Doctoral Dissertation Research: Land-Use Change as an Adaptation Strategy to Coupled Climate and Economic Change in Rural Western Kenya: Implications for Vulnerability Reduction

West Virginia University Research Corporation, Morgantown WV

Investigators

Abstract

Increasing concern over the effects of climate change on the rural poor in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to preoccupy researchers and development experts. The reality, however, is that climate change is occurring simultaneously with other processes, creating new risks and requiring a whole new range of adaptive strategies as well. Economic change has been identified as one of the processes that have a major impact on rural livelihoods. The dual occurrence of climatic and economic change is expected to have significant effects on the vulnerability of these communities. Because most rural communities largely depend directly on land as a livelihood resource, changes in land use are important in understanding the broader change process. Rural change studies indicate a link between land use and the vulnerability of rural communities. The objective of this research project is to examine land use change as a pathway for adaptation to coupled economic and climate change and to identify the implications for vulnerability at the local level. The study will be conducted in rural western Kenya where poverty levels are high and climate related stresses are on the increase. It will examine the nature and extent of land use/cover change in the past ten to fifteen years as households intensify agricultural production and engage more in market oriented production. Economic and climatic changes that have occurred in this area during this period will also be examined as well as their influence on land use. A multi-method approach that incorporates spatial, qualitative and quantitative methods will be adopted to bring out the full range of the interactions between these processes and their effect on vulnerability. Spatial and social data will be linked in a GIS to examine the relationship between land use change and vulnerability. This study will provide a deeper understanding of the complex nature of vulnerability and how this plays out at the local level in rural settings in developing countries. It will also give new insights in the way other processes interact with climate change at the local level to exacerbate or reduce vulnerability. The study underscores the importance of local level research by bringing out the context specific dynamics that define how climate change will affect rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings of this study have the potential of having far-reaching implications on the way development projects targeting rural communities in Africa will be designed and implemented by government and non-governmental agencies. Approaches and policies adopted for addressing vulnerability at the local level may have to shift from the narrow focus on climate change to addressing the co-occurrence of multiple change processes. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.