Building resilience to climate risk in the agricultural sector through adaptation education using a climate-smart approach : the case of the Mooifontein region, North-West province

Abstract

Climate change has been identified as a high profile, environmental concern that threatens to cause extensive loss and hardship. There are two distinct responses to climate change, namely mitigation and adaptation. Much attention has been paid to reactive mitigation efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The international disaster risk management (DRM) community has, however, also identified adaptation as an anticipatory strategy to pre-empt risks associated with hazards arising from climate change and to build resilience in vulnerable communities. It is also significant that symbiotic links between climate change risk and development goals have been identified by policymakers and DRM specialists who recognise that climate change is a risk for all national development initiatives. In this study adaptation is explored as a strategy to reduce one farming community‟s vulnerability to climate risk. The aim was to identify adaptation opportunities using appropriate climate-smart farming systems that could build the resilience of farmers in the Mooifontein region of the North West province of South Africa. Since it is a rural, agrarian-based economy, the investigation was focused on the issue of climate change risk to the local agricultural sector. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) practitioners acknowledge the importance of understanding hazards such as climate change within a socioeconomic framework, in particular where human activity might be exacerbating levels of vulnerability. It is thus essential to employ adaptation processes to increase the resilience of the lives and livelihoods of those most vulnerable to risks associated with climate change. These should be addressed through region-appropriate adaptation as part of national development agendas. Knowledge gaps must be bridged with communication strategies based on multi-sectoral insights and the participation of all stakeholders, including the affected community. The aim of this study was therefore to identify examples of knowledge transfer and effective channels of communication for future initiatives. This goal is premised on the awareness that any adaptation approach to development and increasing the resilience of communities at risk is dependent on the successful dissemination of information