Responses to Climate Variability in Urban Poor Communities in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

SAGE Open

SithabileHlahla¹ 

关键词: urban poor;    climate variability;    response capacity;    coping strategies;    resilience;   

DOI  :  10.1177/2158244018800914

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

South Africa’s rising urbanization has exacerbated the levels of urban poverty and inequality. The urban poor are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability and have weak household risk response capacities. The study, through the use of a questionnaire survey, investigated how climate stressors such as the change of seasons, drought, heat waves, cold spells, hailstorms, floods, disease outbreaks, and veld fires are affecting four socioeconomically marginalized urban communities in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The respondents identified eight stressors that affect lifestyles and livelihoods; however, the majority do not have the means to cope adequately. Moreover, the coping strategies that were adopted were stop-gap reactive-type measures and provide limited capacity to build resilience and response capacity. With the projections that climate stressors will increase in frequency and duration in the region, the local government must increase investment in urban pro-poor climate change projects, which have been successful in some rural and urban areas, and educate the communities on climate-related risks so as to increase their knowledge and response capacities.

【 授权许可】

CC BY