25 pages., The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study consisted 1200 respondents comprising (staff of the Zamfara State Agricultural Development Project, FADAMA III Project, IFAD, Animal rearers and Farmers). Instruments of data collection used for the study were the questionnaire, interview and discussions. One thousand two hundred questionnaires were distributed to respondents and only 988 (82.2%) were dully returned and found usable. The results of the responses were interpreted using simple percentage and frequency tables. The findings of the study include, that 95% of Zamfara State population are farmers, Maru and Gusau Local Government Areas recorded the highest farmers’ population. It was also discovered that there was a high rate of awareness of climate change information in the State with Radio, Television, extension services as major sources of climate change information in the State. It was also discovered that farmers in the State utilize climate change information like taking decisions on what and when to plant, planting improved crop varieties among others. There is also the challenges of reduction in annual rainfall, deforestation, insect-pests attack, high temperature among others. Recommendations were made for intensified awareness campaign on climate change, increased budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector for more mitigation and adaptation capacity for the farmers.
14 pgs., There is an overwhelming scientific consensus that global climate is changing with associated devastating, yet differential impacts on different world regions. This, therefore, calls for efforts to improve our understanding of the phenomenon as a way of enhancing mitigation and adaptation measures.Although a lot has been done in this respect, the present study examines the extent to which misnomers associated with the calendar months and local climate events can be employed to convey the phenomenon of climate change to rural agriculturists in the Bolgatanga municipality. The study establishes that the names of the calendar months, which serve asgoalposts for local agricultural practices no longer portray their true meaning due to climate change. The study, therefore, recommends the use of nuanced ways of communicating climate change to local agriculturists,using scientific research, lived experiences as well as socially and culturally embedded tools such as misnomers associated with local climate events.
8 pages, Public perception about the reality of climate change has remained polarized and propagation of fake information on social media can be a potential cause. Homophily in communication, the tendency of people to communicate with others having similar beliefs, is understood to lead to the formation of echo chambers which reinforce individual beliefs and fuel further increase in polarization. Quite surprisingly, in an empirical analysis of the effect of homophily in communication on the level of polarization using evidence from Twitter conversations on the climate change topic during 2007–2017, we find that evolution of homophily over time negatively affects the evolution of polarization in the long run. Among various information about climate change to which people are exposed to, they are more likely to be influenced by information that have higher credibility. Therefore, we study a model of polarization of beliefs in social networks that accounts for credibility of propagating information in addition to homophily in communication. We find that polarization can not increase with increase in homophily in communication unless information propagating fake beliefs has minimal credibility. We therefore infer from the empirical results that anti-climate change tweets are largely not credible.
12 pages., Online via UI e-subscription., Authors examine dimensions of globalization and propose three research domains in which psychology scholars can contribute to further understanding of our global society.
6 pages., Online via periodical website. Published on November 9, 2019., Author described reactions of journalists who were covering climate strikes that occurred throughout Canada on September 27, 2019. Respondents were invited to share perspectives about their role in covering this complex topic.
13 pages, No consensus exists regarding which are the most effective mechanisms to promote household action on climate change. We present a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comprising 3,092,678 observations, which estimates the effects of behavioural interventions holding other factors constant. Here we show that behavioural interventions promote climate change mitigation to a very small degree while the intervention lasts (d = −0.093 95% CI −0.160, −0.055), with no evidence of sustained positive effects once the intervention ends. With the exception of recycling, most household mitigation behaviours show a low behavioural plasticity. The intervention with the highest average effect size is choice architecture (nudges) but this strategy has been tested in a limited number of behaviours. Our results do not imply behavioural interventions are less effective than alternative strategies such as financial incentives or regulations, nor exclude the possibility that behavioural interventions could have stronger effects when used in combination with alternative strategies.
19 pages., via online journal., This article provides a visual analysis of a set of peopleless photographs taken in 2006 of a falling home erosion in the village of Shishmaref, Alaska, that have been widely circulated in reporting about the relocation of the village due to climate change. It asks whether the visual contract between spectator and absent climate change victim extends beyond an empathetic response to action toward restoring the lost home. The article explores the relationship of contemporary scholarship on postmodern ruination in U.S. Rust Belt cities and the Shishmaref fallen home photograph as a means to analyze the work done by rural ruination.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as a credible alternative to tackle food insecurity under the changing climate is gaining wide acceptance. However, many developing countries have realized that concepts that have been recommended as solutions to existing problems are not suitable in their contexts. This paper synthesizes a subset of literature on CSA in the context of small-scale agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa as it relates to the need for CSA, factors influencing CSA adoption, and the challenges involved in understanding and scaling up CSA. Findings from the literature reveal that age, farm size, the nature of farming, and access to extension services influence CSA adoption. Many investments in climate adaptation projects have found little success because of the sole focus on the technology-oriented approach whereby innovations are transferred to farmers whose understanding of the local farming circumstances are limited. Climate-smart agriculture faces the additional challenge of a questionable conceptual understanding among policymakers as well as financing bottlenecks. This paper argues that the prospects of CSA in small-scale agriculture rest on a thorough socio-economic analysis that recognizes the heterogeneity of the small farmer environment and the identification and harnessing of the capacities of farming households for its adoption and implementation
8 pages, In the face of rapidly advancing climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity, it is clear that global agriculture must swiftly and decisively shift toward sustainability. Fortunately, farmers and researchers have developed a thoroughly studied pathway to this transition: agroecological farming systems that mimic natural ecosystems, creating tightly coupled cycles of energy, water, and nutrients. A critical and underappreciated feature of agroecological systems is that they replace fossil fuel- and chemical -intensive management with knowledge-intensive management. Hence, the greatest sustainability challenge for agriculture may well be that of replacing non-renewable resources with ecologically-skilled people, and doing so in ways that create and support desirable rural livelihoods. Yet over the past century, US agriculture has been trending in the opposite direction, rapidly replacing knowledgeable people with non-renewable resources and eroding rural economies in the process. Below, we suggest how US policy could pivot to enable and support the ecologically skilled workforce needed to achieve food security in the face of climate change.
