month 14 month 15
month
Stakeholders identification/participatory consultative meetings
Literature Review and Documentation
Interviews with Staff
Interviews with local community
Data Analysis
Report writing
Seminar
Report Submission
Expected Outcome/Conclusion
The study will generate first hand data on the indigenous adaptation practices the Gwembe valley people have practice over the ages. Adaptive capacity levels will also be established from the assessment of livelihoods and poverty levels at household and regional level. Results from data collected in this study will also facilitate in coming up with the best education for adaptation in the Region.
References
Roberts, A. (1976). A History of Zambia, London: Heinemann
Ellina Levina, Dennis Tirpak. (2006). Adaptation To Climate Change: Key Terms. Paris: Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development/International Energy Agency.
Mohamed Behnassi, Sydney Draggan, Sanni Yaya. (2011). Global Food Insecurity: Rethinking Agricultural And Rural Development Paradigm And Policy. New York: Springer Dordrecht.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press
Vulnerability Assessment Committee (2004), Zambia Livelihood Map Rezoning and Baseline Profiling
Wit, M. D. (2006). An Empirical Economic Assessment of Impacts Of Climate Change On Agriculture In Zambia.Pretoria: The University Of Pretoria.