Observed climate trends, perceived impacts and community adaptation practices in Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

Climate change is a serious threat to local communities in West Africa. This study evaluated climatic trends and the perceptions of farmers to climate change in central Côte d’Ivoire. We surveyed 259 households across three agro-ecological zones. The knowledge of farmers about climate change was compared to observed trends of various climatic parameters from meteorological records (1973-2016). Results from trend analysis and descriptive analysis showed that the minimum, maximum and mean temperatures and rainfall showed a significant upward trend in all ecoregions. The average temperature and amount of rainfall increased by 3.2% (0.89°C) and 166.58% (645.5 mm) respectively over the 44 years. Local farmers perceived an increasing trend in temperature (all respondents) and a decreasing trend in rainfall (91.51%). Most of the respondents identified deforestation (76.83%), natural climate variation (50.97%) and wildfires (31.27%) as the main causes of these climatic disturbances, which induced plant dieback (92.66%), poor crop growth (59.46%) and crop loss (20.46%). The impacts on people and their assets encompassed a decrease in household income (63.71%), demolition of roofs (44..4%) and walls (43.91%) of houses, the scarcity of water points (39.38%) and the emergence of new diseases (30.89%). These climatic disturbances resulted in specific endogenous on-farm and off-farm strategies to adapt to the impacts of observed changes on their livelihoods.

Exploring spatio‐temporal trends and environmental drivers of wildfire occurrence and impacts in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa

“…In the last three decades, the country experienced one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world with more than 75% of forest cover lost (FAO & SEP-REDD+, 2017). This deforestation affects local livelihood assets by increasing poverty and food insecurity, as well as contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss (Kouassi et al, 2021(Kouassi et al, , 2022a. Among local causes of forest decline, wildfires account for 3% and 23% of direct drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, respectively (Etc Terra -Rongead & BNETD, 2016).…”