IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v23y2021i1d10.1007_s10668-020-00614-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of livelihood diversification on gendered climate vulnerability in Northern Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • William Adzawla

    (University of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), Climate Change Economics)

  • Heike Baumüller

    (University of Bonn)

Abstract

Climate change projections show worsening climatic conditions and impacts. At the same time, current and future forecasts of climate impacts are not gender neutral. Within a gendered perspective, this study examines the climate vulnerability of households in northern Ghana and estimated the effects of livelihood diversification on climate vulnerability levels. A total of 619 respondents from 432 farm households were selected through a multistage sampling procedure. The data were analysed using Livelihood Vulnerability Index with equal weighting and unequal weighting through principal component analysis. From the result, female household heads were most vulnerable to climate change, followed by female spouses and male heads. There was a statistically significant difference between gender vulnerability levels. Livelihood diversification has the potential of reducing climate vulnerability by 2.6–5.7%, 2.2–5.9% and 2.1–4.7% among male heads, female spouses and female heads, respectively. However, livelihood diversification increases climate vulnerability gaps between males and females. In conclusion, this study confirmed that women in northern Ghana are most vulnerable to climate change. Although livelihood diversification may reduce climate vulnerability, it would not address gendered climate vulnerability differences. Hence, livelihood diversification cannot be a sufficient condition for addressing gendered climate vulnerabilities but only a necessary condition. The study recommends that beyond enhancing livelihood diversification amidst climate change, deliberate climate efforts must be directed towards women, and fundamental gender discriminations such as stereotyping and social discrimination must be addressed.

Suggested Citation

  • William Adzawla & Heike Baumüller, 2021. "Effects of livelihood diversification on gendered climate vulnerability in Northern Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 923-946, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:23:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10668-020-00614-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-020-00614-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-020-00614-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-020-00614-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roy Brouwer & Sonia Akter & Luke Brander & Enamul Haque, 2007. "Socioeconomic Vulnerability and Adaptation to Environmental Risk: A Case Study of Climate Change and Flooding in Bangladesh," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 313-326, April.
    2. Sarah Stafford & Jeremy Abramowitz, 2017. "An analysis of methods for identifying social vulnerability to climate change and sea level rise: a case study of Hampton Roads, Virginia," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 85(2), pages 1089-1117, January.
    3. Nkegbe, Paul Kwame & Kuunibe, Naasegnibe, 2014. "Climate variability and household welfare in northern Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series 027, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Paul Kwame Nkegbe & Naasegnibe Kuunibe, 2014. "Climate Variability and Household Welfare in Northern Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-027, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Ngigi, Marther W. & Mueller, Ulrike & Birner, Regina, 2016. "Gender differences in climate change perceptions and adaptation strategies: an intra-household analysis from rural Kenya," Discussion Papers 232900, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    6. Byela Tibesigwa & L. Hunter & M. Collinson & Martine Visser & Wayne Twine, 2015. "Gender Differences in Climate Change Risk, Food Security and Adaptation: A Study of Rural Households’ Reliance on Agriculture and Natural Resources to Sustain Livelihoods," Working Papers 545, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Derartu Wodajo Sedata & Diriba Korecha Dadi & Weyessa Garedew Terefe & Tadesse Terefe Zeleke, 2025. "Smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to climate extremes in west and southwest Showa zones, Ethiopia," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 1-24, February.
    2. Husen Maru & Amare Haileslassie & Tesfaye Zeleke & Befikadu Esayas, 2021. "Analysis of Smallholders’ Livelihood Vulnerability to Drought across Agroecology and Farm Typology in the Upper Awash Sub-Basin, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-28, August.
    3. Nelson Nyabanyi N-yanbini & Alfred Toku & Issaka Kanton Osumanu & Anthony Kwabena Sarfo, 2024. "Exploring agro-ecological implications and gendered adaptation to climate change in Northern Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 20485-20505, August.
    4. Sagni Regasa & Jeleta Kebede, 2024. "Vulnerability to climate change and variability: gender and agro-ecological perspectives," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(8), pages 1-26, August.
    5. Lawrence Guodaar & Douglas K. Bardsley, 2024. "Social networks can mitigate climate change-related food insecurity risks in dryland farming systems in Ghana," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 29(7), pages 1-22, October.
    6. Danyang Li & Daizo Kojima & Laping Wu & Mitsuyoshi Ando, 2023. "Digital Ability and Livelihood Diversification in Rural China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-14, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lee, Minsoo & Villaruel, Mai Lin & Gaspar, Raymond, 2016. "Effects of Temperature Shocks on Economic Growth and Welfare in Asia," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 501, Asian Development Bank.
    2. Anslem Bawayelaazaa Nyuor & Emmanuel Donkor & Robert Aidoo & Samuel Saaka Buah & Jesse B. Naab & Stephen K. Nutsugah & Jules Bayala & Robert Zougmoré, 2016. "Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Cereal Production: Implications for Sustainable Agriculture in Northern Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Ifeoma Q. Anugwa & Agwu E. Agwu & Murari Suvedi & Suresh Babu, 2020. "Gender-Specific Livelihood Strategies for Coping with Climate Change-Induced Food Insecurity in Southeast Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(5), pages 1065-1084, October.
    4. Busby, Joshua & Smith, Todd G. & Krishnan, Nisha & Wight, Charles & Vallejo-Gutierrez, Santiago, 2018. "In harm's way: Climate security vulnerability in Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 88-118.
    5. Jiayu Ding & Yuewei Wang & Chaoyue Li, 2024. "A Dual-Layer Complex Network-Based Quantitative Flood Vulnerability Assessment Method of Transportation Systems," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-27, May.
    6. Neelke Doorn, 2015. "The Blind Spot in Risk Ethics: Managing Natural Hazards," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(3), pages 354-360, March.
    7. H.M. Tuihedur Rahman & Gordon M. Hickey, 2020. "An Analytical Framework for Assessing Context-Specific Rural Livelihood Vulnerability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.
    8. Álvarez, Xana & Gómez-Rúa, María & Vidal-Puga, Juan, 2019. "Risk prevention of land flood: A cooperative game theory approach," MPRA Paper 91515, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Bryan, Elizabeth & Behrman, Julia A., 2013. "Community–based adaptation to climate change: A theoretical framework, overview of key issues and discussion of gender differentiated priorities and participation," CAPRi working papers 109, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Ruth Abegaz & Fei Wang & Jun Xu, 2024. "History, causes, and trend of floods in the U.S.: a review," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 120(15), pages 13715-13755, December.
    11. Mastronardi, Luigi & Cavallo, Aurora & Romagnoli, Luca, 2022. "A novel composite environmental fragility index to analyse Italian ecoregions’ vulnerability," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    12. Byela Tibesigwa & Martine Visser & Jane Turpie, 2017. "Climate change and South Africa’s commercial farms: an assessment of impacts on specialised horticulture, crop, livestock and mixed farming systems," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 607-636, April.
    13. Meredith Gartin & Kelli L. Larson & Alexandra Brewis & Rhian Stotts & Amber Wutich & Dave White & Margaret du Bray, 2020. "Climate Change as an Involuntary Exposure: A Comparative Risk Perception Study from Six Countries across the Global Development Gradient," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-17, March.
    14. Tibesigwa, Byela & Visser, Martine, 2016. "Assessing Gender Inequality in Food Security among Small-holder Farm Households in urban and rural South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 33-49.
    15. Yi Ge & Wen Dou & Jianping Dai, 2017. "A New Approach to Identify Social Vulnerability to Climate Change in the Yangtze River Delta," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, December.
    16. Huet, E.K. & Adam, M. & Giller, K.E. & Descheemaeker, K., 2020. "Diversity in perception and management of farming risks in southern Mali," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    17. Raimi, Daniel, 2021. "Mapping County-Level Exposure and Vulnerability to the US Energy Transition," RFF Working Paper Series 21-36, Resources for the Future.
    18. Uttama Barua & Shahrin Mannan & Ishrat Islam & Mohammad Shakil Akther & Md. Aminul Islam & Tamanna Akter & Raquib Ahsan & Mehedy Ahmed Ansary, 2020. "People’s awareness, knowledge and perception influencing earthquake vulnerability of a community: A study on Ward no. 14, Mymensingh Municipality, Bangladesh," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(1), pages 1121-1181, August.
    19. Xuchao Yang & Lin Lin & Yizhe Zhang & Tingting Ye & Qian Chen & Cheng Jin & Guanqiong Ye, 2019. "Spatially Explicit Assessment of Social Vulnerability in Coastal China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-20, September.
    20. Stéphane Hallegatte & Adrien Vogt-Schilb & Julie Rozenberg & Mook Bangalore & Chloé Beaudet, 2020. "From Poverty to Disaster and Back: a Review of the Literature," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 223-247, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:23:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10668-020-00614-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.